(a) For purposes of this section, the term "certificate" refers to uniform certificates of course completion issued by the department to driving safety providers in paper format, and certificate numbers issued to driving safety providers for inclusion on department-approved driving safety course certificate completion forms.     
      (b) Driving safety provider responsibilities. Providers are responsible for original and duplicate certificates in accordance with this subsection. Each driving safety provider must:      
        (1) submit a plan for the electronic issuance of certificates for approval by the department prior to its implementation;       
        (2) issue certificates that comply with the design specifications approved by the department;       
        (3) develop and maintain a department-approved method for securing, issuing, and maintaining original and duplicate certificates that, to the greatest extent possible, prevents the unauthorized production or misuse of the certificates, and allows for the recovery of lost data (electronic or otherwise) for such certificates;       
        (4) issue certificates only to students who have successfully completed all elements of the provider's approved driving safety course;       
        (5) maintain secure files (electronic or otherwise) with data pertaining to all certificates purchased from the department, and must make available to the department, upon request, an ascending numerical accounting record of the numbered certificates issued;       
        (6) issue all original and duplicate certificates using first-class or enhanced postage, equivalent commercial delivery method, or a department-approved electronic issuance method;       
        (7) sequentially number original certificates from the block of numbers purchased from the department;       
        (8) use certificates only for the course for which the certificates were ordered from the department;       
        (9) implement and maintain methods for efficiently issuing original certificates so that issuance of duplicate certificates is kept at a minimal rate;       
        (10) report all unaccounted original and duplicate certificates or unissued certificates or duplicates to the department within 15 business days of the discovery of the incident;       
        (11) conduct an investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding the unaccounted items noted in paragraph (10), and submit a report of the findings of the investigation, including preventative measures for recurrence, to the department within thirty (30) days of the discovery; and       
        (12) report original and duplicate certificate data, by secure electronic transmission, to the department within five (5) days of issuance using guidelines established and provided by the department. The issue date indicated on the certificate shall be the date the provider issues the certificate to the student.       
      (c) Disposition of original or duplicate certificates.      
        (1) The provider's records, including unissued or unnumbered original and duplicate certificates, must be available for review by representatives of the department.       
        (2) A driver safety provider must not issue, transfer, or transmit an original or duplicate certificate bearing the serial number of a certificate or duplicate previously issued.       
        (3) Each unaccounted, missing, blank, or unissued original or duplicate certificate may be considered a separate violation. This may include a lost, stolen, or otherwise unaccounted original or duplicate certificate.       
        (4) When a duplicate certificate is issued by a provider, the duplicate certificate shall bear a serial number from the block of numbers purchased from the department by the provider. The duplicate certificate must clearly indicate the number of both the duplicate and the original serial number of the certificate being replaced.       
        (5) Any item on a duplicate certificate that has different data than that shown on the original certificate must clearly indicate both the original data and the replacement data; for example, a change in the date of course completion must show the correct date and "changed from XX," where "XX" is the date shown on the original certificate.       
        (6) If the student requests a duplicate certificate within thirty (30) days of the date of issue of the original certificate because the original was not received, unusable, or was issued with errors due to no fault of the student, the provider must issue the duplicate at no cost to the student. Driving safety providers must include this information in the student enrollment contract.       
     Source Note:        The provisions of this §84.63 adopted to be effective June 1, 2023, 48 TexReg 2702