Remote Online Notarization (RON) in Pennsylvania

Remote Online Notarization lets a Pennsylvania notary perform a notarial act for a signer who is not in the room — the notary stays in PA, the signer can be anywhere in the United States (and, in narrow cases, abroad), and a live audio-visual link stands in for physical presence. The legal basis is 57 Pa.C.S. § 306.1, and the March 28, 2026 final regulations (4 Pa. Code §§ 167.81–167.88) set the technology, identity-proofing, and recording rules every PA RON notary now has to follow.

This pillar walks through the full picture — authorization, identity proofing, the on-camera session, recording retention, DOS-approved platforms, and what to do when a platform shuts down under the brand-new § 167.88.

TL;DR

• RON is authorized by 57 Pa.C.S. § 306.1. The notary must be physically in Pennsylvania; the signer can be remote.
• Identity proofing requires two processes — the standard PA approach is credential analysis + dynamic KBA (knowledge-based authentication). Both must pass before the act proceeds.
• The entire session must be recorded (audio-visual) and retained at least 10 years (57 Pa.C.S. § 306.1(e)).
• You must pre-notify DOS at notaries.pa.gov and identify every RON platform you use. Adding or dropping a platform requires a separate notification.
• Only a DOS-approved platform counts. Zoom, FaceTime, and Teams do not — even with a great ID. The current DOS-approved list carries 34 vendors.
• Pavaso ceased operations January 1, 2026. It is still printed on the DOS approved-vendor PDF. Do not use it.
• § 167.88 (new 2026) requires a platform to give you 60 days’ advance notice before it shuts down, with export instructions for your journal and session recordings.
• Max RON fee: the regular per-act fee in § 167.3 plus up to $20 per act for the use of communication technology. Platform subscription fees are separate and must be disclosed on the receipt.

What RON is (and what it isn’t)

RULONA recognizes three different ways a notarial act can be performed, and they are not interchangeable:

Mode	What it is	Where it lives in RULONA
Traditional (in-person, paper)	Notary and signer in the same room; wet-ink signature; physical stamp on paper.	§§ 305, 306, 315
In-person electronic notarization (IPEN / e-notary)	Notary and signer in the same room; the record is electronic, so the signatures and the notary’s seal are applied electronically.	§§ 306, 320; 4 Pa. Code §§ 167.83–167.84
Remote Online Notarization (RON)	Signer is not in the room — personal appearance is satisfied by real-time audio-visual communication technology. The record is electronic.	§ 306.1; 4 Pa. Code §§ 167.85–167.88

The distinction matters because the rules stack:

• In-person e-notarization requires an approved electronic notarization technology provider under § 167.84 — no KBA, no session recording, because the notary is physically with the signer.
• RON requires an approved remote notarization technology provider under § 167.86 — which adds KBA, credential analysis, and a mandatory audio-visual recording on top of every e-notary requirement.

Plain videoconferencing (Zoom, FaceTime, Teams, Google Meet, Webex) is not RON. § 167.82 is explicit: a remote notary “shall use a remote notarization technology provider approved by the Department.” Notarizing over a consumer video tool is a § 167.121(16) prohibited act — performing a notarial act on a remotely located individual without using approved communication technology.

PA’s RON authorization — how a notary becomes RON-authorized

RON authority is a layered permission. You need, in order:

1. An active Pennsylvania notary commission. RON is a scope-of-practice addition to your existing commission — there is no separate “RON commission.” (57 Pa.C.S. § 306.1)
2. Advance notification to DOS. Before performing your first remote act, you must notify the Department electronically at notaries.pa.gov and identify each RON technology provider you intend to use. (4 Pa. Code § 167.81(2))
3. A DOS-approved platform. You may only use a vendor that appears on the current PA DOS Approved E-Notary and RON Vendor List (PDF). The list is a PDF, not a web page — re-check it periodically.
4. Ongoing notification. Every time you add or drop a RON provider during your commission, you must re-notify DOS (§ 167.81(3)). § 167.45(a)(5) and (6) also make “selected electronic or remote notarization technology provider” one of the pieces of information you must update within 30 days if it changes.
5. A fresh notification at the start of each new commission. Renewing your commission does not carry forward your RON registration — you must re-file (§ 167.81(3)).

The physical-location rule

57 Pa.C.S. § 306.1 requires the notary to be physically located in Pennsylvania when the notarial act is performed. 4 Pa. Code § 167.42(c)(1) reinforces this — “personal appearance” does not include appearance by audio, video, or computer technology unless the notary is performing a remote act under § 306.1, and that exception is drafted on the premise that the notary is sitting in PA. If you are traveling out of state, you cannot perform PA RON from that hotel room. Wait until you are back on PA soil.

The signer can be anywhere in the U.S. If the signer is outside the United States, § 306.1(b)(4) adds two conditions: the record must be filed with (or relate to) a U.S. court or government entity, or involve U.S. property or a U.S. transaction; and the act must not be prohibited by the foreign jurisdiction’s law.

Identity proofing — KBA + credential analysis

The identity-proofing requirement is the heart of RON. § 306.1(b)(1) gives the notary three paths to identify a remotely located signer:

1. Personal knowledge — through dealings sufficient to provide reasonable certainty the signer is who they claim (§ 307(a)).
2. Credible witness — a credible witness personally known to the notary, appearing via the same communication technology, takes a verification on oath.
3. At least two identity-proofing processes or services from a third party via public or private data sources.

In practice, nearly every PA RON session uses path three, and the two processes are dynamic knowledge-based authentication and credential analysis. § 167.86 requires an approved platform to include “two types of processes/services for identity proofing” — the industry standard is KBA plus credential analysis, but biometrics and other methods qualify if the platform integrates them.

Dynamic KBA — what it actually is

KBA is a short out-of-wallet quiz the signer takes live, in real time, inside the platform. The questions are generated on the fly from public and credit-header records and have a strict time budget. Typical RON-industry parameters:

• Five questions, each with five answer choices plus “none of the above.”
• Two minutes total time budget.
• Pass threshold of 80% — four out of five correct.
• Two attempts total; the second attempt must use a refreshed question set.

If KBA fails, you cannot “override” it. The session ends. Offer the signer in-person notarization as an alternative, and log the failed attempt in your journal.

Credential analysis — what it actually is

Credential analysis is the tamper-and-authenticity check on a government-issued photo ID. The signer holds the ID up to the camera (or uploads a photo of it); the platform’s analysis engine:

• Reads the machine-readable zone (MRZ) or PDF417 barcode.
• Checks physical security features — fonts, microprinting, UV/IR patterns, holograms.
• Validates issuer-specific templates against the ID type claimed.
• Runs a liveness/selfie match: compares the live video of the signer’s face to the photo on the ID.

Credential analysis returns pass/fail; a fail cannot be overridden. Most platforms use LexisNexis or Jumio-class identity stacks on the backend.

What counts as a “government-issued ID”

§ 307(b) governs. For RON, the ID must be current and unexpired, with a signature or photograph. Driver’s licenses, state non-driver IDs, and passports are the default. Military IDs and tribal IDs that meet § 307(b)‘s standards also qualify — assuming the platform’s credential-analysis engine supports the template.

The RON session — what must happen on camera

Once a signer is in front of the camera and has passed identity proofing, the RON session follows the same statutory beats as any in-person act, adapted for video.

The on-camera script

The notary must be able to see and hear the signer in real time throughout the act. § 306.1(i) defines communication technology as a device or process allowing simultaneous sight-and-sound communication. If either audio or video drops, the session breaks.

A clean single-signer RON session looks like this:

1. Greet and confirm location. Confirm on the record that you (the notary) are physically in Pennsylvania and that the signer is physically in a stated location. Ask where the signer is. Log it.
2. Confirm the document. Identify the document by title on the recording — “We are here to notarize a General Power of Attorney, dated April 18, 2026, between [Principal] and [Agent].”
3. Identity proofing. The platform runs KBA. The signer holds ID to the camera for credential analysis. Announce both results on the recording: “KBA: pass. Credential analysis: pass.”
4. Voluntariness check. Ask, on the record: “Are you signing this document freely and voluntarily? Are you under any duress or undue influence?” For a verification on oath, administer the oath here.
5. Perform the notarial act. Take the acknowledgment, take the oath, or witness the signature per the act type. For an acknowledgment, the signer states that the signature on the record is their signature and was made freely. For a verification, the signer swears the content is true.
6. Certificate language. Under § 306.1(c)–(d), the certificate must indicate the act was performed by means of communication technology. The short-form language — “This notarial act involved the use of communication technology” — is sufficient.
7. Journal entry. Complete the electronic journal entry while the session is still live.
8. Close the recording. Announce the end of the session on camera.

When the link breaks

Any break in the simultaneous audio-visual connection ends the session. There is no “brief interruption” exception — a 20-second dropout is a fatal dropout. Terminate, note the failure in your journal, and reschedule. If the break happens after part of a multi-signer session is complete, the portion that ran on an unbroken connection is valid for the signer(s) already finished. Everyone still in the queue needs a fresh session.

Who the notary is talking to

A third person in frame — a relative, a “helper,” a title-company employee — is not automatically disqualifying, but it is a risk flag. If that person starts answering KBA questions, feeding the signer answers, or pressuring the signer, pause the session, ask the third person to step off camera, and reassess whether the signer can engage independently. If they cannot, terminate.

Session recording retention

§ 306.1(e) is the controlling retention rule: the notary — or a guardian, conservator, agent, or personal representative of a deceased notary — must retain the audio-visual recording for at least 10 years after creation, or longer if the Department’s regulations specify. § 167.86(6) reinforces this on the platform side by requiring the platform either to retain the AV recording for 10 years, or to give the notary a way to download and retain it.

What the recording must contain

§ 306.1(b)(3) says the recording must capture the entire performance, including all interactions. Practically:

• The signer joining the session and the notary announcing the date, time, and their own commission.
• All identity-proofing steps — the KBA run, the ID held to the camera, the credential-analysis result announced on the record.
• The voluntariness check.
• The notarial act itself, word-for-word (oath, acknowledgment language).
• The signer signing.
• The notary signing and affixing the electronic seal.
• Session close.

Snippets and edited clips do not satisfy (b)(3). A clean, continuous recording from greeting to close is the standard.

Practical retention strategy

Most notaries let their platform retain the recording for the full 10 years. That is the default under § 167.86(6). The risk is platform turnover — which is exactly what § 167.88 now addresses. The safer belt-and-suspenders approach:

• Verify, at sign-up, that your platform includes 10-year retention as part of your plan (not an upcharge).
• Download and self-archive each session recording to an encrypted drive or compliant cloud bucket within 30 days of the act. This gives you a parallel copy that survives any platform-level loss.
• Label the local file with YYYY-MM-DD_signer-name_act-type.mp4 so you can retrieve it quickly if subpoenaed.
• Treat the recordings as the sensitive record they are — they contain ID images and signer personal data.

Journal entries for RON

A RON session requires a journal entry — the same as any other act. §§ 167.31–167.36 govern journals generally. For RON specifically, best practice is an electronic, tamper-evident journal (§ 167.34) that can store:

• Date and time of the act.
• Type of act (acknowledgment, verification, signature witnessing, etc.).
• Description of the document — title, date, number of pages.
• Signer’s full legal name and full address (the 2026 final rule prohibits recording any Social Security digits — none).
• Identity-proofing method, logged as “credential analysis + dynamic KBA.”
• Government ID type and, optionally, last four digits of the ID number (§ 167.32(e)(2)).
• Name of the DOS-approved RON platform used.
• A reference or identifier for the session recording (platform-assigned session ID).
• Fee charged — base notarial fee and any RON technology surcharge, itemized.

Several RON platforms (Proof, BlueNotary, OneNotary) include a native eJournal that auto-logs the required fields and auto-links to the session recording. If you use a platform without a native journal, pair it with a standalone tamper-evident eJournal — Notary eJournal (Jurat) and NotaryAct are the common choices.

DOS-approved RON platforms

The Department maintains a single approved-vendor list as a PDF: Approved E-Notary and RON Vendor List. As of April 2026 it carries 34 vendors. The full list is below — note that Pavaso still appears on the DOS PDF but ceased operations January 1, 2026 and must not be used.

Full DOS-approved list (34 vendors)

#	Vendor	Company / notes
1	DocVerify	Long-standing e-notary platform
2	ICE Mortgage Technology	Mortgage / real-estate focus
3	SafeDocs
4	Nationwide Web Notary
5	eRecording.com
6	Pavaso	CLOSED January 1, 2026 — do not use (see warning below)
7	DocuSign Notary	Enterprise eSignature
8	Marketron
9	Simply Secure Sign
10	Rocket Close (ClearSign)	Rocket Mortgage affiliate
11	Proof (formerly Notarize)	Largest RON consumer platform
12	NotaryCam	Stewart Title subsidiary
13	SIGNiX	Digital signature + RON
14	Online Notary
15	OneSpan Sign	Enterprise eSignature
16	KYS Tech
17	Digital Delivery Inc.
18	OneNotary	SMB RON
19	PandaDoc Notary	PandaDoc-integrated RON
20	Stavvy	Mortgage / title
21	Secured Signing
22	Visionet
23	EpicRiver
24	Blend Notary	Mortgage fintech
25	EscrowTab
26	Notaries on Demand (Genesis)
27	Qualia	Title closing platform
28	Blue Notary	Indie-notary friendly
29	Popio
30	Pactima
31	Notary Hub
32	NotaryLive
33	Online Notary Center
34	ProNotary

Warning — Pavaso closed January 1, 2026. Pavaso was a DOS-approved RON platform historically used heavily for mortgage signings. It ceased operations on January 1, 2026. It still appears on the DOS approved-vendor PDF because DOS has not updated the PDF — this is an artifact of list maintenance, not an indication that Pavaso is operational. Any notary whose prior RON recordings lived on Pavaso should have received a § 167.88(B) wind-down notice with export instructions; if you did not, contact DOS at ra-notaries@pa.gov and document the gap. Do not onboard to Pavaso; do not include it in any “approved platform” comparison the signer sees; and do not renew any legacy Pavaso subscription (sidehustleseattle — 2026 RON analysis).

The five platforms most relevant to a PA indie notary

Most solo PA notaries choose among these five. Pricing below is list-price as of April 2026; confirm at the vendor site before onboarding.

Platform	Notary plan	Per-transaction	Business plan	Identity stack	Best for
Proof (formerly Notarize)	Free to join on-demand queue (earn ~$5/session); Notary Pro ≈ $10/notarization + $3/additional seal	Consumer pays $25 first seal + $10/add’l	Enterprise varies; title closings from $99 (10+/month)	LexisNexis / Equifax KBA + ID + selfie	Highest consumer volume; on-demand work
BlueNotary	Basic free; Notary Pro $297/yr (white-label, branded link, keep your own pricing)	$5 first / $0 additional on general work; $25 closing by invite	Business Pro $37/notary/mo + $10/notarization; Closing Pro $45/eClosing	Multi-step KBA + biometrics	Solo notaries who want to brand and keep full fee
OneNotary	Pay-as-you-go	$25 first, $10/additional seal	$99/mo tier + custom enterprise	Integrated KBA + ID + selfie	Simple SMB volume
NotaryCam	Free notary account; earn per signing	RE closings from $199; non-RE $25/seal + $10/additional; Wills & Trusts $175/doc	Custom enterprise, title-agency integrations	Standard KBA + ID + selfie	Real-estate closings (Stewart Title owned)
SIGNiX	Plans from $50/mo (min 5 transactions)	Bundled in plan	Enterprise $99+/notary/mo	Integrated KBA (ID.me / Jumio class)	Enterprises needing digital-signature + RON in one stack

Proof (formerly Notarize / “ProofGOV”)

Proof is the volume leader. The consumer brand is Proof.com; the company was previously named Notarize, Inc. “ProofGOV” is their public-sector product line. Advantages for an individual PA notary: you can join the on-demand queue with no upfront fee and take sessions as they come in, which is how a beginner builds hours. Tradeoffs: Proof takes a cut of every session (the notary’s net is lower than independent work), and consumer sessions are priced by Proof, not by you. Good for volume; bad for margins.

BlueNotary

BlueNotary is the independent-notary-friendly platform of the current cohort. The $297/year Notary Pro plan gets you a white-label booking page and lets you set your own pricing, which lines up with § 167.3’s “maximums, not minimums” framing. BlueNotary’s eJournal is bundled and auto-links to the session recording, which simplifies the § 167.86(6) retention question. The tradeoff is that BlueNotary does not drive the same consumer demand as Proof — you bring your own clients.

OneNotary

OneNotary’s pricing is the most transparent of the five: pay-as-you-go at the consumer per-act price, a $99/mo tier for regular use, and custom enterprise. Clean integration, fewer surprises. Weaker brand recognition with consumers than Proof.

NotaryCam

NotaryCam is the real-estate specialist. It is owned by Stewart Title, which gives it built-in credibility with title companies and mortgage originators. For a PA notary who wants to work loan closings and refinances, NotaryCam is the natural platform. For general-purpose notary work, it is overkill.

SIGNiX

SIGNiX pairs e-signature with RON in one stack, which is useful if your signers also need to sign e-forms that are not notarized. The $50/mo minimum-transaction plan makes it uneconomic for very occasional use.

The § 167.88 platform wind-down rule (new in 2026)

§ 167.88 is brand-new with the March 28, 2026 final regulations. It solves the problem Pavaso’s January 2026 closure made vivid: what happens when a platform shuts down and you still have a 10-year retention obligation?

§ 167.88 has two parts:

§ 167.88(A) — Changes to technology

A RON or e-notary platform that changes anything material — provider name, office address, phone, email, website, hardware/software specs, or the types of technology used — must notify DOS within 15 days. This is an operational-integrity signal to DOS; it does not, on its own, require any action from the notary.

§ 167.88(B) — Ceasing operations

This is the consequential subsection. Before a platform ceases to provide approved RON or e-notary technology, it must:

1. Notify DOS and every notary who used the platform at any point in the preceding 10 years.
2. Give that notification at least 60 days in advance of the shutdown.
3. Include instructions to obtain or export journals and (for RON) session recordings.
4. Tell DOS which notaries used the platform in the preceding 10 years (by name and commission number), plus include a sample copy of the notification to notaries.
5. State the final date the technology will be available.

The protection for the notary is the combination of the 60 days and the mandatory export instructions. You get enough time to log in, download, and archive your journal and every session recording still on their servers.

Your § 167.88 playbook when a platform announces shutdown

If you ever get a § 167.88(B) notice — or discover, as with Pavaso, that a platform is closing with inadequate notice — run this checklist:

1. Open and date-stamp the notice. Save the PDF. Note the final-date-of-availability on your calendar.
2. Export the journal. Every entry, every attachment, in whatever tamper-evident format the platform provides.
3. Download every session recording from the platform covering the preceding 10 years. Do not rely on the platform’s post-shutdown successor.
4. Save each recording with the naming convention above (YYYY-MM-DD_signer-name_act-type.mp4) on an encrypted local drive and one compliant cloud location. Two-location archive.
5. Match the recordings to your journal entries and flag any gaps. Missing recordings are a serious problem — if your platform’s wind-down is botched, contact DOS at ra-notaries@pa.gov before the final-date-of-availability so the gap is a matter of record, not a future § 167.121 issue.
6. Notify DOS of the new platform you are adopting to replace the closing one, per § 167.81(3). Your prior RON notification does not carry forward.
7. Stop accepting new RON assignments on the closing platform as soon as you have a replacement running. Send every new client to the new platform.

§ 167.88 covers both RON and e-notary providers. The 60-day-plus-export-instructions template is the same in either direction.

Cross-state RON — when the signer is in another state

57 Pa.C.S. § 306.1 authorizes a PA notary to perform a remote act for a signer “appearing by means of communication technology,” full stop. There is no PA-side geographic restriction on where the signer may be in the United States. Your authority comes from PA law; the notarial act is treated as performed in Pennsylvania.

The practical constraint is on the receiving side. Whether a destination state’s county recorder, title company, court, or agency will accept a PA RON notarization on a document being filed there is a question of that state’s law and that institution’s policy — not PA law. Not all states recognize out-of-state RON notarizations the same way.

Before accepting a cross-state RON request:

1. Ask the requester whether the document will be filed or accepted in a specific state, county, or institution.
2. Have the requesting attorney or title company confirm that the destination accepts a PA RON notarization on that document type. Get it in writing if possible.
3. For real estate: county recorders vary. Have the title company confirm the specific county.
4. For federal filings (immigration, USCIS, IRS): federal agencies generally accept RON notarizations that comply with the notary’s home-state law.
5. For foreign use: a PA RON can be apostilled through DOS, but the receiving country’s acceptance of electronic-and-apostilled documents is country-specific.

Your disclosure to the requester should be: “I can perform this notarial act as a PA RON under 57 Pa.C.S. § 306.1. Whether the destination jurisdiction will accept a PA RON on this document is a question for the receiving institution and is outside the scope of my role as the notary.”

RON and wills, estates, and other sensitive instruments

Tread carefully. Whether a PA-notarized-via-RON will, codicil, or trust amendment is valid in a Pennsylvania probate proceeding is unsettled. Pennsylvania’s probate statute (20 Pa.C.S.) governs will execution, and the self-proving affidavit regime has historically assumed physical presence. There is no PA appellate decision resolving the question for RON-notarized wills, and the Pennsylvania Bar Association has at various times published guidance urging caution.

The prudent practice for a PA RON notary: decline to RON a will, codicil, or self-proving affidavit of a will unless the requesting attorney has (a) affirmatively advised the client that RON execution is acceptable in writing and (b) confirms the probate filing strategy accounts for any acceptance risk. Document the attorney’s representation in your communications file before the session. Many indie PA notaries simply decline will/codicil RON requests as a matter of policy, pointing the client toward in-person execution.

The same caution applies to testamentary trusts and some powers of attorney used in estate planning — always confirm with the drafting attorney before scheduling.

Fees for RON

The fee rules are set by 4 Pa. Code § 167.3 (final form, March 28, 2026). Two components:

1. The per-act maximum from the regular fee schedule. For most RON work, this is the acknowledgment or verification fee — $5 per first name on the certificate, $2 per additional name on the same certificate; administration of an oath or affirmation is $5 per individual; signature witnessing or attesting is $5 per signature; copy/deposition certification is $5.
2. The RON technology surcharge under § 167.3(b): an electronic notary or remote notary may charge up to $20 additional per notarial act performed with respect to an electronic record or using communication technology.

Combined maximum on a simple single-name acknowledgment performed via RON: $5 + $20 = $25 per act. This is the widely-quoted “$25 RON cap” — note that it is the sum of the base act fee and the RON surcharge, not a flat fee, and acts with multiple names or multiple signatures add up differently.

§ 167.3(c) requires an itemized receipt for every act. Break out:

• Base notarial act fee ($5, $2, $3, etc.).
• Technology surcharge (up to $20/act).
• Any platform-imposed fee the signer is paying directly (Proof’s consumer price, etc.) — disclosed separately.

§ 167.3(d) and (e) also keep the statutory no-fee categories intact for RON: supporting affidavits for emergency absentee ballots and assistance affidavits, and military-related acknowledgments under 51 Pa.C.S. § 9101.

What you cannot bill under § 167.3

Platform subscription fees (BlueNotary’s $297/yr, SIGNiX’s $50/mo, etc.) are business expenses of the notary. They are not notarial fees. You do not itemize them on the signer’s receipt. They come out of your margin, or you raise your per-act charge up to the § 167.3 maximum to cover them.

RON session checklist

Print this, keep it near your computer, and run it every session:

1. Confirm you are physically in Pennsylvania.
2. Confirm your commission is current and your RON notification to DOS is up-to-date for the platform you’re about to use.
3. Test audio and video before the signer joins. Close unnecessary tabs.
4. Admit the signer to the session.
5. Announce on camera: your name, your seven-digit PA commission ID, the date, the time, and the platform.
6. Ask the signer to state their full legal name and current physical location.
7. Identify the document by title and date on the record.
8. Run KBA. Announce the result on camera.
9. Run credential analysis. Announce the result on camera.
10. Ask the voluntariness question on the record.
11. For oaths/verifications: administer the oath word-for-word.
12. For acknowledgments: take the acknowledgment on the record.
13. Observe the signer signing.
14. Apply your electronic signature and seal.
15. Confirm the § 306.1(d) certificate language — “This notarial act involved the use of communication technology” — is present on the certificate.
16. Complete the electronic journal entry before closing the session.
17. Announce session close on camera.
18. Within 30 days: download and self-archive the session recording.
19. Charge and itemize the fee — base act fee + RON surcharge, with the platform’s consumer fee disclosed separately.

Further reading

• PA Notary Overview — the full RULONA framework
• How to become a Pennsylvania notary — the 9-step playbook
• PA notary fees — the complete fee schedule with RON surcharge
• March 2026 RULONA rule update — what changed
• PA DOS — Electronic or Remote Notarization program page
• PA DOS — Approved E-Notary and RON Vendor List (PDF)