UCC & EFS Information

The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) is a compilation of statutes designed to perfect commercial transactions and to promote uniformity among various filing jurisdictions. Notwithstanding their complexities, commercial transactions basically involve the sale of and purchase of goods.

Under the Uniform Commercial code, financing records are filed to make a public record of secured transactions between a debtor and a secured party. The financing records are extremely important in establishing priority among creditors in judicial proceedings, including bankruptcy, to determine rights of conflicting creditors. Therefore, the fundamental objective of the UCC is to provide measures to protect the debtor and the secured party by filing a financing record in the proper jurisdiction under uniform provisions.

South Dakota is one of 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, which has adopted the Code. The Code became effective in South Dakota on July 1, 1967. Title 57A of the South Dakota Codified Laws (SDCL) contains the statutes known as the Uniform Commercial Code. SDCL 57A-9 is the Uniform Commercial Code - Secured Transactions.