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CAcert.org Assurance Organization Policy - Sub-Policy Europe

Contents

Purpose - Assurance Organization Policy - Sub-Policy Europe

Explanation / Compurgation?

General Section - Assurance Organization Policy - Sub-Policy Europe

COD - CAcert.org Official Document	11.EU
Name of CAcert.org Policy	Assurance Organization Policy - Sub-Policy Europe
Shortcut of Policy	OAP.EU
Author/Editor	TeusHagen
Date of WIP	20080501
Date of DRAFT	20080920
Date of POLICY Approval	YYYYMMDD
Author/Editor Last Change	YourName
Date of Last Change	YYYYMMDD
Place of OFFICIAL VERSION	SVN CAcert.org
Status	DRAFT

Text - Assurance Organization Policy - Sub-Policy Europe

FOR INFORMATION PURPOSE ONLY - Place of Policy OFFICIAL VERSION SVN CAcert.org

0. Preliminaries

This CAcert sub-policy extends the Organization Assurance Policy ("OAP") by specifying how the CAcert Organization Assurance Program ("COAP") is to be conducted by the assigned Organization Assurer ("OA") under the supervision of the Assurance Officer ("AO") for entities within the defined scope.

1. Scope

This sub-policy is applicable to:
- Organizations registered in Europe with an official Trade Office Registry (CAcert "Approved Registry", also denoted as "Registry").
Approved Registries are tabled in paragraph Appendix 1 of this sub-policy.
The table in Appendix 1 will denote for every Approved Registry a date of full acceptance (Registry Entry Draft status). Before that date the Registry entry is accepted as operational similar in effectiveness with a policy in DRAFT as defined in the Policy on Policy document. Addition of new Registry entries is by means of the routine Policy on Policy process, and is controlled by the Policy email list group, on submission by Organization Assurer.
Registries subjected to acceptance as Approved Registry are tabled in paragraph Appendix 2. Appendix 2 is not a formal part of this sub-policy.

2. Requirements

This section describes any scope-specific requirements that are not otherwise defined in the Organisation Assurance Policy (OAP).
2.1 Organizations
1. The organization must be registered with an Approved Registry.
2. The Approved Registry must have a mandate to register certain types of organisations (e.g. private companies, clubs Societies & Associations, partnerships, cooperatives, mutual societies, foundations, etc.)
2.2 Unincorporated Organizations
Registered Names. Where an approved Registry specifically maintains a register for local entities that trade without formal incorporation, the Registry entry will present independent evidence of the name, as demanded by OAP#5.d. This may apply to organizations such as Sole Traders, Doing-Business-As traders (DBAs), Partnerships, Church and Religious groups, etc.
Such entities have differing legal statuses with different liabilities. The named entity may not be capable of legally becoming a Member of CAcert, independently and separately from the individuals within. The Organisation Assurer (OA) must then take care to identify which individuals are Members, and which are therefore the natural legal entities behind the names.
The general standard for assurance of an unincorporated entity with a Registered Name is that the result is equivalent to assurance of an individual Member, or Members, with the addition of the Registered Name.
There is no limit to the number of Registered Names that a Member may have.
Foreign Entities.
Where a local Registry requires foreign entities to register, this registration may be used for Organization Assurance.
For example: companies are frequently incorporated in the United Kingdom, but operated primarily in another European country. These foreign entities may require to register locally and submit financial and/or yearly reports, extracts of home documents, reports from professionals such as accountants, etc, to authorities in the operating country.
2.3 Records
Records supplied by the Registry must be one of the following forms:
1. Formal originals on paper, where they are extracted from the Registry in an independent manner by the OA;
2. Digital statements from an on-line service provided by the Registry, acquired by the Organization Assurer by the OA in an independent manner;
3. Historical supplemental documents may be accepted where it can be shown that material changes have not been made (e.g., via absence of subsequent submissions in official document listings). Such acceptance should be applicable to the particular jurisdiction, as documented by the Organization Assurer, and under any process he determines.
The set of records supplied by the Registry is called the Extract.

3. The Trade Office Registry

Approved Registries follow the European style of Chambers of Commerce (e.g Chambers of Commerce in continental Europe, Companies House in the United Kingdom and Ministry of Justice, Finance, or Commerce in Eastern Europe).
3.1 Criteria for acceptance of a Registry
An Organization can be accepted for Assurance under this policy if registered with a formal Trade Office Registry. The criteria for an Approved Registry is:
1. The Registry follows the general model of Trade Offices and thus is a formal authority for dealing with local trade matters affecting organizations;
2. The Registry is formally empowered to register corporate entities (organisations) under national law;
3. The Registry has a reliable search facility service that provides reliable documentary evidence of the registration entry of an organization. The service may carry costs which are reimbursed from the organisation applicant;
4. The Registry (or, its search facility) can provide an Extract of the registration of the entity, below.
3.1 Extracts
The Extract is the set of records provided by the Registry. The Extract is to include the following information:
1. Full name of the legal entity,
2. Representative(s) of organisation (e.g. Company, Partnership, Sole Trader),
3. Type of organisation,
4. Location (which must be within the area the Approved Registry is responsible for),
5. Identifier or number, a unique regsitration id within Registry.
Organization Assurance is available to any active entity which can provide the above Extract.

4. Assurance Process

4.1 In general
The Organization Assurer should take note of the following:
1. Each Organization Assurance is for one legal entity only, but may include multiple names (e.g. trading names);
2. The Organization Administrator (O-Admin) must be an Assurer and must be delegated by the Applicant;
3. All organizations must be verified by Extract from an Approved Registry. The Organization Assurer may conduct a Registry check (search).
4.2 Process requirements for the Organization
For legal entities requesting Organization Assurance under this subsidiary policy:
- The Representative must be duly authorized to sign on behalf of the organization, and may be:
  1. The Secretary as verified in the Extract. This is the preferred and best option;
  2. A full Director of the managing or Executive board, as verified in the Extract;
  3. Any other Representative must prove that they are duly authorized to sign on behalf of the entity (e.g. via explicit written delegation or under organisation bylaws and rules). This will require due diligence to be conducted by the Organization Assurer, to the standard and/or for approval by the Organisation Assurer.
4.3 Process requirements for Individuals
For Individuals requesting Organization Assurance under this subsidiary policy:
1. The individual Member must be a CAcert Assurer;
2. The individual Member may act as her own Organization Administrator.
4.4 Process requirements for Partnerships
For Partnerships requesting Organization Assurance under this subsidiary policy:
1. The Partners must be verified via the Extract;
2. The applying Partner (signatory) must be an CAcert Assurer;
3. Where the Applicant is not the managing Partner, further due diligence should be conducted (e.g. verification that the role and title of the Applicant is suitable).
If in doubt approval should be obtained from each of the Partners who should be individually Assured.
4.5 Application Form: CAcert Organization Assurance Programme (COAP) Form
On the CAcert Organization Assurance Programme Form (COAP Form), the following must be specified:
1. Licensing Authority must be specified as the Approved Registry which issued the Extract;
2. The unique registration Identifier must be provioded where issued (a Registry may not issue a unique Identifier for sole traders and partnerships);
3. Type of entity that is registered, according to the classification created by the Registry.
The essential purpose of the information is to permit the Organization Assurer and others to clearly and accurately identify the Organization as actively registered within the Registry, as well as its Representatives.

Appendix 1

Table of accepted Trade Office Registries for EU countries

The following table defines the accepted Registries for Europe.

EU Country	Registry	Web Address	Internal ID	Date of Acceptance	Remarks
Austria	- Bundesministerium für Justiz - HF Data GmbH	http://.bmj.gv.at http://www.firmenbuch.at	BMJ FB	2008-08-18 2008-08-18	-- --
Belgium	Kruispuntbank van Onderneminge Banque-Carrefour des Entreprises	http://kbo-bce-ps.economie.fgov.be http://kbo-bce-ps.economie.fgov.be	KBO BCE	2009-02-09 2009-02-09	--
Denmark	Central Business Register	http://www.virk.dk	CVR	2009-02-10	--
Finland	Yritys-Ja Yhteisötietojärjestelmä	http://www.ytj.fi	BIS	2007-03-07	--
France	- Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie - Registre National du Commerce et des Sociétées - Inforgreffe	http://www.cci.fr http://euridile.inpi.fr http://www.infogreffe.fr	CCI INPI IG	2008-08-19 2008-08-19 2008-08-19	-- INPI closed, redirected to to IG
Ireland	Companies Registration Office	http://www.cro.ie	CRO	2008-04-16	--

Netherlands: Kamer van Koophandel www.kvk.nl KvK 13-05-2008 Sweden: Skatteverket www.skatteverket.se SKAT 22-05-2008

Bolagsverket www.bolagsverket.se BOL 22-05-2008

United Kingdom: Companies House www.companieshouse.gov.uk CH 22-05-2008 Table of accepted Trade Office Registries for other European countries

Europe Registry web address internal ID acceptance Norway: Brønnøysund Register Centre www.brreg.no BRC 09-05-2008

Nøkkelopplysninger

fra Enhetsregisteret w2.brreg.no BRREQ 09-05-2008

End of Organization Assurance Policy - Sub-Policy Europe

Appendix 2

This Appendix is part of Work in Process by definition.
Table of Trade Office Registries for EU countries which Registries are in process of acceptation

The orange diamond ♦ denotes a Registry being accepted. The red bullit • denotes a Registry awaiting feedback from that country to be accepted for organisation registration Extracts. EU country Registry web address internal ID Bulgaria: • Ministry of Justice www.mjeli.government.bg NGO Cyprus: • Dept of Registrar of companies www.mcit.gov.cy DRC Czech Republic: • Ministry of Finance wwwinfo.mfcr.cz ARES Estonia: • E-Äriregister ariregister.rik.ee RIK Germany: ♦ Handelsregister Portal www.handelsregister.de HR Greece: • Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry www.acci.gr ACCI Hungary: • Ministry of Justice www.im.hu IM Italy: • InfoCamere webtelemaco.infocamere.it IC Latvia: • Lursoft www.lursoft.lv LS Lithuania: • Juridiniu Asmenu Registras www.registrucentras.lt JAR Luxembourg: • Registre de Commerce et des Sociétés www.rcsl.lu RCSL Malta: • Registry of Companies registry.mfsa.com.mt RNFS Poland: • Ministry of Justice opp.ms.gov.pl CORS Portugal: • Conservatórias do Registo Comercial www.dgrn.mj.pt RC Romania: • ReCom Min. of Justice recom.onrc.ro ReCom Slovakia: • Obchodný register www.orsr.sk ORSR Slovenia: • Register Podjetij www.gzs.si GZS Spain: • Registro Mercantil Central www.nnc.es RMC Europe Registry web address ID Andorra: • Oficina de Marques www.ompa.ad OMPA Bosinia & Herzegovina: • Gosodarska komora Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine www.kfbih.com KFBiH Croatia: • Registar Poslovnih Subjekata www1.biznet.hr BIZNET Gibraltar: • Companies House www.companieshouse.gi CH Serbia: • Serbian Commercial Register Агенција за привредне регистре www.apr.sr.gov.yu SCR Switzerland: • Central Business Names Index portal www.zefix.admin.ch Zefix

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Brain/PoliciesAndSignificantTechnicalStandards/OrganisationAssurancePolicy/Sub-Policy/EU (last edited 2011-05-03 07:05:19 by UlrichSchroeter)