CAcert Organisation Assurance Program sub-policy
for countries in Europe

CAcert Policy Status
Author: Teus Hagen
Creation date: 20080501
Status: DRAFT p20080920
Next status: policy 2009

0. Preliminaries

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

1. Scope

This sub-policy is applicable to:

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 Organisation 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 Organisations

  1. The organisation 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 Organisations

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 organisations 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 Organisation 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.

2.2 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 online service provided by the Registry, acquired by the Organisation 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 Organisation 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 Organisation 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 organisations;
  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 organisation. 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.

Organisation Assurance is available to any active entity which can provide the above Extract.

4. Assurance Process

4.1 In general

The Organisation Assurer should take note of the following:

  1. Each Organisation Assurance is for one legal entity only, but may include multiple names (e.g. trading names);
  2. The Organisation Administrator (O-Admin) must be an Assurer and must be delagated by the Applicant;
  3. All organisations must be verified by Extract from an Approved Registry. The Organisation Assurer may conduct a Registry check (search).

4.2 Process requirements for the Organisation

For legal entities requesting Organisation Assurance under this subsidiary policy:

4.3 Process requirements for Individuals

For Individuals requesting Organisation Assurance under this subsidiary policy:

  1. The individual Member must be a CAcert Assurer;
  2. The individual Member may act as her own Organisation Administrator.

4.4 Process requirements for Partnerships

For Partnerships requesting Organisation 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 Organisation Assurance Programme (COAP) Form

On the CAcert Organisation 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 Organisation Assurer and others to clearly and accurately identify the Organisation as actively registered within the Registry, as well as its Representatives.





Appendix I

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 accepted
Austria: Bundesministerium
für Justiz
www.bmj.gv.at BMJ 18-08-2008
HF Data GmbH www.firmenbuch.at FB 18-08-2008
Belgium: Kruispuntbank van Onderneminge kbo-bce-ps.economie.fgov.be KBO 10-02-2009
Banque-Carrefour des Entreprises kbo-bce-ps.economie.fgov.be BCE 10-02-2009
Denmark: Central Business Register virk.dk CVR 10-02-2009
Finland: Yritys-Ja
Yhteisötietojärjestelmä
www.ytj.fi BIS 07-03-2007
France: Chambre de Commerce
et d'Industrie
www.cci.fr CCI 19-08-2008
Registre National du
Commerce et de Sociétés
www.euridile.inpi.fr INPI 19-08-2008
InfoGreffe www.infogreffe.fr IG 19-08-2008
Ireland: Companies Registration Office www.cro.ie CRO 16-04-2008
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




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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