Organisation Assurance - sub-policy for Australian organisations



Author: Robert Cruikshank
Creation date: WIP 2008-02-23 V0.1
Status: WIP DRAFT 2008-02-23 based on WIP version 0.2
Changes: policy email list discussion 12 March 2008 (teus) on: domain name check, CCA.
Date next status: changes expected in June 2008.

0. Preliminaries

This sub-policy describes how Organisation Assurers ("OAs") conduct assurances on Australian organisations. It fits within the overall web-of-trust or assurance process and the Organisation Assurance Policy (OAP) of CAcert.


1. Purpose

This is a subsidiary policy to the OAP.
  1. This sub-policy is applicable for the assurance of Australian organisations only.
  2. This sub-policy is an implementation of the OAP.
  3. Where the Assurance Officer (AO) is referred to below, this includes his local delegate.

2. Organisation Assurers

2.1 Requirements for the Organisation Assurer

In addition to the requirements defined in the OAP, an OA must meet the following requirements for assuring Australian organisations:
  1. Knowledge of common legal forms of organisations in Australia.
  2. Must pass an additional test on local knowledge, even if he is already an OA.
  3. Should help the AO to define local requirements.

3. Process

3.1 Organisations

Acceptable organisations under this sub-policy must be:
  1. Organisations created under the rules of the Australian jurisdiction.
  2. Organisations must not be revoked by a competent authority with direct oversight over the organisation.

3.2 Documents

The organisation has to provide documents to prove the essential standard of Organisation Assurance as defined in the policy:
  1. The primary mechanism to prove existence is to get an official extract from the official register, either via an online interface or via physical means (organisation is asked to carry the costs)
  2. Where not available, an official document will be required from the company, subject to such checks as defined by the AO.
  3. If copies of official extracts from the official register are provided, they must be officially certified
  4. Extracts from the official register should not be older than 4 weeks.
  5. The AO maintains a list of which specific documents and tests can be acceptable for certain types of organisations.
  6. The OA can ask for additional documents if needed to validate required information for the assurance process.

3.3 COAP

In addition to the checks defined in the policy, the COAP form for Australian organisations requires:
  1. The OA to keep all documentation for 7 years.
  2. Signatures from organisation officials must meet the following requirements
    1. as legally specified for the type of organisation
    2. as specified in the official documents (i.e. the excerpt from the register)
    3. as delegated within the organisation (proof of delegation needed)

3.4 Acceptable Documentation

An Australian Organisational Assurance must be preceded with the following searches, documents and agreements:
  1. To prove the organisation in question exists an ASIC search is to be performed using the given organisation number. This can be performed at this site http://www.search.asic.gov.au/gns001.html. A printout of this search should be made and retained.
  2. This search can be extended with a D&B search which should also give the contact phone number for this company. This search can be performed at this site http://www.dnb.com.au/express/default.asp. A copy of this search should be printed and retained. The phone number can be compared with any phone numbers provided by the applicant if any.
  3. To help establish a link between the domain name and the company name a whois search is to be conducted and the registered business name compared to the ASIC search result.
  4. Signing rights are to be determined by one of two possible processes.
    1. By requesting that the applicant perform an ASIC or D&B document search for a lodged document that contains the signature of the applicant and proves the rights of the applicant over the company name.
      1. Such a document could be a "Company Check" or "Business Check" (see http://www.dnb.com.au/express/about/about_dnbexpress_reports.asp).
      2. This document should be retrieved by hyperlink to the ASIC or D&B web site ensuring its authenticity. This search can attract a nominal fee.
    2. (This to go to general domain check system admin policy as it is an implementation thing? If not then it should be in OA Policy.): By placing a randomly generated CNAME or Text entry in the DNS zone file of the domain name in question. The randomly generated text is to be created by the OA and given to the the applicant with the COAP form.
  5. The organisation name and number should be consistent throughout:
    1. in the search documents both ASIC and whois.
    2. on the COAP form.
    3. and in the CAcert database.
  6. (This to go to OA Pol and to be deleted here?). The organisation must agree to the terms of the CAcert Community Agreement by signing the COAP and will therefor be subject to Arbitration.