CAcert Organisation Assurance Program sub-policy for United Kingdom (UK)

Author: Sam Johnston
Creation date: 2008-04-22
Status: WIP 2008-04-22
Next status: DRAFT 05-2008

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:

1. United Kingdom (Scotland, Northern Ireland, England, Wales) legal entities:
   
   1. Sole Traders
   2. Partnerships
   3. Limited Liability Partnerships (LLP)
   4. Companies

2. Requirements

This section describes any scope specific requirements that are not otherwise defined in the OAP.

2.1 Organisation

1. For sole traders and partnerships operating under their own name(s), business name registration is OPTIONAL.
2. Applicants MUST be a valid legal entity but MAY have an arbitrary number of registered trading names.

2.2 Records

1. Digital Signatures MAY be accepted in the United Kingdom under the implementation of European Directive 2000/31/EC by way of the The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002 No. 2013).
2. Historic documents MAY be accepted where it can be proven that material changes have not been made (eg via absence of subsequent submissions in official document listings).

2.3 Application Form

1. The licensing authority MUST be specified as 'Companies House, United Kingdom' for Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships.
2. Company Number MUST be specified where applicable.

3. Registration

3.1 Registries

1. Companies House ("CH") [http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/]
   
   1. Web CHeck [http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/WebCHeck/fastrack/]
      
2. Nominet UK [http://www.nominet.org.uk/]
   
   1. .uk ccTLD WHOIS [http://www.nominet.org.uk/other/whois/]
      

3.2 Identifiers

1. Company Number is a unique identifying number assigned by CH when a body becomes registered as a company.

3.3 Documents

1. Current Appointments Report

4. Processes

4.1 Assurance

1. Each person listed in an application MUST be individually assured and referenced by a confirmed email.
2. Sole traders operating under their own name(s) MAY be automatically approved without further checks.
3. Partnerships operating under the names of the individual partners MUST have verified approval of all of the individuals (eg by digitally signed emails).
4. All other trading names MUST be manually verified to the satisfaction of the OA with reference to TWO OR MORE of the following:
   
   1. Company Stationery (annotated per Business Names Act 1995)
   2. Particulars of Ownership notices (per section 4 of Business Names Act 1995)
   3. Utility Bill (eg electricity, gas, water)
   4. Official Registries (eg telephone book, WHOIS)
5. Limited Liability Partnership applicants MUST additionally be verified with CH as a current individual member (eg via a Current Appointments Report).
6. Company applications MUST be made by an individual who is duly authorised to sign on behalf of the company:
   1. Officeholder applicants (directors or preferably secretary) MUST be verified in a "Current Appointments Report" (obtained from CH by the OA where fees are reclaimable from the applicant).
   2. Any other applicant MUST prove that they are duly authorised to sign on behalf of the entity (for example via delegation and/or under company rules) to the satisfaction of the OA, for approval by the OAO.