Professional Associations
Nearly 50 professional associations have partnered with us to provide trusted digital signatures to their members.
Our Added Value
Protecting the public is a top priority for professional associations. We offer you the possibility to set the rules for your members’ use of the digital signature so that you can manage the right to exercise and/or use a professional title in the digital age. In doing so, you ensure that a member is in good standing and that their signature is legitimate at the time the document is signed. We also conduct a face-to-face identity verification to ensure the highest level of reliability.
There are many benefits to using a trusted digital signature in many different industries:
- You give members a way to make the shift to digital, to prove that they are signing electronic documents in their capacity as professionals and to detect any alteration to their official documents.
- Third parties and clients can also speed up their digital shift by ensuring that a document is authentic, that the signer is who they say they are, and that they are allowed to use their professional title.
- Documents that are digitally signed by your members have the same legal value as hand-signed paper documents.
We provide free technical support and trainings at every step in the implementation process.
Our digital signature services include a variety of training resources and support services offered free of charge. We also offer webinars every week so that you can start using your digital signature quickly and easily.
We help clients take full advantage of our digital signatures by making it possible for them to receive documents in PDF/A-3 format to that they can incorporate files other than PDFs into their signed documents.
Our experts review your regulatory framework along with you to establish the guidelines for your members’ use of the digital signature.
Deployment is fast and easy. Fully implementing the digital signature service takes less than two months.
Switching to digital signatures doesn’t require a huge investment. The transition ensures a good return on investment, both for members and for professional associations.
They Chose Us
The digital seal that Notarius provides to our members is an additional guarantee of quality for clients, in addition to providing added value to our members. Our partnership with Notarius serves to support OTTIAQ’s mission to protect the public. - Donald Barabé, Certified translator and president of OTTIAQ
Notarius and your Association
Learn more about digital signatures and find out the responses to your questions in the video series and the Q&A PDF.
Find Your Professional Association
Why do professional associations choose to issue digital signatures to their members?
Controlling the use of seals and protecting the public is an integral part of an association’s responsibilities. In paper form, this is accomplished by placing a seal that embeds the name, member number and designation as a member and is made official by hand-signing and dating the document. But how can associations securely seal official documents in a digital world where a seal can easily be replicated and copied from one document to another? Associations that offer digital signatures choose to control use of seals in a digital world to ensure that only members in good standing can sign official documents. It also allows clients and government agencies to instantly verify that the document has been signed by a professional with the authority to do so.
Can someone continue to use a digital signature after it is revoked?
A digital signature belongs to an individual and can only be used by that person. However, in most cases, the signature is issued by the association or an employer and not directly to an individual. Thus, a digital signature can be revoked by the association if a member is not in good standing, or by the employer if the employee has left the company. Once it has been determined that a person no longer has the authority to use their signature, the revocation is instant and the digital signature is no longer operational.
NOTE: The revocation of a signature does not invalidate previously applied signatures (since they were in good standing at the time; it only prevents individuals from signing new documents.
Who has control over the digital signature?
Notarius digital signatures could be compared to a digital passport. Digital signatures are issued via a trusted certificate authority such as Notarius. Although Notarius provides the hardware and expertise to generate a digital signature, our partners (i.e. professional associations) or customers (corporate entities or government agencies) have full control over the issuance of these digital identities. Once issued to an individual, the professional has full control over the digital signature and the seal/signature images that may be used to sign a document. Conversely, Notarius can revoke the signature if a subscription is not paid in full and the association/ corporation can revoke the signature if no longer authorized by the issuing body (revocation of professional status or no longer employed).
NOTE : La révocation d’une signature n’invalide pas les signatures apposées précédemment (puisque le signataire était en règle à ce moment), mais elle empêche le signataire qui n’est plus en règle de signer de nouveaux documents.
Why should professional associations choose Notarius to issue digital signatures to their members?
Notarius has been a recognized certificate authority since 1998. Our unique business model allows professional associations to set the rules for their members’ use of the digital signature so that they can manage the right to exercise and/or use their professional title in the digital age.
What will happen if Notarius goes bankrupt?
This is very unlikely to happen. Notarius is part of a technology portfolio that is well integrated with provincial, national and international government institutions. In addition, we have over 25 years of expertise offering digital signature services with continued growth. Our integrated partnerships with over 50 professional associations mitigate this eventuality even further. These associations foster an interdependent digital ecosystem that would not exist without our infrastructure.
In the rare case that this should happen, our certification policy includes the ability to export our digital signatures to our partners, so they can choose the best approach to implement a new service.