OAA Continuous Education - Electronic
Document Authentication: What you
need to know & requirements
October 2023
Charles Tremblay
Housekeeping Stuff
• This session is being recorded
• Your hosts
• Use the Question feature during the presentation
• If we have time, there will be a Q&A session at the end
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Agenda
• Who is Notarius
• Current context
• Legal Requirements & Document Reliability Ingredients
• Different Types of Electronic Signatures
• Ontario Association of Architects Requirements
• Why
• Free and easy validation for the public
• Quick demo; Signing and Validating
• Q&A
Who is Notarius?
Our Expertise & Mission
25 years of experience in providing trusted digital
signatures to professionals, governments, organizations
and systems.
We enable the production and issuance of legally reliable
electronic documents that can be opened, read and
authenticated over decades.
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Certifications & Recognition
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Close to 60 Regulators Across 16 Professions in Canada
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The Changing Business
Landscape
Rapid and Impactful Changes
Cloud adoption growing rapidly:
•
From anywhere, at any time, on any device, as a Service
Application-based economy
•
•
How we engage with customers, partners and suppliers
Our smartphones have outcompeted the toothbrush!
Covid-19 has drastically accelerated this transformation with work from home
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Legal Context & Document
Reliability;
What to Look For
Common Legal Frameworks
• Over the last 30 years, information technology has fostered the development of
e-commerce.
• This has led to significant changes in business practices and processes which
have allowed documents to evolve from paper to a digital form.
• In order to overcome various legal obstacles and facilitate this transition, nations
have enacted laws recognizing the legal validity of electronic documents.
• In Canada, like in many countries, we endorsed the Uniform Electronic
Commerce Act, developed in 1996 by the United Nations Commission on
International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and recommended that its provisions be
adopted by Canadian provinces.
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The Electronic Commerce Act Ontario
Functional Equivalency Rules
Legal recognition of electronic information and documents
4 Information or a document to which this Act applies is not invalid or unenforceable by
reason only of being in electronic form. 2000, c. 17, s. 4.
Legal requirement re original documents
8 (1) A legal requirement that an original document be provided, retained or examined is
satisfied by the provision, retention or examination of an electronic document if,
(a)
there exists a reliable assurance as to the integrity of the
information contained in the electronic document from the time the document to be
provided, retained or examined was first created in its final form, whether as a written
document or as an electronic document;
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The Electronic Commerce Act Ontario
Legal requirement that document be signed
11 (1) Subject to subsections (3) and (4), a legal requirement that a document be signed
is satisfied by an electronic signature. 2000, c. 17, s. 11 (1).
Reliability requirements
(3) If the document is prescribed for the purposes of this subsection or belongs to a class
prescribed for those purposes, the legal requirement is satisfied only if in light of all the
circumstances, including any relevant agreement, the purpose for which the document is
created and the time the electronic signature is made,
the electronic signature is reliable for the purpose of identifying
(a)
the person; and
the association of the electronic signature with the relevant
(b)
electronic document is reliable. 2000, c. 17, s. 11 (3).
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See the Similarities
UNCITRAL (international)
PIPEDA (Federal)
E-COMMERCE ACT ONTARIO
(Provincial)
The signature creation data are, within the
context in which they are used, linked to
the signatory and to no other person
The electronic signature resulting from the
use by a person of the technology or
process is unique to the person
The electronic signature is reliable for
the purpose of identifying the person
The signature creation data were, at the
time of signing, under the control of the
signatory and of no other person
The use of the technology or process by a
person to incorporate, attach or associate
the person’s electronic signature to an
electronic document is under the sole
control of the person
There exists a reliable assurance as
to the integrity of the information
contained in the electronic document
from the time the document to be
provided, retained or examined was first
created in its final form, whether as a
written document or as an electronic
document
Where a purpose of the legal requirement
for a signature is to provide assurance as
to the integrity of the information to which
it relates, any alteration made to that
information after the time of signing is
detectable
The electronic signature can be linked with
an electronic document in such a way that
it can be used to determine whether the
electronic document has been changed
since the electronic signature was
incorporated in, attached to or associated
with the electronic document.
The association of the electronic
signature with the relevant electronic
document is reliable.
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Key Ingredients for Document Reliability
Identity
Integrity
Know who’s signing!
Document alterations
are traceable.
Authenticity
Proof of identity and
integrity embedded in the
electronic records.
Longevity
Readable and valid
for decades.
Official records require a high degree of reliability
• even if the technology used to sign, or its provider, no longer exists
• even if the audit log cannot be found
Uncompromised reliability
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Introduction to
eSignatures & Varying Levels
of Reliability
Terminology
A signature is defined as
Permanent
Restrictive
Static
Traceable
Exclusive
Intentional
Electronic Signature
Digital Signature
Based on Public Key Infrastructure
Signature carried by an electronic medium
Variable reliability
The characteristics of the signature are
reinforced by an asymmetric key encryption
Increase the reliability of a document
Certificate Authority (“CA”)
(Notarius)
Registration Authority (“RA”)
OAA
Trusted third party
Guarantees the veracity of the information contained
Company or organization responsible for
approval and validation
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Varying Levels of Reliability
Electronic Signatures
Trusted Electronic Signatures
Digital Signatures
Higher Legal Value / Higher Legal Reliability
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E-Signature Spectrum
Wet Ink
Signature/Stamp
Scan
E-Signature
« Self-Issued »
Digital Signature
Trusted Digital
Signature Certificate
Identity?
Civic Identity Verified
+ Issued by a Trusted
Certificate Authority
? Integrity
? Identity
? Reliability
 Integrity
+/- Identity
+/- Reliability
 Integrity
? Identity
? Reliability
 Integrity
 Identity
 Reliability
 Professional title
verified
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Trusted Digital Signatures
as an Enabler
Ontario Regulatiors that Issue Digital Signatures
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Regulatory Notice RN.01;
OAA Professional Seal – Application (Usage)
Types of Seals
The OAA has two professional seal types: a physical seal and a digital seal.
The OAA physical seal is purchased directly via the OAA Office of the Registrar.
The OAA digital seal, which is a sealing process that embeds a digital
certificate in the sealed documents, is acquired via subscription with Notarius.
The official issuance type will be on record and forms part of the OAA Register.
To complement the use of the professional physical and digital seal types, the
OAA will provide the applicant with high-resolution images of their seal.
Benefit of choice; paper management or digital records managements
• One key metric; document volume.
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Regulatory Notice RN.01;
OAA Professional Seal – Application (Usage)
Digital OAA Seal Application
The procedures set out below must be followed:
Once members have obtained a digital OAA seal, any document to
which a member’s seal must be applied will be signed and sealed via
the Notarius authentication process, which will embed a digital
certificate in the document(s). A digital seal certificate embeds the
information, including the time and date in your documents.
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Regulatory Notice RN.01;
OAA Professional Seal – Application (Usage)
A. Terminology
• “Digital signature/ Digital signing certificate” means cryptographically protected
information in which the veracity of the certificate details is certified by a
Certificate Authority.
• “Digital Seal” means digital signatures that include additional information regarding
the professional affiliation of the licensed member, which is cryptographically
asserted and controlled by OAA.
• “Electronic impression” or “Seal Image” means a visual reproduction of a
physical seal, which will be provided by the OAA. Members may add the visual
image of their hand-written signature to the image provided by the OAA. The date
and time will be embedded in the digital certificate and is verifiable.
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OAA’s Professional Digital Signatures
• Confirms the signer’s identity (The Electronic Commerce Act Ontario)
• Protects the data integrity of the electronic document (The Electronic Commerce
Act Ontario)
• Confirms that the person is a registered professional with the OAA
• Issuance and revocation under the control of the OAA
• Its use is under the sole control of the licensee
• Is easily and freely verifiable by the public & relying party
• To support their mission of public safety
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Network of Trust
• Competency profile
• Control over issuance and
use of DS in real time
• Enforcing regulatory
framework
• Meeting electronic
document legal reliability
requirements
• Benefits of digital transformation;
• Increased efficiencies
• Improved workflows and time savings
• Reducing costs over paper
RELYING
management and provide substantial
savings given challenging budgetary
3rd parties
times
Customers &
• Trust!
Governments
ISSUER
OAA
SIGNER
Licensees
• Keeping pace with
technology and client’s
needs
• Looking for increased
efficiencies
• Meeting electronic
document legal reliability
requirements
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Why?
Because Forged Documents are Real
Sources:
https://www.peo.on.ca/latest-news/peo-lays-charges-unlicensed-crane-lifting-device-safety-inspection-service
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Because Forged Documents are Real
Sources:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/engineering-building-inspectors-ontario1.5676977
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/engineers-push-digital-seal-to-stop-bogusblueprints-1.1359641
https://ospe.on.ca/featured/ospe-engineer-uncovers-widespread-forgery/
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More Examples & Illegal Practice
«Professional Engineers Ontario had revoked Cook’s licence in 2014 ... He had surrendered his
seal, but made a duplicate and had used it on plans… A building official who received the building
documents checked the status of the engineering licence and realized the problem.»
Sources
• https://www.canadianconsultingengineer.com/companies-people/ontario-contractor-fined-5000-unauthorized-use-professional-engineers-seal/1003406122/
• https://www.canadianconsultingengineer.com/business-professional/former-engineer-made-duplicate-of-surrendered-seal/1003401653/#
• https://www.canadianconsultingengineer.com/business-professional/toronto-area-man-convicted-illegal-use-professional-engineer-title/1003407082/
• https://www.canadianconsultingengineer.com/companies-people/pickering-man-fined-10000-for-illegal-use-of-p-eng/1003409049/
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What Impacts Have We
Seen
Impacts for Professionals
Use of the digital signature
•+50% use digital signature once a week (10% every day)
•+40% sign more than a dozen documents per month
•97% customer satisfaction (Product and Services)
•92% renewal rate (most non renewals are retirements)
Key Benefits listed by our customers
•Security and integrity of document (94%)
•Better environmental practice vs paper (92%)
•Increased productivity (86%)
•Improved visual quality of PDF (81%)
•Cost reduction (76%)
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Free and easy validation
Tools for the Public
Free and easy Validation Tools & Quick Demo
• Adobe® PDF Reader
Simply follow the step by step to Configure Adobe® PDF Reader at
https://support.notarius.com/en/help/kb/how-to-configure-adobe-acrobatto-sign-or-validate-signatures/
BlueBeam
https://support.notarius.com/en/help/kb/how-do-you-configurebluebeam-revu-to-validate-signatures/
• ConsignO Desktop
Download for free at https://www.notarius.com/en/resources/download under
“Individual Components”
• www.verifio.com
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Quick Demo
Quick Recap and Key Takeaways
• Understand what’s a digital signature
• Identity + Integrity = Authenticity & Reliability
• Understand requirement for electronic documents of many regulators accross
Canada
• Understand the reasons behind the requirements
• Effective means to protect against document forgery
• Understand the importance of validation to prevent document forgery
• The benefits of choice (members can still choose between paper or e-docs).
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Contact
Charles Tremblay
Director, Digital Transformation
514-424-5409
Charles.tremblay@notarius.com
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