Issuance a mandate certificate: who needs one and how to do it?

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Options for issuing a mandate certificate

Do you need a mandate certificate but don’t know exactly what it means or how to get one? It may seem complicated, but the process is actually easier than you might expect. In this article, you’ll learn who needs one, what it’s for, and how the issuance of a mandate certificate works in practice. Let’s get to it.

What is a mandate certificate and what is it for?

The legal framework for the institute known as the mandate certificate is provided by Act No. 272/2016 Coll. on trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and on amendment and supplementation of certain acts (hereinafter referred to as the “Act on trust services”).

In the provision of § 8 of this legal regulation we can also find a legal definition of a mandate certificate, which states that a mandate certificate is a qualified certificate for electronic signature issued to a natural person authorized by law or by virtue of law to act for or on behalf of another person, a public authority or on their behalf. Within the meaning of this provision, a mandate certificate is also a certificate issued to a natural person who carries out an activity pursuant to a special regulation or performs a function pursuant to a special regulation (hereinafter referred to as the ‘mandataire’).

The Mandate Certificate is issued by BRAIN:IT, the operator of the NFQES platform, and is valid for 1 year with the possibility of renewal for 1 or 2 years.

The basic purpose of a mandate certificate is to address the situation of signing the mandate holder. A mandate certificate is a type of qualified certificate that is intended for natural persons as defined in the Trust Services Act. These persons are referred to in the Act as mandataries, who have a mandate authorizing them to act on behalf of fewer other persons or public authorities.

The Mandate Certificate is an effective tool whose primary purpose is to speed up processes in the field of authorization of corporate, state and other public documents in a dynamically developing digital environment. The Mandate Certificate provides a high level of legal certainty for all parties involved.

Who is the mandate certificate intended for and who is the mandate holder?

The mandate certificate is intended for persons who have a so-called mandate. These persons are also referred to as mandate holders. In practice, this means that these persons are authorized to sign documents on behalf of other persons, institutions, or specific entities.

The mandate certificate is the proof of the mandate holder’s authorization:

• act for or on behalf of the principal,
• to carry out an activity according to a special regulation,
• perform a function under a special regulation.

Did you know that? ..

..A mandated certificate must never contain a pseudonym?

 

The website of the National Security Office of the Slovak Republic contains a list of authorizations for mandate holders.

In practice, the mandate holder may be:

• notaries and lawyers,
• experts, interpreters and translators,
• mayors and their representatives,
• partners in companies,
• the President and Deputy Prime Minister, state secretaries, ministers,
• judges and prosecutors,
• school principals and other persons appointed by law.

Did you know that? ..
..Does the school principal sign his/her admission decisions with a mandate certificate and electronically send the official decision to the student’s or his/her legal representative’s mailbox?

 

Options for issuing a mandate certificate

The Trust Services Act provides that a qualified trust service provider that has been granted qualified status by the National Security Authority of the Slovak Republic shall issue a mandate certificate to a principal who demonstrates authority to act on behalf of the principal as described above.

Thanks to digitalisation, many services can now be handled in a relatively short time compared to the time it took to handle these matters in the recent past.  BRAIN:IT je is a trusted service provider registered in the European Trusted List in accordance with European Regulation 910/2014 eIDAS.

Certificates issued by our company meet strict data protection and identity verification requirements, are legally recognized and acceptable. In practice, documents signed in this way can also be used as evidence in court, in all member states of the European Union.

BRAIN:IT issues this certificate to those interested in the mandate certificate through the NFQES digital platform.

In order to issue, obtain and use the Mandate Certificate in practical life, the following steps must be taken:

1. Register on the NFQES web platform.
2. Verification of personal data.
3. Creating a mandate verification request.
4. You can start signing.

The advantages of the mandate certificate are:

• Remote signing from any location with an internet connection, regardless of the opening hours of offices, companies and other institutions.
• The company’s solution supports the NFQES virtual smart card, which allows you to sign on the web portal www.slovensko.sk or any other applications.
• Possibilities of bulk signing of multiple documents while maintaining the highest legal certainty for each of the signed documents.
• Undeniability. The mandate certificate for electronic signature is a qualified electronic signature, ensuring the irrefutable authenticity of the act of signing the documents in question. Documents signed in this way can also serve as evidence in ongoing legal proceedings and cannot be rejected as evidence in court.

Cancellation of the mandate certificate

The Act on Trust Services, in Section 8., Paragraph 4., explicitly states that a request must be submitted to revoke a mandate certificate, and the following persons are authorized to do so.

A request to revoke a mandate certificate may be submitted by:

• a public authority or a person with whom the mandataire has exercised an activity or function after the mandataire ceases or terminates the exercise of its activity or function, as defined in the Trust Services Act in the provisions of Section 8(1),
• the principal after the authority of the principal to act for or on behalf of the principal has ceased,
• the mandataire after becoming aware that the mandataire has died, been declared dead or has ceased to exist,
• the mandataire after its authority to act for or on behalf of the mandataire has ceased or after its activities or functions have ceased or terminated.