Electronic signature for international organizations: what will change?

The legislation establishes a special procedure for the use of electronic signatures by international and intergovernmental organizations, as well as their branches and representative offices operating in Russia. The amendments aim to eliminate the previous uncertainty regarding the issuance of electronic signature certificates for such organizations and define the rules for confirming the authority of individuals acting on their behalf.

The new provisions allow for the issuance of electronic signature verification key certificates and qualified certificates to international organizations, their branches, and representative offices in accordance with Russian regulations. They also establish requirements for the information contained in such certificates, as well as the procedure for identifying applicants.

Main changes

The main changes relate to several areas of electronic interaction between international organizations and Russian state and municipal systems:

• a special procedure for issuing electronic signature certificates for international organizations is being introduced;
• similar rules are established for their branches and representative offices;
• It determines what information must be included in the certificate;
• the certificate is linked to a specific representative of the organization;
• the procedure for terminating the validity of a qualified certificate in the event of a representative losing his powers is established;
• a uniform format for machine-readable power of attorney is introduced;
• The possibility of remote identification of persons applying for a qualified certificate is provided.

Thus, the changes affect not only the technical aspects of using electronic signatures, but also issues of confirming the authority of representatives of international organizations.

Who can receive a certificate?

For an international or intergovernmental organization, the certificate may, in addition to its name, indicate the name of an individual who has the authority to act on its behalf without a power of attorney. This individual is an individual whose authority is directly derived from the documents governing the creation and operation of the organization in question.

A slightly different approach is used for a branch or representative office. In this case, the authorized person is the head of the department, acting under a power of attorney issued by the parent organization.

Similar requirements are established for qualified certificates. This means that an electronic signature will be associated not only with a specific organization, but also with the authority of the person using it in electronic interactions.

In practical terms, the organization will need to determine in advance:

• who has the right to act on behalf of an international organization without a power of attorney;
• who is the head of the Russian branch or representative office;
• On the basis of which document is the manager’s authority confirmed;
• which persons will directly use the qualified certificates;
• how the change or termination of the powers of such persons will be controlled.

What happens if the representative changes?

Special attention is given to situations where an individual ceases to have the authority to act on behalf of an international organization, branch, or representative office. In such a case, their qualified certificate is terminated in accordance with the established procedure.

This avoids a situation in which an employee or manager who has already ceased working with the organization continues to use a previously received electronic signature.

For businesses, this means aligning HR and corporate procedures with electronic signature control. When a branch or representative office manager changes, it will be necessary not only to issue new authorization documents but also to ensure the termination of the previous manager’s certificate.

In particular, when changing a representative, it is important:

• fix the date of termination of his powers;
• terminate the validity of the relevant qualified certificate;
• issue a certificate for a new authorized representative;
• check the former representative’s access to information systems;
• if necessary, replace or reissue machine-readable powers of attorney.

This procedure reduces the risk of using an electronic signature by a person who is no longer authorized to perform actions on behalf of the organization.

Single machine-readable power of attorney

Another area of change concerns machine-readable powers of attorney. A unified form for the machine-readable powers of attorney is envisaged, which will be generated and posted by the authorized federal agency on the government services portal.

At the same time, a requirement is being established for additional forms of powers of attorney that may be used by operators of state and municipal information systems. These forms must comply with uniform established requirements.

For international organizations, this should simplify interaction with various government systems. Currently, with electronic document management, the correct registration of individual employee credentials is essential, so standardizing the MCD format will reduce technical and organizational issues.

In practice, a power of attorney is used to confirm that a specific employee has the authority to perform certain actions on behalf of the organization within the information system. Therefore, it is important for organizations to ensure that the power of attorney corresponds to the actual scope of the representative’s authority.

How will the applicant’s identity be confirmed?

Separate rules apply to individuals applying to a certification authority for a qualified certificate. These apply to both Russian citizens and foreign citizens, stateless persons, and individual entrepreneurs acting on behalf of an international organization, branch, or representative office.

Identification can be performed either in person or remotely. Remote identification utilizes information from state identification and authentication systems and legally required information from the Unified Biometric System.

As a result, foreign representatives of international organizations will not always need to personally visit a certification authority to verify their identity. This is especially relevant for organizations that operate in Russia through branches and representative offices and regularly use electronic document management.

What is important for organizations to check?

For international organizations already operating in Russia, the main practical issue will be aligning existing electronic signature procedures with the new regulations. First and foremost, it is necessary to determine which employees use qualified certificates and on what basis they act on behalf of the organization.

In this case, it is worth checking branches and representative offices separately, since their directors act on the basis of powers of attorney from the parent organization, and the termination of such powers is directly related to the termination of the qualified certificate.

As part of the preparation, you can check:

• list of valid qualification certificates;
• powers of each person to whom the certificate is issued;
• documents confirming the representative’s right to act on behalf of the organization;
• powers of attorney of heads of branches and representative offices;
• Machine-readable powers of attorney used;
• the procedure for notifying the certification authority of changes in authority;
• access of former employees and managers to electronic systems;
• the procedure for issuing certificates to new representatives.

The new rules effectively link an international organization’s electronic signature to a specific individual and their current authority. This simultaneously addresses two objectives: ensuring full electronic interaction between international organizations and Russian systems and reducing the risk of electronic signatures being used by former representatives.

Of particular importance is the unification of machine-readable powers of attorney and the ability to enable remote identification. For international organizations and their Russian branches, this should make the electronic signature process more transparent and reduce the number of situations where documents or powers of attorney do not meet the requirements of a specific information system.

Overall, the changes establish a unified procedure for working with electronic signatures for international organizations, their branches, and representative offices. For the organizations themselves, the most important aspects are monitoring the authority of representatives, promptly terminating certificates if they are lost, and correctly issuing machine-readable powers of attorney.