How does eCH-0170 rate the registration of a natural person compared with that of a legal person?
For a natural person, registration quality depends on how strongly the person was identified and how the authenticator was handed over and renewed; for a legal person (a company), it depends on the registration of the natural person acting for it, the identification of the company itself and the link between the two.
A natural person (natürliche Person) is a human being. Three things decide how trustworthy the registration is:
- Identification: how thoroughly the person's identity was checked.
- Handover (Übergabe) of the authenticator: did the token, card or code reach the right person?
- Renewal and replacement (Verlängerung, Ersatz): are the same standards kept when the authenticator expires or is lost?
A legal person (juristische Person), for example a company or association, cannot show up at a counter. Someone always acts for it, so three different questions apply:
- How well is the natural person who acts for the company registered?
- How well is the company itself identified (for example against the commercial register)?
- How reliably is the link established, that is, is this person really authorised to act for this company?
The rest of this topic covers natural persons only (the VSRN levels).