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No class-2 DSC will be issued from 01.01.2021

The Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA) issued the update on the Class 2 Digital Signature Certificate (DSC’s) issuance will be withdrawn. Withdrawal Class 2 DSC issuance

Class-3 DSC will be issued from 01.01.2021

Only Class 3 DSC will be issued from 1st January 2021

Will existing DSC will be invalid from 01.01.2021

No, existing Class-2 DSC will remain till the actual validity period.

Is there any notification for withdrawal of Class-2 DSC?

No, there is no notification issued on the date of issue of this article.

The Controller of Certifying Authorities (‘CCA’) has issued identity verification guidelines Version 2.0.

Extract of CCA guidelines version 2.0 is as follows:

Certifying Authorities (‘CA’) shall issue class 3 level individual signing certificate (both Personal & organizational) to the private key generated on a FIPS 140-2 level 2/3 validated Hardware cryptographic module (crypto tokens) with both Class 2 and Class 3 OID in the policy field. CA shall not issue class 2 level individual Signing certificates.

Is there any extension of date for withdrawal of Class-2 DSC?

Since notification is pending, there may or may not changes regarding date of withdrawal or any other details in this regard

Is verification of identity/address compulsory for DSC issuance?

Under the Information Technology Act, Digital Signature Certificates (DSC) are being issued by Certifying Authorities (CA) on successful verification of the identity and addresses credentials of the applicant.

Document proof as Identity and address

Each applicant for a personal digital signature certificate shall provide proof of Identity and proof of address as detailed below:

Document as proof of identity (Any one):

• Aadhaar (eKYC Service)
• Passport
• Driving License
• PAN Card
• Post Office ID card
• Bank Account Passbook/statement containing the photograph and signed by an individual with attestation by the concerned Bank official.
• Photo ID card issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs of Centre/State Governments.
• Any Government issued photo ID having Name & address.

Documents as proof of address (Any one):

• Aadhaar (eKYC Service)
• Telephone Bill
• Electricity Bill
• Water Bill
• Gas connection
• Bank Statements signed by the bank
• Service Tax/VAT Tax/Sales Tax registration certificate.
• Driving License (DL)/ Registration certificate (RC)
• Voter ID Card
• Passport
• Property Tax/ Corporation/ Municipal Corporation Receipt
• Any Government issued photo ID having Name & address

With the above documents the following conditions will apply.

• Validity of the Address Proof: In case of any utility bills like electricity, water, gas, and telephone bill, in the name of the applicant, the recent proof, but not earlier than 3 months from the date of application shall be attached.
• Using single document copy to be used for both Identity & Address proof: This may be considered. However, if the address in the Photo-id is different from the address given in the application then a separate address proof may be insisted for.
• Digitally signed documents: For Digitally Signed photo id document by the issuer, it can be accepted in electronic format where CA can validate the Digital Signature. In such case, CA shall cross verify the photo with the video. The document shall be preserved along with its password (if any) for future references(Applicable for ePAN, Driving License etc being issued by respective issuers in digitally signed form)

GST registration Verification

• For GST verification, CA shall be ASP/GSP of GST-GSP where GSP application expose GST System functionalities to ASP/GSP.
• CA shall use only the organisational GST details verification services provided by GST or their approved GSPs through APIs.
• The organisational details include Organisation Name (Legal Name of the Organization), Address & status (active/non-active) at the time of verification.
• CA shall ensure the “organization name” is matching with the certificate application, and also ensure the organization is active with filings lesser than 3 months.
• CA shall preserve the digitally signed proof of organisational GST details obtained from GST services.
• The proof of verification shall be digitally signed by the CA.

Supporting Documents in respect of Existence of organization

Individual/Proprietorship Firm

• The proof of organisational GST verification details as mentioned in Annexure III.

OR all the below mentioned documents

• Original Bank Statement with transactions less than 3 months, signed by the Bank. Bank Statement shall be in the “organization name”. As an alternate to bank statement, a signed letter from the bank confirming the account existence and organisation name can be provided.
• Copy of Organization Business registration certificate including Shops & Establishments

Partnership Firm

• The proof of organisational GST verification details as mentioned in Annexure III.

• OR all the below mentioned documents

• Original Bank Statement with transactions less than 3 months, signed by the Bank. Bank Statement shall be in the “organization name”. As an alternate to bank statement, a signed letter from the bank confirming the account existence and organisation name can be provided.
• Copy of Organization Business registration certificate including Shops & Establishments.
• Copy of Organization PAN Card

Corporate Entities

• The proof of organisational GST verification details as mentioned in Annexure III.

OR all the below mentioned documents

• Original Bank Statement with transactions less than 3 months, signed by the Bank. Bank Statement shall be in the “organization name”. As an alternate to bank statement, a signed letter from the bank confirming the account existence and organisation name can be provided.
• Copy of Organization Incorporation Certificate.
• Copy of Organization PAN Card

Association of person (body of individuals)

• The proof of organisational GST verification details as mentioned in Annexure III.

OR all the below mentioned documents

• Original Bank Statement with transactions less than 3 months, signed by the Bank. Bank Statement shall be in the “organization name”. As an alternate to bank statement, a signed letter from the bank confirming the account existence and organisation name can be provided.
• Copy of Organization Incorporation and Registration Certificate issued by authority such as Registrar.
• Copy of Organization PAN Card

Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)

• The proof of organisational GST verification details as mentioned in Annexure III.

OR all the below mentioned documents

• Original Bank Statement with transactions less than 3 months, signed by the Bank. Bank Statement shall be in the “organization name”. As an alternate to bank statement, a signed letter from the bank confirming the account existence and organisation name can be provided.
• Copy of Organization Incorporation certificate.
• Copy of Organization PAN Card

Non-Government Organisation (NGO)/Trust

• Original Bank Statement with transactions less than 3 months, signed by the Bank. Bank Statement shall be in the “organization name”. As an alternate to bank statement, a signed letter from the bank confirming the account existence and organisation name can be provided.
• Copy of Organization Incorporation certificate.
• Copy of Organization PAN Card

GUIDELINES

The guidelines issued by the Controller of Certifying Authorities are to be strictly followed by CAs.

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

• Unless and otherwise the date of implementation is specified, the effective date of implementation of guidelines will be from the date of publication on the website of Office of CCA. The changes due to these guidelines shall be referred to or incorporated in the subsequent revision of CPS of CAs.

• CA shall make sure the following text shall be displayed to the user before submission / signing of DSC application form.

Section 71 of IT Act stipulates that if anyone makes a misrepresentation or suppresses any material fact from the CCA or CA for obtaining any DSC such person shall be punishable with imprisonment up to 2 years or with fine up to one lakh rupees or with both.

• The eKYC information collected from applicant shall not be shared  by CA and  comply  with  all the provisions of IT Act  for protecting the  information  specifically  Rule 33  and 34 of IT CA Rules.

• The subscriber’s registered information with CA such as video, photo, ID cards, phone number, PAN/Aadhaar, other information submitted and not a part of certificate in readable form are confidential and its access shall be limited to only authorized CA personnel. Access, sharing, photographic images/video and/or retention of such information by anybody other than CA, as applicable under the provisions of IT Act, shall be liable for penalty for breach of confidentiality and privacy under section 72 of IT Act.

eKYC ACCOUNT

• eKYC account of DSC applicant is mandatory for applying for a DSC or availing eSign service. The verified information held by CA shall be used for issuance of DSC or eSign. For eSign service based on online Aadhaar authentication, eKYC account is not required.

• The eKYC account of the DSC applicant shall be created by CA based on eKYC of applicant (Bank, Organisational, PAN and Offline Aadhaar) or a direct verification (Foreign Nationals) . The information which are required in DSC application form and not present in the eKYC of applicant shall be submitted by the eKYC applicant and verified by CA before activating the eKYC account.

• In case eKYC account holder requires more than one account (fore.g personal and organizational), eKYC account holder must undergo all the verification  procedures  mentioned for the additional eKYC option. CA should treat both eKYC accounts  logically  under one eKYC account of the eKYC applicant.
• The mobile number and PAN can be the same. On the user interface for authentication , CA shall provide an option of selecting the account mode(personal/ organisational).
• The validity of eKYC account shall not be more than 2 years. The account (with same username, PAN, Mobile) can be extended only through carrying a fresh verification of the applicant under these guidelines.

• In case CA is not able to ascertain the genuineness of the e-KYC data submitted by applicant, CA shall reject the request.

• CA shall notify applicant the subscriber agreement for the use of KYC information for DSC issuance by CA on successful authentication by the applicant. The applicant shall have option to accept or reject the same.

• Applicant shall be able to access notifications, history of eSign transactions, account modification etc., activation & deactivation info and also manage any queries/disputes through eKYC account maintained by CA.

• Applicant shall have an option to activate, deactivate and close account at any point. Withdrawal Class 2 DSC issuance

• Appropriate fraud detection and preventive security mechanisms shall be implemented against enrollment frauds. Specifically CA should make sure that the page capturing PIN shall be free from the threat like phishing attacks, malicious plug-in, hijack clicks/key strokes etc

• CA shall have approval of CCA for maintaining eKYC account for applicants. Withdrawal Class 2 DSC issuance

• The format of the eKYC account ID shall be of the format: id@id-type.esp-id. The allowed eKYC account  id type are         username, Mobile are PAN. The PIN shall be created along with eKYC account ID. eKYC account user ID change is not allowed after creation.

• The PIN reset shall be with mobile OTP and email verification. In the absence of email, it shall be mobile OTP and video verification. In the case of banking where email is not captured earlier, the PIN reset shall be allowed only after successful matching of fresh eKYC with the registered eKYC details. Withdrawal Class 2 DSC issuance

Mandatory Information in the DSC application Form

• Name, address (residence / organisation), email, Mobile Number, PAN/Aadhaar no (Last four digit), Photo, Date, type certificate (personal / organisational), signature of applicant and Class are mandatory in the e-KYC account and DSC application form for issuance of DSC. Email is optional for e-KYC account to be created only for the purpose of e-Sign.

For all categories of DSC applicants, it is mandatory to provide either PAN or Aadhaar Number. Withdrawal Class 2 DSC issuance.