Montreal, January 18, 2021 – Notarius is pleased to announce that Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) has selected the CertifiO digital signature solution for its members. Thanks to this partnership, professional engineers in Ontario will be able to apply a regulator-issued digital signature in conjunction with the image of their seal, in order to securely sign engineering documents and ensure a competent and ethical practice in support of the public interest.
A digital signature or digital signing certificate is cryptographically protected information in which the veracity of the certificate details are certified by a Certificate Authority like Notarius. Since it is issued and managed through PEO acting as the registration authority, the PEO digital signature includes additional information regarding the signer’s professional affiliation, as asserted and maintained by their professional order.
“We are pleased to welcome PEO as a partner. In an ever-changing digital world, digital signatures are becoming the norm and PEO members can now guarantee that documents are signed by an engineer in good standing at the time of signing. A digital signature is flexible and easy to use. It’s not just the work of professionals that is impacted but the way people are consuming the work of professionals,” said Nada Belhadfa, Director of Digital Transformation at Notarius.
“The beauty of the technology is that it helps the association do what it needs to do with respect to their mission of protecting the public, and helps the member protect their work at the same time. With PEO joining, we’re pretty much coast to coast [representing Canada’s engineering regulators],” said Marc St-Jacques, Notarius’ Vice-President of Sales and Digital Transformation.
2021 is continuing to shake up the way we work and accelerate the modernization of our work environment. For professional engineers, the timely implementation of trusted digital signatures is essential to minimizing the time-at-risk or risk exposure of practitioners who must now work remotely. The digital signatures issued and managed through PEO assure engineers and the public that the digitally signed professional documents are the work of members in good standing and assures professional engineers that the integrity of the data in their professional records is safeguarded.
PEO joins all other eleven provincial and territorial engineering regulators across Canada in providing its members with professional digital signature certificates.
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About PEO
Under the authority of the Professional Engineers Act, PEO governs over 92,000 licence and certificate holders and regulates professional engineering in Ontario. PEO’s mission is to regulate and advance the practice of engineering to protect the public interest. Its vision is to be the trusted leader in professional self-regulation. Professional engineering safeguards life, health, property, economic interests, the public welfare and the environment. Professional engineers can be identified by the P.Eng. after their names. Holders of limited licences can be identified by LEL or LET after their names.
About Notarius
A leading expert in electronic signatures, digital signatures, and long-term document reliability since 1996, Notarius is the only Canadian firm that issues trusted signatures recognized by Adobe and Microsoft and certified according to eIDAS standards (electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services). Notarius’ digital signature solutions are currently recognized and used by more than forty-five professional associations across Canada, allowing thousands of professionals to sign and authenticate electronic documents with the same legal value as hand-signed paper documents.
Contact Information
Virginia Wilson, Marketing Director, virginia.wilson@notarius.com