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Digital Seal

OALA Full Members with Certificate and Seal may seal drawings with an ink seal. They may also seal electronic documents with a digital signature (referred to as the “Digital Seal”). Digital seals used by OALA Members can be verified by the public through Notarius.

How to verify a digital seal

Members of the public are able to verify a digital seal. This is free service. Please click the link below if you need to verify a digital seal from Notarius.

https://verifio.com/

What are the Policies for Use of the OALA Digital Seal in Ontario?

OALA Policy for Use of the Digital Seal is outlined in the OALA Handbook.

What is a Digital Seal?

A Digital Seal is the affixing of a digital signature certificate that cryptographically secures an electronic file, thus proving the origin, the authenticity of the signer, and confirms the integrity of the signed document.

What is a Digital Signature certificate?

It is a computer artefact issued and cryptographically protected by a Certificate Authority (Notarius) attesting to the veracity of the information declared in the certificate. This information may include:

  • Full name;
  • Email address;
  • Professional title;
  • Membership number;
  • Public key;
  • Validity period and the serial number of the certificate.

How is the Digital Seal Secured?

To obtain a digital seal, an OALA Full Member with Certificate and Seal must register with the Certificate Authority (Notarius) and must then have the confirmation as a Full Member in Good Standing from the OALA.

The Certificate Authority (Notarius) provides the framework and platform to issue Trusted Digital Signatures to OALA Full Members. The Certificate Authority platform provides a process to create authentic final electronic documents using proven technology solutions that meet government standards and archiving best practices for electronic documents.

Digital seals ensure reliability of the electronic document author and to increase efficient transfer of documents.

If you are a member of the public and have questions on digital seals, please contact: Notarius Customer support

By phone: 1-855-505-7272 or by email: [email protected]

OALA members may view detailed information on the digital seal in the Members’ Area of the OALA website.