GlobalSign Facilitates International Recognition of New Zealand's Public Documents

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Carbon footprint of legalization significantly reduced thanks to Certified Document Services

Portsmouth, NH–9 June, 2009 – GlobalSign, Inc. (www.globalsign.com), one of the longest established Certification Authorities (CA) and specialists in digital certificate lifecycle management, today announced a significant milestone in the worldwide expansion of fully electronic Apostille Services.  Electronic Apostille Services now present a fast, carbon footprint-friendly and highly efficient and secure alternative to the time consuming paper based system.  GlobalSign has enabled the Government of New Zealand to introduce Electronic Apostille Services, via Adobe Systems Incorporated’s Certified Document Services (CDS) program. 

The Apostille Convention (otherwise known as The Hague Convention 1961) facilitates the circulation of public documents among signatory States. An Apostille authenticates the signature of a Notary or approved public official.  Historically, it has been a separate paper certificate, sealed by the competent authority in the country of origin and affixed to the document requiring authentication.  The competent authority can vary from country to country but is commonly a department within the ministry of foreign or external affairs.  The Hague Conference, which is responsible for the operation of the Convention has, in conjunction with other stakeholders, been promoting the development and use of an electronic Apostille (e-Apostillehttp://www.e-app.info/) within Member States. 

Working closely with the Department of Internal Affairs’ Authentication Unit in New Zealand, GlobalSign were able to deliver a fully electronic document lifecycle management system based on the Certified Document Services (CDS) platform (CDS is a digital signing solution from Adobe that allows authors to create Adobe Reader PDF files that automatically certify to the recipient that the author's identity has been verified by a trusted organization).  The international language support in the free Adobe Reader for PDFs, together with the automatic authenticity and integrity checks of the embedded digital signature information within the certified PDF offered an ideal vehicle for the Authentication Unit to launch their services.

“This e-Apostille is the first of its kind to be issued in the Asia-Pacific region and represents a glimpse into a future where official documents can cross borders securely and seamlessly by email,” said Patrick Geddes, Manager of the Authentication Unit for the Department of Internal Affairs (Te Tari Taiwhenua). 

“The interoperability of electronic signatures across jurisdictional boundaries and the need to support digital signatures in the long term is a critical issue. The acceptance of the PDF-based signature format (ETSI/ESI 102 778) in the EU and the increasing use of PDF based digital signatures by Governments around the world pave the way for greater eBusiness across all industries,” said Steve Roylance, Business Development Director for GlobalSign.

Representatives from the Authentication Unit in New Zealand will be highlighting the success of the project to a worldwide audience in London on June 13th during the 5th International Forum on the electronic Apostille Pilot Program (e-APP) and Digital Authentication hosted by the International Union of Notaries (UINL) and the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH).

For more information on GlobalSign DocumentSign solutions for Adobe CDS, please visithttp://www.globalsign.com/adobe-cds/index.htm

About GlobalSign

Established in 1996 and as a WebTrust accredited public certificate authority, GlobalSign offers publicly trustedSSL, including newExtended Validation SSL Certificates,S/MIMEandCode Signing Certificatesfor use on all Windows platforms including Mobile. The GlobalSignTrusted Rootprogram allows the widely distributed and highly trusted GlobalSign root CA certificates to provide immediate trust for Microsoft CA and other inhouse CA users, thereby eliminating the costs associated with supporting non-trusted root CA certificates within an enterprise. These core GlobalSign solutions allow its thousands of enterprise customers to conduct secure online transactions and data submission, and provide tamper-proof distributable code as well as being able to bind identities to client certificates for email security and remote two factor authentication, such as SSL VPNs.  The company has a rich history of innovation within the online security market and operates sales and support offices in the US, UK, Belgium, Japan, and China with services available in a number of European and Asian languages. 

About GMO Internet Inc.

GMO Internet Inc. (CEO Masatoshi Kumagai) is headquartered in Tokyo and is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, First Section (Code: 9449).  Its Internet based business areas include Internet infrastructure and media. Further details can be found athttp://www.gmo.jp/en/and Mr Kumagai’s profile can be found athttp://gmo.jp/en/profile/message.html.

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News Source : GlobalSign Facilitates International Recognition of New Zealand's Public Documents