The changes that have taken place have ushered in a new way of understanding industry: the fourth industrial revolution or revolution 4.0. This revolution is characterized by the speed, impact and scope of the new systems implemented in companies, which can now create intelligent networks along the entire value chain.

What are the advantages for my company?

As a result of the fourth industrial revolution, Industry 4.0 is born, based on new systems that allow the automation of different processes and areas, merging digital processes and machinery through, for example, cloud computing or cloud services.

This combination facilitates widespread activities today such as remote working, information storage in the cloud and the optimization of business and industrial processes.

Now, thanks to applications, digital automation and management solutions and information and communication technologies (ICT), companies can jump on the bandwagon of the new industrial revolution to be able to continue competing in an increasingly qualified market.

Electronic signature and Industry 4.0

In the digital era and the paperless culture, it is important to have tools such as electronic signatures that replace the old traditional processes, such as handwritten signatures, but that maintain the capacity for authentication and verification of documents with the same legal and juridical validity, offering maximum guarantees in terms of security.

Now, more than ever, is the time for companies to protect their remote communications. For this reason, there are platforms specifically created to send, sign and manage sensitive documents electronically. IvCert is the electronic signature platform that makes it possible to obtain signed documents in just a few minutes and to know the status of shipments in real time.

On the other hand, with IvCert it is also possible to decide who, when and how to sign with full legal validity thanks to time stamping, and offering all the most secure types of electronic signature recognized by eIDAS (advanced signature, biometric, advanced OTP, simple, certified communication and qualified signature centralized in the cloud).

Faced with the fourth industrial revolution, it is essential that companies are prepared to make the jump to digital transformation and begin to adapt secure digital tools such as electronic signatures with the support of a Qualified Service Provider  endorsed by the eIDAS regulation. It’s time to protect your communications, contact us and join this technological convergence that is happening at full speed.

In the last year, companies, whether they are large accounts, SMEs or even micro-SMEs, have included technology like digital certificate as one of their main strategic assets. The advantages that technology currently offers are innumerable. All of this, together with innovation, can represent an enormous potential to be exploited by any company in any sector or field:

The need for a digital certificate

However, there is an essential requirement to be able to turn digitization into a competitive advantage for your company: having a digital certificate to protect your identity electronically.

The digital certificate allows you to accredit the identity of individuals and/or companies with full legal validity, providing the peace of mind of working with a tool that meets the highest standards of security and quality by the support of a Qualified Trusted Service Provider according to the eIDAS (EU) regulation, No. 910/2014.

Its use is becoming more and more widespread in companies. Since the pandemic, more than 80% of users have carried out telematic procedures in the Public Administration, for which they needed a digital certificate.

Uses of the digital certificate: digital signature of documents and online procedures with the Public Administration

Thus, the digital certificate has become the digital identity document that allows companies to carry out procedures on the Internet, such as signing a document or applying for subsidies from public organisms. Depending on the task we need to do, we will opt for one type or another.

In the case of SMEs, some of the most commonly used are the certificates of representation before the Public Administrations and the electronic signature certificate. With them, you can access private and confidential information, such as tax data, or carry out operations on behalf of the company.

Given the importance of protecting your digital identity to avoid future problems related to the use of the digital certificate, it is very important that when you work online you do it with a qualified digital certificate, that is, a certificate issued by a Certification Authority, as is the case of Ivnosys.

This type of certificates are electronic signature certificates generated by a secure signature creation device known as QSCD (Qualified Signature Creation Device) and that has been issued by an entity that issues the certificates giving legal validity to all uses that are made with them later.

In addition, there are tools that provide greater security control, as many companies install certificates on employees’ computers. This can generate problems such as loss of the certificate in case of theft or loss of the computer, change of certificates every time the company’s staff is modified, installation of a new certificate every time there is a new incorporation…

However, with IvSign it is possible to put an end to these situations since the certificates are issued from the same platform and stored directly in the cloud. In addition, employees can use it from any device, with the possibility of accessing a usage audit to know the actions that each employee has done with a certificate.

Another use of digital certificates is the consultation of electronic notifications and the connection with electronic offices of public organisms, a management facilitated by platforms such as IvNeos. At Ivnosys we are experts in offering digital solutions that enable and improve the digitization of all types of companies. Contact us and together we will start the path of digital transformation of your SME.

The use of Big Data and digitalization have become the key levers for improving business competitiveness, reducing costs, time and automating processes that allow process optimization.

New horizons for electronic signature

Although the use of electronic signatures has become widespread over time and electronic procedures have skyrocketed with the pandemic, the reality is that this tool is constantly evolving and its popularity among businesses and companies is spreading at a dizzying pace. We are not only referring to its technical capabilities, but also to its wide range of use in sectors as diverse as finance and leisure, as well as in procedures as varied as signing contracts, granting bank loans or enrolling in schools, among others.

In this sense, we share one of the most recent new uses that is putting the digital signature in the center of all the looks of large corporations and professionals: create and establish commercial companies online in less than a quarter of an hour through the electronic signature.

This is already a reality in countries such as Germany, Italy, Belgium, Austria or the Czech Republic, where they have already prepared the transposition of the EU Directive 2019/1151 on the use of digital tools and processes in the field of company law. Such transposition should have been done before August 1, but there is the possibility of extending it for one year by any Member State.

In the case of Spain, we are currently waiting for the Government and the Parliament to promote the transposition of the Directive by making use of the extension granted by the regulation itself, the Spanish notary’s office already has the technical infrastructure necessary to incorporate a company telematically before a notary in less than ten minutes.

This procedure can be carried out by fulfilling only two requirements: to have a device from which to make a video call and to be in possession of a digital certificate to be able to sign electronically.

The electronic signature by means of a digital certificate will be essential

The aim of this procedure is to take a step forward in the telematic processing before the Public Administrations with regard to the incorporation of companies, thus avoiding the need to have the physical presence before a notary for the authentication of the identity and the signature of the deed. The steps to be followed are as follows:

  1. Prior registration of the citizen to register in the platform by means of a digital certificate authorized by the eIDAS regulation.
  2. Identification of the future entrepreneur before the notary with his/her electronic ID.
  3. Through videoconference, the notary public will proceed to authenticate the identity of the signatory-founding partner of the company and will advise on the adaptation of the content of the deeds to their needs.
  4. The notary public will digitally examine that the required capital contribution has been made and will check that all the details of the document are correct.
  5. Finally, the signatory will proceed to the electronic signature of the public deed.

The electronic signature as a security safeguard

The process of incorporation of a new company must be completely secure in all respects and, now, with the possibility of doing it telematically, it must have the maximum guarantees at a legal and digital level.

Therefore, we will remember that the qualified electronic signature becomes the best option when we want to maintain total security in the processes and protect our digital identity at all times.

The qualified signature is one based on the use of qualified digital certificates that is generated using a secure signature creation device known as QSCD (Qualified Signature Creation Device), the qualified signature offers a higher level of security thanks to the possibility of providing electronic evidence provided by the digital certificate, making it defensible in case of litigation. Other advantages are:

At Ivnosys we offer the services of all types of electronic signatures, endorsed by the European eIDAS regulation, which allows us to comply with the maximum legal guarantees acting as a Qualified Trust Service Provider. Contact us and trust in the digital solutions already used by companies of all sectors.

As we are used to hearing, “talk is cheap…” but digital evidence is not. And so it is, in fact, in the professional field it usually happens when we reach a verbal agreement at a business lunch or even sign an online contract without using the appropriate platforms that protect our digital identity and ensure a safe documentary custody. For this, as a result of the advancement of technology in recent years, there are digital evidences and it is vital for a company today to know them.

Electronic signature as digital evidence

With the advance of technology, more and more evidence is generated electronically: electronic documents, e-mails, conversations in instant messaging applications… However, the probative value of this evidence is closely linked to the technological solution used at the time of its generation.

In situations where signed electronic documents such as contracts, agreements, authorizations, etc. are provided, their value can easily be questionable. There are several elements that will be decisive when presenting evidence in a judicial process and that only electronic evidence can provide:

Therefore, the probative value will vary depending on the reputation of the issuing entity, as well as the ability to guarantee authenticity, integrity and confidentiality.

Evidentiary quality according to the eIDAS regulation

The eIDAS regulation (EU) 910/2014, in charge of regulating electronic transactions and communications, establishes 3 types of electronic signature accepted by all European Union countries: simple signature, advanced signature and qualified signature. As we commented in this post, there are differences between these types of signature and their use will depend on the judicial situation before which we find ourselves.

However, within companies, there may be many employees who have access to electronic signatures and the digital certificate of the same, forcing organizations to establish crime prevention programs and custody of electronic documentation to avoid incurring in infractions caused by the legal entity not having exercised due control over its employees.

Electronic evidence collection tools

Nowadays there are countless tools that allow to control the use that authorized employees give to the signatures and digital certificates of a company.

In the case of electronic signatures, we find the IvCert platform, which allows signing documents with all types of electronic signatures in compliance with eIDAS regulations, with the aim of guaranteeing security by collecting electronic evidence that provides legal robustness.

As for digital certificates, we find the IvSign platform, responsible for issuing and centralizing existing digital certificates in an organization so that employees can use them securely. In this case, there is the possibility of sharing their use among workers, establishing permissions and rules of use and controlling in real time who, when and for what purpose a digital certificate has been used.

These auditing processes are in charge of collecting the electronic evidences related to the administrative operations performed by each user within the platform, as well as the signature or authentication operations performed with digital certificates. The electronic evidences recorded by the platform will be in charge of providing the probative value in a judicial process.

The support of a Qualified Trusted Service Provider

In order to ensure that the document signed with both electronic signature and digital certificate meets all the properties of authenticity and integrity of the document and, therefore, serve as evidentiary value in case of trial, the Qualified Trusted Service Provider, as is the case of Ivnosys, complies with the maximum legal guarantees acting as such and as a Trusted Third Party through its signature and digital identity solutions.

As we were anticipating, many companies are already being penalized by public administrations for expiration of response deadlines due to the arrival of electronic notifications that remain unattended. This event is causing alarm among professionals and entities that are forced to look for solutions to avoid being fined.

In this sense, as a company, it is possible that you have received a financial fine for neglecting to take care of the electronic notifications received by your organization and, if this has not yet happened to you, read these tips carefully.

According to current regulations, you have a maximum period of 10 days to respond to electronic notifications from the moment they are received

*Be careful! Sometimes situations may arise (due to communication failures, carelessness, absences from work, etc.) in which notifications are not handled within the established deadlines and, as a result, the Administration will assume that they have not been attended to and will begin to process the corresponding process. Avoid this and contact them as soon as you become aware of it.

Update your tax calendar to stop electronic notifications

Not paying attention to electronic notifications from the AAPP and the possibility of being sanctioned can be a serious problem. However, there are already digital solutions such as the IvNeos platform to avoid incurring infractions for this reason. The State Agency of Tax Administration (AEAT) allows you to select 30 days a year during which the agency will not issue electronic notifications and thus companies will not fall into financial penalties for not accessing them within a maximum period of 10 days.

Mandatory online communication with the AAPP (Spanish Public Administrations)

This April, Law 39/2015 came into force, which has marked the beginning of the obligatory nature of maintaining online communication with the AAPP. As a result, the management of electronic notifications has become a problem that can be very expensive if you do not have the appropriate and necessary technology. The solution is simple: have an automatic notification manager in which your company can synchronize thousands of mailboxes of public bodies and automatically receive notifications from all your communities in a single point.

What is IvNeos?

It is a platform that automatically registers and collects notifications issued by more than 9,000 public bodies and monitors their status in real time by downloading and storing the documents securely in the cloud.

Thanks to this technology, companies and professionals can register the vacation period in the tax calendar so that it is recorded and, therefore, the due dates do not expire during those marked days. In this way, it is possible to decide which will be the 30 days in which the company or professional will be “absent” to manage the electronic notifications received and, additionally, to share it with the AEAT so that it does not issue new ones. These days do not have to be consecutive, but it should be considered that they can only be selected from July 17 onwards. On the other hand, if your company manages the mailboxes of different customers, you can select the same dates for all of them massively or specify them one by one.

From Ivnosys we have developed this tool that is already helping millions of companies from all sectors in online communication with the AAPP, which allows to optimize time and digitize their processes with numerous benefits. Request your demo here!

Recently, Real Decree-Law 7/2021, of April 27, has been published, which amends Law 10/2020 (Adaptation of the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive). As a novelty, and taking into account the guarantees offered by the qualified electronic signature, it is now possible for the identity of the client to be accredited by means of this kind of signature, regulated in Regulation (EU) No. 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of July 23, 2014.

This novelty alludes to the amendment of Article 12 of the aforementioned Law, relating to business relationships and non-face-to-face transactions.

Thus, according to the variation of this article:

Qualified electronic signature in the financial sector

Since its emergence, the qualified electronic signature has been presented as the best option in terms of security and accreditation of a signatory’s digital identity. Of all the types of electronic signature available on the market, the qualified electronic signature is the one that provides the highest level of security and veracity, thanks to its complexity and, for legal purposes, is comparable to the traditional handwritten signature.

There are certain cases in which the qualified signature will be chosen, either because it is convenient to have the maximum legal guarantees, or because the legislation itself obliges us to make use of an electronic signature equivalent to the handwritten one.

This novelty in the Law especially affects companies in the financial sector. Banks, credit agencies and financial institutions manage a large number of documents on a daily basis, from account opening, loan agreements, commercial agreements, invoicing, etc.

Financial digital transformation

Since these organizations often operate in different branches, they need to have an efficient centralization of all their documents and tools. And, as this involves sensitive information that may in certain cases require legally valid evidence, qualified electronic signatures are the best option.

The financial digital transformation is an indispensable requirement to face the growing competitive environment of the sector. The birth of new business concepts leads to a restructuring of the entire commercial activity, where competing with the rest of the companies is based on the optimization of management and time. It is here where having solutions such as qualified electronic signature becomes a competitive advantage to face the changes in the sector. Contact us and we will help your company to have the best solutions in digitization, optimization and improvement of your customers’ experience.

Consult here the Real Decree-Law 7/2021, of April 27th, on the transposition of European Union directives in the areas of competition, prevention of money laundering, credit institutions, telecommunications, tax measures, prevention and repair of environmental damage, posting of workers in the provision of transnational services and consumer protection.

Digitalization and digital certificate have become an imminent need in the last months for all types of professionals, such as consultancies and law firms, where they daily manage a large number of documents with personal and fiscal data, etc. and maintain a continuous communication with all types of public organism. For this reason, now more than ever, being in possession of a digital certificate acquires greater value. For this, there are digital platforms such as IvSign that offer a number of advantages such as:

Qualified digital certificate: security guarantee

When working online, we must do it in the safest way to avoid risks associated with identity theft, falsification of documents and a long etcetera. Therefore, we must know that the qualified digital certificate is currently the safest method and the only one comparable to the handwritten signature when performing any type of electronic transaction.

We will remember that the qualified digital certificate is the one issued through a qualified signature creation device (QSCD) by a Qualified Trust Service Provider. Thus, this type of certificate incorporates data that, in addition to verifying the identity of the holder, provide legal validity to those actions that have been carried out with its use. Some of the data it contains are:

The best ally for the legal area

Professionals who focus their work activity on the legal area know firsthand the importance of using tools that provide full legal validity. When dealing daily with private and, therefore, sensitive data and performing highly complex and important procedures for large companies or entities (formalization of acquisitions, mergers between companies, ERTE, etc.), the qualified digital certificate is the best option for this type of procedures.

Thus, in case of making use of this type of certificate to make a qualified signature, it would serve as irrevocable proof in case of legal proceedings because:

The evolution of digitalization forces us to bet on the most secure tools and with greater legal guarantee that are within our reach. And, in the case of law firms and consultancies, this makes even more sense. The main function of any electronic signature platform must be the protection of the transactions with the use of the digital certificate with the support of the Qualified Trust Service Provider.

Lately there have been an increasing number of cases in which professionals and companies are receiving financial penalties from the Administration for not paying attention to electronic notifications. A communication that is received with great surprise by taxpayers who normally are not aware of having committed any administrative infraction since these actions are usually generated by failure to comply with deadlines, failure to submit information required by the agencies, etc.

According to the latest legal updates, disregarding requests for information from public bodies such as the Tax Authorities, for example, may constitute an act of “resistance, obstruction, excuse or refusal” and the Administration acts instantly by applying fines for large sums of money.

According to the latest news, the Tax Authorities can fine taxpayers up to 600,000 euros for not accessing the “inbox”

According to the latest news, tax authorities can fine taxpayers up to 600,000 euros for not accessing the “inbox”. This has been stipulated in a recent resolution by the Central Economic-Administrative Court (TEAC) in which it sets the deadline of 10 days to attend to the electronic notifications sent to the user in question by the organism. If after this period there has been no response and/or action on the part of the taxpayer, the organism understands that it is a case of neglect and/or refusal, and therefore it can proceed to process the corresponding fine without it being necessary to prove the intention to circumvent the requirement sent. It is sufficient that it has been “duly notified”. Article 203 of the tax law considers that “failure to comply with a duly notified requirement” is a serious infringement and establishes a system of fines ranging, depending on the information requested, from 150 euros to 600,000 euros or a percentage of the turnover of the offender in the calendar year in which the non-compliance occurred.

As the TEAC concludes in this resolution, it is sufficient that the taxpayer has been informed of its inclusion in the mandatory system of electronic notifications and duly notified. When a taxpayer knows that he is obliged to receive all his communications by electronic means, not accessing his authorized e-mail address or the electronic headquarters of the AEAT at least every ten days implies assuming that the notification of the acts that the Tax Administration tries to bring to his attention may be understood to have been rejected. Even, it points out, it can mean a disregard for their tax obligations.

Digital platforms for electronic notifications help prevent and avoid thousands of fines

Between so much work and paperwork, it is normal to forget to open the notification mailbox just when a Public Administration asks us to carry out a procedure through its headquarters. For these cases, every day more and more professionals are relying on platforms such as IvNeos.

The electronic notifications manager allows an online and direct communication with the chosen Public Administrations. In addition, its implementation is very simple. Thanks to the platform it is possible to maintain real-time control to correctly receive all notifications.

This tool automatically collects the notifications issued by more than 9,000 public organisms and controls their status so as not to leave any unattended. In addition, as new extra functionalities, it is also possible to process directly from this tool the submission of documents to the State Agency of Tax Administration (Agencia Estatal de Administración Tributaria). Finally, another of the advantages that should be highlighted before finishing this post, is that it offers is the download and storage of documents securely in the cloud so that the user can get a complete and reliable protection of all your documentation. There are many other features that will help you to streamline and automate online procedures that we recommend you to read about the IvNeos platform here.

The company Ivnosys, a benchmark in technology and innovation, has recently received a grant awarded by the Valencian Institute of Business Competitiveness (IVACE) by Resolution of Grant Concession dated April 17, 2020, within the SME Digitalization Projects program. It is a project co-financed by IVACE and the European Regional Development Fund ERDF.

The project in question is about the issuance of digital certificates with remote identification, framed in the program called “SME Digitalization Projects ( Digitize-CV Teleworking) 2020”.

Said project responds to some clearly defined objectives in which the Valencian company will work. These are some of them, such as:

As part of the positive results of this project, it should be noted that the IvSign Global CA Certification Authority is already fully implemented and accredited before the supervisory Organism. Therefore, the material assets initially planned have been fully implemented. The implementation of a Certification Authority with its own technology will allow Ivnosys to start offering services without relying on third parties, thus allowing greater versatility and business continuity guarantees that are essential and indispensable in the current business context. Moreover, the fact that Ivnosys is one of the only digital solutions providers in the market that has its own infrastructure, has made it possible to tackle the video-identification project thanks to the full integration capacity of the systems.