Bundesnotarkammer – Innovation and security in German notaries

To build a brand-new Trust Service Provider (TSP) solution for secure communication and signing from scratch is never a simple task, no matter the size of the project. If you then add a use case involving new international compliance rules, legal documents and a nationwide roll out, you will get a sense of what procilon and their customer Bundesnotarkammer were facing.

Bundesnotarkammer is the federal chamber of notaries. Civil law notaries in Germany are handling electronic legal documents for everything from real estate purchase to power of attorney documents. Bundesnotarkammer provides services to notaries, members of the judiciary and lawyers alike. In addition to various other functions, Bundesnotarkammer also provides secure solutions for digital signatures and issues smart cards.

When initiating the project together with procilon, Bundesnotarkammer had an external provider of the data center and handled the legal documents manually. procilon helped build a complete TSP solution for Bundesnotarkammer and chose PrimeKeys products both for certifi cate authority services and certificate validation services. As a TSP, the highest level of security as well as compliance to standards and regulation was key and this was the reason for choosing PrimeKey products.

Being compliant with regulations means having to perform regular audits. For Bundesnotarkammer, being eIDAS certifi ed means a bi-yearly in-depth audit. This is usually a demanding process that requires an investment in both time and resources for the involved parties. Having an experienced partner, such as procilon, who knows the audit process well, along with high quality certified products, such as PrimeKeys EJBCA® Enterprise, makes an audit process as smooth as it can possibly be. For Bundesnotarkammer, this means that they every other year get to reap the benefits of carefully choosing their solutions and partners from the beginning.

Bundesotarkammer now has two data centers, including backup, in two German cities. They provide Registration Authority (RA) services, Certification Authority (CA) services, secure signature services as well as smart cards used by both notaries and individual attorneys. Having the freedom of their own adaptive TSP solution has not only allowed Bundesnotarkammer to manage their ongoing operations in a secure and effi cient manner but also provided them with opportunities for new solutions. With an innovative force in the IT department, Bundesnotarkammer has found new ways to offer even more services to their wide range of customers. The most recent within the area of remote signatures.

All in all, by choosing procilon as their partner in creating their new TSP solution, Bundesnotarkammer got even more than they asked for. A secure digital solution with all relevant certifications, based on flexible software from PrimeKey has provided efficiency, new service opportunities and also a big environmental improvement. Each month, around 1,5 million filings are exchanged in electronic legal transactions, enabled by the solution, and digitalizing the process has saved not only approximately 18 million pieces of paper each year but also made the process of approving, signing and storing legal documents more secure with an efficiency that cannot be compared to earlier processes.

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