ALS Scandinavia
Digital reports
April 2010
Digital reports
April 2010
| We are pleased to announce that the Swedish Board for Accreditation and Conformity Assessment (SWEDAC) has approved our solution for issuing digitally-signed, original reports. As of May 1, 2010, ALS Scandinavia will, by default, deliver original reports digitally by e-mail after completion of the reviewing, quality control and approval processes by our qualified personnel. Digital signing of original reports ALS Scandinavia is continuing to digitalize the flow of information through its laboratories and will therefore, from May 1, 2010, cease to use hard copy reports as the standard mode for delivering analytical results to customers. Not only will the digitalization process dramatically speed up delivery times for original reports, but will also reduce paper consumption and emissions in connection with transport, thus contributing in a modest way to a more sustainable society. ALS Scandinavia has always strived to put quality first, and this is no less true in our choice of technology for generating digitally-signed, original reports. By signing reports using a certified "advanced electronic signature" issued by GlobalSign Certificate Authority we can guarantee both the integrity and validity of your original report. The integrity and validity of every original report is guaranteed by the technological solutions we have selected. Not least of these is the direct association of each digital signature with a unique, personal certificate, stored locally on one crypto device and only accessible by a single, authorized user. More information about this aspect of the underlying technology is available on our website. The "advanced electronic signature" becomes an integral component of the original report, created in PDF format. The customer can easily verify the authenticity of the original report received, i.e. that it has been issued by ALS Scandinavia and delivered without any information being manipulated, simply by opening the document in Adobe Reader version 6.0 or later. ALS Scandinavia strongly recommends that the most recent version of Adobe Reader is used to verify the authenticity of the report. The software needed can be downloaded free of charge from Adobe’s homepage where the latest version, 9.3 (Mar 31, 2010), is currently available.  Illustration of the advanced electronic signature on a digitally-signed, original report from ALS Scandinavia after the signature has been verified. Hard copy original reports Digitally-signed, original reports will be delivered, at no additional cost, by e-mail as part of ALS Scandinavia’s standard service package. Traditional, hand-signed, hard-copy, original reports will only be available for a service charge. The distribution of preliminary analysis reports in Excel format will continue, unaffected by the introduction digitally-signed, original reports. » Note! Customers not wishing to receive original reports in digital format must fill out the necessary form posted here. Customers without e-mail addresses registered with ALS Scandinavia will receive this newsletter by post. Please be advised that unless such customers register an e-mail address with ALS Scandinavia before June 1, 2010, a service charge will be added to the invoice for all hand-signed, hard-copy, original reports posted after that date. The service charge for handling hand-signed, hard-copy, original reports will be 75 SEK per report as of June 1, 2010. This cost is fixed and exempt from any discounts that customers may be entitled to for other products offered by ALS Scandinavia. ALS Scandinavia reserves the right to adjust the service charge for the handling of hand-signed, hard-copy, original reports in the future. Our customer service group will be only too happy to provide you with any assistance you may need to register your e-mail address or to confirm your choice to continue to receive original reports by post; simply call one of the telephone numbers below, or why not drop us an e-mail? Validity for certification of electronic reports ALS Scandinavia’s "advanced electronic signature" currently has a period of validity extending to 2023. Until 2023, each time the original report file is opened, the document’s authenticity will be validated against the information stored in the electronic signature. Document authenticity will be confirmed if the signer’s certificate was valid at the time of attestation, and if the integrity of the document persists. |
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| Security aspects The original report, created in PDF format, is sent unencrypted (readable) via e-mail, which means that the information contained may be accessible to others than the addressee. However, the privacy and security of e-mail traffic is protected by the same national and international statutes and regulations that apply to traditional forms of correspondence. If the contents of an original report may contain highly confidential or very sensitive information, ALS Scandinavia would strongly recommend the customer to request postal delivery of a hand-signed, hard-copy, original report. |
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| Legal aspects According to Swedish law, both hand-written and digital signatures are deemed to be equivalent providing that the latter fulfills the requirements placed on an "advanced electronic signature". Briefly, these requirements are that the legal personality behind the signature must be identifiable and have sole control of the system used to create the digital signature. Furthermore, the digital signature must be connected to other electronic data in such a way that any tampering with these data can be discovered. Digitally-signed, original reports from ALS Scandinavia fulfill the above requirements. » Find out more about the technology behind ALS Scandinavia’s implementation of digital signatures. Andreas Jonsson, GM |
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