Subdivision 1. Secretary as certification authority. The secretary shall be a certification authority. The secretary shall issue, suspend, and revoke certificates in the manner prescribed under section 325K.10 to applicants for licensure. The secretary may also issue, suspend, and revoke certificates for governmental entities. Except for licensing requirements, this chapter applies to the secretary with respect to certificates the secretary issues.

Subd. 2. Record. The secretary must maintain an online, publicly accessible electronic database containing a certification authority disclosure record and list of judgments for each licensed certification authority.

Subd. 3. Rules. The secretary must adopt rules to:

(1) govern licensed certification authorities and repositories, their practice, and termination of their practice;

(2) determine an amount reasonably appropriate for a suitable guaranty, in light of the burden a suitable guaranty places upon licensed certification authorities and the assurance of quality and financial responsibility it provides to persons who rely on certificates issued by licensed certification authorities;

(3) specify reasonable requirements for the form of certificates issued by licensed certification authorities, in accordance with generally accepted standards for digital signature certificates;

(4) specify reasonable requirements for record keeping by licensed certification authorities;

(5) specify reasonable requirements for the content, form, and sources of information in certification authority disclosure records, the updating and timeliness of the information, and other practices and policies relating to certification authority disclosure records;

(6) specify the form of the certification practice statements; and

(7) specify the procedure and manner in which a certificate may be suspended or revoked.

Subd. 4. Certification practice statement. The secretary in the role of licensed certification authority may adopt and amend a certification practice statement without using the provisions of chapter 14.

History: 1997 c 178 s 4; 1998 c 321 s 9; 1999 c 250 art 1 s 94