Section 27: Representations on issue of certificate

27. Representations on issue of certificate (1) A certification authority shall, by the issue of a certification, represent to a person who reasonably relies on the certificate or a digital signature verifiable by the public key referred to in the certificate that the certification authority has issued the certificate in accordance with any certification practice statement incorporated by reference in the certificate or of which the relying person has notice. (2) In the absence of any certification practice statement, the certification authority shall, subject to subsection (3), represent that— (a) it has complied with all applicable requirements of this Act in issuing the certificate, and where it has published the certificate or otherwise made it available to a person relying on it that the subscriber referred to in the certificate has accepted it; (b) the subscriber identified in the certificate holds the private key corresponding to the public key referred to in the certificate; (c) the subscriber’s public key and private key constitute a functioning key pair; (d) the information in the certificate is accurate, unless it has stated in the certificate, or incorporated by reference in the certificate a statement, that the accuracy of specified information is not confirmed; and (e) it has no knowledge of any material fact which would, if it had been included in the certificate, adversely affect the reliability of the representations in paragraphs (a) to (d). (3) Where there is a certification practice statement which has been incorporated by reference in the certificate, or of which the person relying on it has notice, subsection (2) shall apply to the extent that the representations are not inconsistent with the certification practice statement.