ARTL Guidelines
1. The Local Registration Authority (LRA - the person(s) responsible for Administering ARTL in the Firm/Organisation) should be solicitors.
2. Principal responsibility for compliance with the
Keeper's Terms and Conditions shall rest on the Practice Administrator (PA). All principals in the firm or solicitors in the organisation registered to use ARTL should understand their joint general responsibility. In smaller firms it is anticipated that the Local Registration Authority and Practice Administrator may be one and the same person
3. The PA should understand his/her responsibility for the actions of parties who are given access to the system.
4. The PA and LRA should jointly (where these are separate persons) ensure compliance with procedures and that the integrity of the system and in particular usernames , passwords, smartcards and pin numbers in connection with the digital execution of documents are preserved.
5. Firms and sole practitioners should have contingency plans in place. They should incorporate specific provisions in connection with:
· Sickness or absence of the PA or LRA.
· Loss of access to the system.
· General contingency planning issues.
6. All staff with access to the system should be made aware of the Keeper's Terms and Conditions, the Society's Guidance and Practice Notes and their obligations in respect of security of the ARTL system.
7. A policy should be adopted in regard to possession of mandates to execute documents electronically.
8. Direct debit payments should not be made on the principal client bank account. A separate subsidiary of Client bank account holding only sums required to meet direct debit payments (and perhaps a small surplus where appropriate) should be operated for such purposes.
9. For the avoidance of doubt it should be noted that the following may give rise to conduct as well as service complaint issues:
· Deliberately giving any other party access to your username password smartcard and/or pin number.
· Execution of any document electronically without the appropriate authority.
· Use of any other person's username password smartcard and/or pin number.
· False declarations in the ARTL process.
