VA Accreditation Process

Introduction

In order to become a Validation Agency (VA), organisations must be accredited. UKEC will manage the accreditation process based on a series of accreditation requirements.
It is anticipated that accreditation will take place at first application and last until the VA Contract is terminated. In addition, the VA may be asked to provide details of compliance in the event that UKEC receives a complaint about its actions during the term of the contract.

To begin the process of accreditation, please contact the UKEC Secretariat via email secretariat@ukec.co.uk or telephone 020-3129-7212.

Vas will typically work in one of two modes. They may contract directly with registrants, or they may subcontract to (or indeed, be a part of) a registry operation. The underlying principles of the accreditation process are that:

• The registrant should be aware there is a validation stage in making their ENUM registration and
• that the validation should be conducted in a thorough and auditable manner.

Validation Agencies form a very important part of the ENUM process, because if validation is done incorrectly then a registrant may cause an end-users telephone calls to be miss-routed.

The Accreditation process

During the application process to become a VA the applicant will be asked to provide evidence of how each requirement is met. This may be in the form of a URL to the page where this information is currently displayed or, through internal documentation containing, full details of how these requirements will be met.

If the applicant does not meet the accreditation requirements then its application will not proceed. In addition if the applicant or VA subsequently fails to meet some or all of the requirements, accreditation may be revoked. This will ultimately have the affect of terminating a VAs ‘accredited’ status which will mean that ENUM registrations can no longer be made.

The Accreditation Requirements

1) The VA Contract and Relationship with UKEC

• The applicant VA must abide by the VA Contract and Code of Practice at all times;
• The applicant VA must make UKEC aware of its methodology in detail (e.g. a documented process description);
• Any changes to the methodology must be communicated to UKEC prior to implementation;
• The accredited VA is required to publish a code of practice outlining a complaint handling and dispute resolution process in the event a complaint is made and this must be made available to UKEC at application stage;
• The applicant (and once accredited) VA must provide details of any relevant litigation or regulatory enforcements e.g. details of any OFCOM fines, any outstanding court judgments or details of any ongoing legal actions during the accreditation application process and during the term of the accreditation;
• The applicant VA must supply a copy of their Data Protection Act registration certificate and in addition must not do anything which could put UKEC in breach of laws on data protection (in particular the Data Protection Act 1998) and the protection of personal information, or allow the registry to be put in this position because of the VA’s inaction;
• The applicant understands that it is not the sole VA within the UK ENUM industry and must ensure this message is clear and transparent to the public.

2) The VA Relationship with the Tier 1 Registry

• The applicant must demonstrate that it understands and is able to carry out the requirements of validation communication with the Tier 1 Registry (including but not limited to the format and transmission of the Validation Token)
• The accredited VA must be contactable by the Tier 1 Registry within usual business hours and be able to act quickly on receiving a requests.

3) The VA Relationship with the Registrant

VAs may contract directly with a registrant, or as part of, or subcontracted to, a Registrar.

3a) For a direct contract:

It is of utmost important that a registrant is well informed: that they understand the requirement for the Validation process, the relationship of the VA with the remainder of the the UK ENUM registration process, the specific role the VA plays in the whole UK ENUM industry, service levels the Registrant can expect and all relevant charges.

3b) For an indirect contract:

You may choose to subcontract the VA operation, or provide it yourselves as part of a combined registrar and validation service. If as the registrar, you own the blocks of numbers concerned, this will be especially true. In this scenario fees, service descriptions and support channels may be combined for single service delivery.

In all circumstances, the VA should:

• Give details of the relevant services provided; information on how to invoke the service; any charges payable; and how long it will take to carry out the service.
• Make customers aware of changes to these charges with ample notice.
• Detail the method(s), availability and cost of customer service provided.
• Act quickly upon receiving a request from the aspiring or existing Registrant to take some action for them.
• Provide prompt and reliable customer support.

Validation Agency Documents (December 2008)

The following documents are available to assist validation agencies:

• Getting Started as a Validation Agency Talk
• Validation Agency UKEC Complaints Committee Terms of Reference (Word Doc)
• Validation Agency Code of Practice (Word Doc)
• Validation Agency Contract (Deed Poll) (Word Doc)