What a certificate contains
What certo signs when you issue a certificate, the sentence that limits it, and why certo approves any certificate type before it can be signed.
3 minute read
Every row you issue becomes two things: a line on the learner's passport, and a signed certificate behind it. The line is what people read. The certificate is what proves the line, and anyone can check it without asking you or certo.
On the learner's passport
The certificate appears under the learner's certifications, marked Verified, with your organisation as the issuer. Verified means the organisation that awarded it confirmed it. Here that is you, at the moment you issued it.
The learner can open the certificate from their passport. It has its own address and a QR code, so they can send it on its own or print it. How employers check a certificate shows what a reader sees there.
What is signed
certo signs the certificate on your behalf, under the agreement filed when your organisation was approved. The signed certificate carries:
| Part | What it is |
|---|---|
| The learner's name | Exactly as you gave it in the batch. |
| The certificate | The course or certification name from your row. |
| Your organisation | As the issuer, by its name. |
| Your registry number | The number certo checked, so a reader can look your organisation up in the register. |
| The scope | One sentence that says what the certificate covers (below). |
| How it was confirmed | That your organisation confirmed it at source. |
| The expiry | Only if you gave one. After that date the certificate still verifies, but reads as expired. |
Your reference number is kept with the learner's record, alongside the certificate.
The scope sentence
Every certificate you issue carries the same scope:
certificate issued by the provider to the named learner
The scope is signed with everything else, so it cannot be changed or dropped later. It is also the limit of what the certificate says. In particular, it does not say the learner's identity was checked. A learner who claims your certificate without an identity check has a passport that reads Identity not verified, in plain words, so nobody is misled.
The name stays as you issued it
A signed certificate pins the name it was issued under. If the learner later checks their identity and the document reads a different name, your certificate still names them the way you did. It is never quietly reissued under another name.
A reader who needs to tie the two can type the name on the document in front of them into the certificate's page and get a plain yes or no. If you gave a date of birth, the certificate can also say whether it matches. See The learner's date of birth.
Your own certificate types
Everything you issue from the console is a certification: a named course, certification or licence awarded to a named learner. You cannot define your own certificate types in the console.
The rule behind it: an organisation's own certificate type is never signed until certo has approved it. An organisation may describe its own award. It may not decide on its own what certo signs. If what you award does not fit a certification, write to us at support@certo.bio before you issue it.