One of the easiest checks in the Organisation Validation process is Telephone Verification. Do you have a telephone number listed for your business? Is it verifiable by a third-party or government directory? If so, proceed to the next step.
What is Telephone Verification?
To satisfy the Telephone Verification check you only need an active telephone listing that’s verifiable by an acceptable online directory. The listing must display the exact same business name and physical address as the information you provided.
To check this, the first place the CA’s will go are the Online Government Databases. If your number is listed and the organisation name and address match up, you’re good to go—you’ve satisfied this requirement.
For Australia, that means the Australian Business Register or Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) .
For New Zealand, that means the New Zealand Companies Office Companies Register .
Unfortunately, the majority of government databases don’t display the phone number. You can double check your listing by searching for your business name in your government’s online business directory and see if the telephone number displays! If it doesn’t, it’s not a major problem.
- Alternative Methods:
- Third-Party Directory
- Legal Opinion Letter
Third-Party Directory
The CAs can use an existing or new telephone listing from an acceptable third-party directory.
- Globally acceptable directories for all CAs include:
- D&B
- Hoovers
- Data.com (Symantec/GeoTrust/Thawte ONLY)
- Google My Business (Symantec/GeoTrust/Thawte ONLY)
- Acceptable Directories for businesses registered in Australia include:
- https://www.whitepages.com.au/
- https://www.yellowpages.com.au/
- Acceptable Directories for businesses registered in New Zealand include:
- https://whitepages.co.nz/
- https://yellow.co.nz/
Please contact our Support Team for a list of all accepted directories in your country.
Legal Opinion Letter
The other option is a Legal Opinion Letter (also called a Professional Opinion Letter or POL). Legal Opinion Letters can satisfy four of the five requirements for Organisation Validation, including this one. Just request the POL form from the CA or from our support team, get it signed by an attorney or accountant (they must be in good standing with the government regulatory body in your country or locality) and you’re good to go.
- Example Comodo Legal Opinion Letter
- Example GeoTrust Legal Opinion Letter
- Example Symantec Legal Opinion Letter
- Example Thawte Legal Opinion Letter
Any of these methods will satisfy the Telephone Verification requirement.