The Finnish Contractor’s Obligations and Liability Act requires the contractor to check that their contractual partners fulfil their statutory obligations as partners and employers. Contractor’s liability data must be checked before signing an agreement.
Checking the contractor’s liability data is an additional service to a subscription. You can include it in the signing process to make the checking of contractor’s liability data easier for your organisation. The contractor’s liability reports required by law, including their read acknowledgements, are saved in the SignSpace service. The information required by internal audits and audits performed by the authorities are easily accessible in the summary view, when necessary.
Starting to use the contractor’s liability feature
Contact the SignSpace service sales to subscribe the contractor’s liability check function. You will receive a free trial period of 30 days. During this period, you can freely cancel your subscription. If you do not cancel your subscription during the free trial, it will become a payable service and will be charged in accordance with the subscription agreement.
This feature is available only for Finnish organisations.
Reliable Partner interpretation
The Reliable Partner interpretation, which includes the information required by the Contractor’s Obligations and Liability Act, is shown in the signer’s information when the organisation is included in the signature request. The information is available regarding Finnish organisations.
The Reliable Partner interpretation is shown free of charge to all users of the service, regardless of the type of subscription.
The icon (i) is shown when an organisation whose contractor’s liability data are not available is found in the Trade Register’s business information system (YTJ). The company can join the Reliable Partner service, making it easier for the client to comply with the statutory obligations.
Adding a contracting party
The checking of contractor’s liability data requires adding the contracting party’s organisation to the signer’s information with a new signing request. Enter the organisation’s name or business ID and click Apply.
If the organisation you entered is found in the data sources used by the SignSpace service, the Reliable Partner interpretation or icon is shown as a symbol at the signer’s organisation.
If the organisation you entered is not found in the data sources, the icon is not shown. The icon is also not shown at your own organisation or subsidiaries.
Setting the checking feature on
When your organisation has started using the contractor’s liability data checking feature, you can set it on by using the contractor’s liability check slide button found at the bottom of the signing request form.
Please note! Your organisation may have specified a default setting so that it is always on but can be turned off, or so that it cannot be turned off.
The processing options for the check
You can choose between two processing options: Perform check or Not applicable
If checking the contractor’s liability data is not required, choose Not applicable. If you want, you may leave a comment that is shown on the signing request to users in your own organisation.
Choose Perform check when contractor’s liability data must be checked.
Performing the check
The checking window opens by choosing from the processing options: Perform check
If the Reliable Partner report is available for the organisation in question, the report opens in the preview window for reading. When necessary, you may download the report onto your computer by choosing Download.
When the interpretation of the report is Ok, no additional clarifications are needed and you can set the check as completed after reading the report. Always remember to read the full report!
When the interpretation of the report is Attention, ask your supplier to provide the necessary additional clarifications concerning the deviation.
If the interpretation of the report is Check or Incomplete, processing measures are required.
Stop is shown when the organisation does not meet the requirements of the Contractor’s Obligations and Liability Act: the person in charge specified in the organisations’ trade register extract is under a ban on engaging in commercial activities or, according to the YTJ register data, the organisation has been dissolved or announced bankrupt or the organisation is no longer operational.
More information on the interpretations of the Reliable Partner report.
Processing measures
If something in the contractor’s liability data of a party requires attention or checking, data are incomplete or data have not yet been received from the source, you need additional clarifications or an updated Reliable Partner report.
The necessary processing measures vary depending on the circumstances.
If you have at hand the documents supplementing the Reliable Partner report that are required for the contractor’s liability report, or if you want to leave comments relating to the report, you may
a) attach files to the Attach files field on the right side of the checking window.
b) save the signing request as a draft and gather the missing information later and save them in the Contractor’s liability check discussion found in the signing request.
c) or return to the checking window to enter the required data.
The comments related to the contractor’s liability check are only shown to those persons in your organisation to whom the request to sign was shared and to the Reliable Administrators in your organisation.
Setting the check as completed
When the check is complete to the extent required by the Contractor’s Obligations and Liability Act, you can set the check as completed by clicking the I have checked, ... checkbox and choosing Set as completed.
Inviting a partner to the Reliable Partner service
The icon (i) is shown, when the contractor’s liability data of the organisation cannot be checked, because the organisation is not included in the Reliable Partner service.
The easiest way to ensure compliance with the obligations pursuant to the Contractor’s Obligations and Liability Act is to invite the contracting party to join the Reliable Partner service.
Click the Invite ... button and email a pre-filled invitation to the representative of the contracting party. You can freely edit the text of the cover letter before sending.
SignSpace will send you an email notification when the Reliable Partner report of your contracting party is available and you can proceed to sign the agreement.
Attaching the Reliable Partner report to the agreement
The checked Reliable Partner report and the associated read acknowledgement are always saved in your organisation’s account as part of the contractor’s liability check. If you also want to attach the contractor’s liability report as part of the agreement to be signed, choose YES at Attach the Reliable Partner report to the agreement to be signed?
When you choose YES, the report is included as part of the agreement to be signed.
If the agreement files to be signed are in pdf format, you may combine the files into a single pdf by choosing Combine pdf files into a single file.
Monitoring contractor’s liability reports
On the Files tab, you may follow the contractor’s liability reports of agreements. Choose Edit columns and click the selection boxes at the columns you want to present in the files view. Other users cannot see your column settings.
Please note! The contractor’s liability check columns are shown when your organisation has purchased the payable contractor’s liability check service.
The columns that you chose are presented in the Files view. By using the predefined filters found under the Liability check heading, you can get a list of the agreements you want.
Monitoring contractor’s liability data of organisations
SignSpace provides an export function to export the organisation data into an Excel file. The file is convenient for importing the organisation data of contractual partners into the Valvoja service provided by Vastuu Group Ltd, for instance.
Saving and deleting data
The contractor’s liability data of signed agreements are saved in the service for ten (10) years as a default. The contractor’s liability data are deleted from the service when the signed agreement is deleted.