Organisations which are not legal entities

There are many organisations in the educational sector which operate autonomously, but which in fact are not legal entities. For such an organisation, it is normally clear to which organisation it is attached which is a legal entity. Typically, for example, an organisation based within a university is attached to that university.

The procedure to be followed in the case of organisation A, not a legal entity, wishing to register an identity provider or a service provider in the federation is then as follows:

1. Organisation A must reach agreement with the appropriate legal entity organisation B, that B is willing to take on the legal obligations of membership of the federation.
2. B applies to join the federation.
3. Once that has been achieved, a Management Contact of B – nominated as part of the joining process – would register one or more entities (identity providers or service providers) with the federation on behalf of organisation A. In practice, entity details would normally be determined by technical staff within A, and emailed to B's Management Contact for formal approval and forwarding to the federation operator; alternatively, B might choose to appoint a senior staff member of A as a Management Contact, who would then be entitled to register entities directly.