Ballot 120 – Affiliate Authority to Verify Domain (passed)

Ballot overview

• Ballot 120, Affiliate Authority to Verify Domain, passed.
• The ballot was intended to restore the prior rule that had been inadvertently removed by Ballot 104 and to correct related definition updates from Ballot 72.
• It applies the corrected domain verification rule to EV, OV, and DV server certificates.

What changed

• The Baseline Requirements were amended to move definitions for Control, Country, Parent Company, Sovereign State, and Subsidiary Company from the EV Guidelines into the Baseline Requirements.
• The EV Guidelines were amended to delete those redundant definitions.
• BR 11.1.1 was revised so that, for each FQDN in a certificate, the CA must confirm that the applicant or the applicant’s Parent Company, Subsidiary Company, or Affiliate is the Domain Name Registrant or has control over the FQDN.
• The allowed verification methods include direct registrar confirmation, direct communication using registrar-provided contact information, WHOIS contact information, admin-style email addresses, a Domain Authorization Document, practical control via an agreed web-page change, or another documented method meeting at least the same level of assurance.
• EVGL 11.6.1 was revised to allow verification through Section 11.1.1 of the Baseline Requirements, except that the method in 11.1.1(7) may not be used for EV.

Ballot intent and scope

• The ballot states that domain ownership by a parent, subsidiary, or affiliate would again be sufficient for a customer to obtain a certificate for its domain.
• The ballot states that the corrected rule applies to all classes of server certificates: EV, OV, and DV.
• The ballot states that it was not intended to change prior approved practices for domain confirmation.

Dates

• The review period was scheduled to start at 2200 UTC on Thursday, May 22, 2014, and close at 2200 UTC on Thursday, May 29, 2014.
• The voting period was scheduled to start immediately after the review period and close at 2200 UTC on Thursday, June 5, 2014.
• Voting closed on June 5, 2014.
• The ballot passed.

Notes on applicability

• The evidence does not state a separate implementation or compliance date beyond the ballot’s adoption and passage language.
• The ballot text describes the rule change and its applicability, but no explicit effective date is provided in the supplied evidence.