Ballot 145 – Operational Existence for Government Entities

Overview

• Ballot 145 concerns operational existence verification for government entities in the Server Certificate Working Group.
• The stated reason is that government entities are often not listed with a QIIS, especially soon after creation by statute or order, while their legal existence can be verified through a QGIS.
• The ballot text says that operational existence is intended to ensure organizations are not fly-by-night scams or phishing entities, and that these same risks are not present for government entities because they are created directly by government action.

Proposed Requirement Change

• The motion says that, effective immediately, section 11.6.1 is modified.
• Under the revised section 11.6.1 Verification Requirements, a CA must verify that the Applicant has the ability to engage in business by verifying the Applicant's, or Affiliate/Parent/Subsidiary Company's, operational existence.
• The motion adds that a CA may rely on its verification of a Government Entity's legal existence under section 11.2 as verification of that Government Entity's operational existence.

Ballot Process

• The review period commenced at 2200 UTC on 2015-02-19 and closed at 2200 UTC on 2015-02-26.
• Unless withdrawn during the review period, the voting period would start immediately thereafter and close at 2200 UTC on 2015-03-05.
• Adoption required two thirds or more of votes cast by members in the CA category and greater than 50% of votes cast by members in the browser category to be in favor.
• Quorum was nine members.

Outcome Assessment

• The supplied evidence shows the ballot text and process dates but does not provide voting results.
• The supplied evidence also does not provide an IPR review end date or state whether any exclusion notices were filed.
• Because the evidence does not establish final adoption, the result cannot be confirmed as passed.