Ballot SC078: Subject organizationName alignment for DBA / Assumed Name

Ballot overview

• Ballot SC078 is titled Subject organizationName alignment for DBA / Assumed Name.
• It is a Final Maintenance Guideline for the Baseline Requirements for the Issuance and Management of Publicly-Trusted TLS Server Certificates.
• The ballot aims to align OV certificate subject organizationName handling with the EVGs and SBRs.

What changes

• The ballot keeps allowing a sole DBA / Assumed Name in organizationName.
• It also allows the format DBA (Legal Name) for OV certificates.
• The redline updates the organizationName guidance so that:
  • the field may contain the Subject's name and/or DBA/tradename
  • the CA may include slightly different but documented and locally accepted abbreviations or common variations
  • if both are included, the DBA/tradename must appear first, followed by the Subject's name in parentheses

Voting and adoption

• Certificate Issuers: 20 votes total, 20 YES, 0 NO, 0 ABSTAIN
• Certificate Consumers: 2 votes total, 2 YES, 0 NO, 0 ABSTAIN
• The bylaws requirements were MET for issuer approval, consumer approval, one affirmative vote in each category, and quorum.
• The ballot is marked as passed.

Review period

• Start of Review Period: 2024-10-02 13:30 UTC
• End of Review Period: 2024-11-02 13:30 UTC
• The evidence says members with Essential Claims to exclude must submit a written Notice to Exclude Essential Claims before the end of the Review Period.
• The supplied evidence does not state that any exclusion notices were filed.

Effective date and applicability

• The ballot text and linked BR revision list show the new revision as Ballot SC78 / SC078 with an effective date of 2025-03-15 for Section 3.2.2.2-related subject organizationName requirements.
• This applies to OV certificates under Section 3.2.2.2, while the redline also shows a parallel change for individual validated subject attributes under Section 3.2.3.
• For OV certificates, the CA must use the updated organizationName wording by 2025-03-15.
• For individual validated subject attributes, the CA may include the updated organizationName wording by 2025-03-15.

IPR review

• Start of Review Period: 2 october 2024 at 13:30 UTC
• End of Review Period: 2 November 2024 at 13:30 UTC