Ballot SC104: Set presence of AIA extension to SHOULD for Subscriber Certificates

Ballot overview

• Ballot SC104 changes the Baseline Requirements for publicly-trusted TLS Server Certificates.
• It sets the presence of the Authority Information Access extension in Subscriber Certificates from MUST to SHOULD.
• The ballot also changes the related Subscriber Certificate text so that, if present, the AuthorityInfoAccessSyntax must contain one or more AccessDescriptions.

Voting and adoption

• Voting results show 21 YES votes from Certificate Issuers, 0 NO, and 0 ABSTAIN.
• Voting results show 5 YES votes from Certificate Consumers, 0 NO, and 0 ABSTAIN.
• The bylaws requirements were MET for issuer approval, consumer approval, one affirmative vote in each category, and quorum.
• The ballot page states that ballot SC104 passed the Initial Vote.

Review period

• The ballot is subject to a 30-day IPR Review Period following the successful vote.
• Start of Review Period: 2026-09-03 12:00:00 UTC
• End of Review Period: 2026-10-03 12:00:00 UTC
• The page says members with Essential Claims to exclude must submit a Notice to Exclude Essential Claims before the end of the Review Period.

Document changes

• In the certificate profile table for Subscriber Certificates, authorityInformationAccess changes from MUST to SHOULD.
• In section 7.1.2.7.7, the requirement changes from the AuthorityInfoAccessSyntax MUST contain one or more AccessDescriptions to if present, it MUST contain one or more AccessDescriptions.
• The ballot background says this aligns the AIA extension requirement with the permissible access methods.

Related materials

• The ballot proposes a Final Maintenance Guideline.
• The linked redline and GitHub diff show the exact text changes in the Baseline Requirements.