Ballot SC-9: Establish the Validation Subcommittee of the SCWG

The voting period for Ballot SC9 has ended and the ballot has passed. Here are the results.

Voting by CAs – 17 votes total including abstentions 17 Yes votes: Actalis, Buypass, Chunghwa Telecom, D-TRUST, DigiCert, Entrust Datacard, GDCA, GlobalSign, GoDaddy, HARICA, Kamu SM, SHECA, SSC, TWCA, TrustCor, Trustwave, Visa 0 No votes: 0 Abstain: 100% of voting CAs voted in favor

Voting by browsers – 4 votes total including abstentions 4 Yes votes: Cisco, Microsoft, Mozilla, 360 0 No votes: 0 Abstain: 100% of voting browsers voted in favor

Under Bylaw 2.2(g), a ballot result will be considered valid only when more than half of the number of currently active Members has participated. Votes to abstain are counted in determining a quorum. Half of currently active Members as of the start of voting is 11, so quorum was 12 votes – quorum was met.

Bylaw 2.2(f) requires a yes vote by two-thirds of CA votes and 50%-plus-one browser votes for approval. Votes to abstain are not counted for this purpose. This requirement was met for both CAs and browsers.

At least one CA Member and one browser Member must vote in favor of a ballot for the ballot to be adopted. This requirement was met.

The ballot passes.

Purpose of Ballot

The Validation Working Group of the CA/Browser Forum will expire on October 3, 2018 under the provisions of the new Bylaws adopted in Ballot 206. The Server Certificate Working Group wishes to establish a Validation Subcommittee pursuant to the provisions of Bylaws Section 5.3.1(e). This ballot is based on the language in Ballot 143 which was approved by the Forum Members for formally establishing the legacy Validation Working Group in 2015:

The following motion has been proposed by Wayne Thayer of Mozilla and endorsed by Tim Hollebeek of DigiCert and Dimitris Zacharopoulos of HARICA.

Motion begins

The Server Certificate Working Group hereby establishes the Validation Subcommittee as an official Subcommittee of the Server Certificate Working Group (SCWG).

• Mission: To improve the information validation practices encoded in the guidelines maintained by the SCWG.
• End Date: This Subcommittee shall continue until such time as it is dissolved by a ballot of the SCWG.
• Initial Chair: Tim Hollebeek shall be the initial Chair of the Validation Subcommittee. The Subcommittee may change its Chair and may choose and change a Vice Chair from time to time by consensus of the Members participating in the Subcommittee.
• Scope: The scope of this Subcommittee is to address issues arising under adopted CA/Browser Forum guidelines and requirements related to the validation of certificate information and the inclusion of information in certificates. The Subcommittee will consider all matters relating to the validation and inclusion of information in certificates under adopted CA/Browser Forum guidelines and requirements.
• Deliverables: Ballots recommending improvements related to the matters that are within the scope of this Subcommittee. Participation: Any member of the SCWG is eligible and may declare their participation in the Validation Subcommittee by requesting to be added to the mailing list. Communication: Subcommittee communications and documents shall be posted on mailing lists where the mail-archives are publicly accessible. The Subcommittee shall publish minutes of its meetings.
• Effect of SCWG Charter or Forum Bylaws Amendment for Subcommittees: In the event the SCWG Charter or the CA/Browser Forum Bylaws is amended to add general rules governing Chartered Working Group Subcommittees and how they operate (“General Rules”), the provisions of the General Rules shall take precedence over this charter.

Motion ends

The procedure for approval of this ballot is as follows:

Discussion (7 days) Start Time: 2018-09-19, 16:00 UTC End Time: 2018-09-26, 16:00 UTC

Vote for approval (7 days) Start Time: 2018-09-26, 16:00 UTC End Time: 2018-10-03, 16:00 UTC

Additional Information (not part of ballot)

Ballot 143 – Formalization of Validation Working Group (approved Feb 2015)

The CA-Browser Forum formally establishes the Validation Working Group as an official working group of the CAB Forum, replacing the previous informal EV working group. The scope of this working group is to address issues arising under adopted CAB Forum standards related to the validation of certificate information and the inclusion of information in certificates.

Scope: The Validation Working Group will consider all matters relating to the validation and inclusion of information in certificates under adopted CAB Forum guidelines.

Deliverables: The Working Group shall produce one or more documents offering options to the Forum for validation within the scope defined above.

Bylaws v1.9

5.3.1 Formation of Chartered Working Groups (e) CWGs may establish any number of subcommittees within its own Working Group to address any of such CWG’s business (each, a “Subcommittee”). A CWG-created Subcommittee needs to be approved by the CWG itself according to the approval process set forth in the CWG charter, but approval of the Forum is not necessary. Subcommittees must exist under an approved CWG.