CA/Browser Forum
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Application for Membership

For CAs and Browsers Interested in Joining the CA / Browser Forum:

Browser manufacturers or developers of software that includes trusted root certificates may wish to consider joining the CA/Browser Forum.  Our Bylaws require that your organization “…produces a software product intended for use by the general public for browsing the Web securely.”

Our bylaws provide that CA members shall meet at least one of the following criteria:

  • Issuing CA:- The member organization operates a certification authority that has a current and successful WebTrust for CAs audit, or ETSI 102042 or ETSI 101456 audit report prepared by a properly-qualified auditor, and that actively issues certificates to Web servers that are openly accessible from the Internet using any one of the mainstream browsers.
  • Root CA:- The member organization operates a certification authority that has a current and successful WebTrust for CAs, or ETSI 102042 or ETSI 101456 audit report prepared by a properly-qualified auditor, and that actively issues certificates to subordinate CAs that, in turn, actively issue certificates to Web servers that are openly accessible from the Internet using any one of the mainstream browsers.

Click this Membership Application section of our “Information for Potential Members” page.

Membership
Latest releases
Server Certificate Requirements
SC098: Process RFC 8657 CAA Parameters - Jun 16, 2026

Code Signing Requirements
v3.8 - Aug 5, 2024

What’s Changed CSC-25: Import EV Guidelines to CS Baseline Requirements by @dzacharo in https://github.com/cabforum/code-signing/pull/38 Full Changelog: https://github.com/cabforum/code-signing/compare/v3.7...v3.8

S/MIME Requirements
v1.0.15 - Ballot SMC017v2 - Jul 30, 2026

This ballot increases the minimum RSA key size for Root and Subordinate CA certificates in the S/MIME BRs from 2048 to 4096 bits for keys created after September 15, 2026, while retaining the 2048-bit minimum for Subscriber certificates. The ballot further requires that by September 15, 2027, CAs SHALL NOT issue Subscriber certificates from any Sub-CA whose RSA key modulus is less than 3072 bits, effectively sunsetting issuance from legacy 2048-bit Sub-CAs. The ballot also includes minor typographic corrections. This ballot is proposed by Martijn Katerbarg (Sectigo) and endorsed by Ben Wilson (Mozilla) and Stephen Davidson (DigiCert)

Network and Certificate System Security Requirements
Version 2.0.5 (Ballot NS-008) - Jul 9, 2025

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The Certification Authority Browser Forum (CA/Browser Forum) is a voluntary gathering of Certificate Issuers and suppliers of Internet browser software and other applications that use certificates (Certificate Consumers).