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Bylaws History

Bylaws

For a current version of the Bylaws, see Bylaws

The CA / Browser Forum Bylaws were amended with passage of Ballot Forum-18 v3, with an effective date of 20 July 2023. They are available here as a PDF: CA/Browser Forum Bylaws, v. 2.5. (Redline version)

Previous Versions

Version 2.4 of the CA / Browser Forum Bylaws were adopted with passage of Ballot Forum-18, with an effective date of 3 August 2022. They are available here as a PDF: CA/Browser Forum Bylaws, v. 2.4.

Version 2.3 of the CA / Browser Forum Bylaws were adopted with passage of Ballot Forum-12 and became effective on 26 May 2020. They are available here as a PDF: CA-Browser Forum Bylaws, v. 2.3

Version 2.2 of the CA / Browser Forum Bylaws were adopted with passage of Ballot Forum-9 – Bylaws and Server Certificate Working Group Charter Updates and became effective on 20 May 2019. They are available here as a PDF: CA-Browser Forum Bylaws, v. 2.2

Version 2.1 of the CA / Browser Forum Bylaws were adopted with passage of Ballot Forum-6 – Update ETSI Requirements in the Bylaws and became effective on 1 October 2018. They are available here as a PDF: CA-Browser Forum Bylaws, v. 2.1

Version 2.0 of the CA / Browser Forum Bylaws were adopted with passage of Ballot Forum-4 v.3 and became effective on 28 September 2018. They are available here as a PDF: CA-Browser Forum Bylaws v. 2.0

Version 1.9 of the CA / Browser Forum Bylaws were adopted and become effective 3 July 2018 with passage of Ballot 206. They are available here as a PDF: CA-Browser Forum Bylaws v. 1.9

Version 1.8 of the CA / Browser Forum Bylaws were adopted and became effective 21 December 2017 with passage of Ballot 216 and is available here as a PDF: CA-Browser Forum Bylaws v. 1.8.

Version 1.7 of the CA / Browser Forum Bylaws were adopted and became effective 6 July 2017 with passage of Ballot 205, and is available here as a PDF: CA-Browser Forum Bylaws v. 1.7.

Version 1.6 of the CA / Browser Forum Bylaws were adopted and became effective 30 May 2017 with passage of Ballot 200, and are available as a PDF here: ** CA-Browser Forum Bylaws v. 1.6**CABF-Bylaws-v.1.9_20FEB18

Version 1.5 of the CA / Browser Forum Bylaws were adopted and became effective 31 January 2017 with passage of Ballot 183, and are available as a PDF here: CA-Browser Forum Bylaws v. 1.5.

Version 1.4 of the CA / Browser Forum Bylaws were adopted and became effective 4 April 2016 with passage of Ballot 166, and are available as a PDF here: CA-Browser Forum Bylaws v. 1.4.

Version 1.3 of the CA / Browser Forum bylaws were adopted and became effective 10 July 2015 with passage of Ballot 149, and are available as a PDF here: CA-Browser Forum Bylaws v. 1.3

Version 1.2 of the CA / Browser Forum bylaws were adopted and became effective 16 October 2014, and are available as a PDF here: CA-Browser Forum Bylaws v.1.2

Version 1.1 of the CA / Browser Forum bylaws were adopted and became effective 25 March 2014, and are available as a PDF here: CA-Browser Forum Bylaws v. 1.1

Ballot 98 clarified the Bylaws that votes of Members on CAB Forum ballots are public information. That version is available here: CA-Browser Forum Bylaws v. 1.0-Ballot-98.

Version 1.0 of the Bylaws were adopted in 2012 and is available here: CA/Browser Forum Bylaws v. 1.0

Latest releases

Server Certificate Requirements
SC-089: Mass Revocation Planning - Aug 26, 2025

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
v1.0.12 - Ballot SMC014 - Oct 13, 2025

This ballot introduces requirements that a Certificate Issuer MUST deploy DNSSEC validation back to the IANA DNSSEC root trust anchor on all DNS queries associated with CAA record lookups performed by the Primary Network Perspective, effective March 15, 2026. The ballot is intended to maintain consistency in the S/MIME Baseline Requirements with the requirements of Ballot SC-085 which implemented identical requirements in the TLS Baseline Requirements. Note: SC-085 also introduced requirements in TLS Baseline Requirements for the use of DNSSEC in domain control validation. These requirements are automatically adopted in the S/MIME BR by the email domain control methods that include a normative reference to section 3.2.2.4 of the TLS Baseline Requirements. The draft also includes minor corrections to web links in the text. This ballot is proposed by Stephen Davidson (DigiCert) and endorsed by Client Wilson (Apple) and Ashish Dhiman (GlobalSign).

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