# SC-031: Browser Alignment puts the 398-day cap in the BRs

> SC-031 copied root program rules into the Baseline Requirements, including the 398-day maximum TLS certificate validity from 2020-09-01.

Source: https://ssl.sh/ballots/sc-031/
Last updated: 2026-11-10

SC-031 is where the 398-day TLS certificate became a formal CA/B Forum rule. The "Browser Alignment" ballot copied requirements that browser root programs had introduced on their own into the [Baseline Requirements](https://ssl.sh/glossary/baseline-requirements/), including the cap of 398 days for certificates issued from 2020-09-01.

## What changed

SC-031 moved rules that root programs had set on their own into the BRs. The ballot text explains why: root programs had added requirements beyond the BRs, which weren't independently audited and left CAs complying with the union of every program's rules. The best-known one: subscriber certificates issued on or after 2020-09-01 should not exceed 397 days and must not exceed 398 days of validity. Apple had announced this limit for Safari earlier in 2020, after [SC-022v2](https://ssl.sh/ballots/sc-022/), a ballot for the same limit, failed in 2019. Other changes, effective 2020-09-30, covered OCSP response validity periods, byte-for-byte identical subject and issuer names across certification paths, a required CA/B Forum reserved policy identifier in subscriber certificates, and meaningful reason codes when subordinate CAs are revoked.

## Effective dates

The ballot passed on 2020-07-16 and the BR change took effect on 2020-08-20. The 398-day limit applied from 2020-09-01, most other requirements from 2020-09-30.

## Who is affected

Everyone buying TLS certificates: two-year certificates disappeared and annual renewal became the norm. It was proposed by Google and endorsed by Apple and Microsoft.

## What to do

No action is needed: the 398-day rule ended on 2026-03-15, when [SC-081v3](https://ssl.sh/ballots/sc-081/) cut the maximum to 200 days. See the [certificate validity timeline](https://ssl.sh/timeline/certificate-validity/).


| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Ballot | SC-031 |
| Status | Passed |
| Adopted | 2020-07-16 |
| Effective | 2020-08-20 |
| BR version | 1.7.1 |
| Official page | https://cabforum.org/2020/07/16/ballot-sc031-browser-alignment/ |