Knowledge Base

Description

DigiCert will shorten the organization validation reuse period for public OV TLS certificates from 824 days to 397 days on February 3, 2026 at 00:00 UTC.. The reuse period for your existing 824-day OV organization validations will also be shortened. This change affects organization validation for DigiCert’s public OV TLS certificates, such as Basic OV and Secure Site OV.

Why is DigiCert doing this?

DigiCert is making these changes to align with the CA/Browser Forum’s Ballot SC081v3: Introduce Schedule of Reducing Validity and Data Reuse Periods, which reduces the OV organization validation reuse period from 825 to 398 days in 2026. Learn more about Ballot SC081v3

• Learn how this Ballot affects domain validation
• Learn how this Ballot affects TLS certificate validity

OV organization validation reuse period in the CA/Browser Forum

Items covered in this article

• What’s changing
• How does the reduced OV - organization validation reuse affect you?
• References

What's changing

Today, when DigiCert validates your organization for public OV TLS certificates, the validation can be reused for up to 824 days. On February 3, 2026, the validation reuse period will change, and DigiCert will make the following changes to the OV organization validation reuse process:

• New OV organization validations
  Any organizations that have been validated for public OV TLS certificates on or after February 3, 2026, can be reused for up to 397 days. You will need to revalidate these organizations every 397 days, rather than 824 days.
• Existing OV organization validations  
  • For OV organizations validated before January 3, 2025, these validations will expire immediately on February 3, 2026.
  • For OV organizations validated on and after January 3, 2025, the OV organization validations will remain valid as of February 3, 2026, but will expire earlier than the original 824-day period.

How does the reduced OV - organization validation reuse affect you?

No immediate action is required. We recommend you prepare for this change:

• Get ready to validate OV organizations every 397 days.
  Expired OV - organization validation may disrupt certificate issuance if organizations are not revalidated in time. If you rely on immediate certificate issuance, you will need to revalidate some organizations before February 3, 2026. See the next bullet point. 
• Review your OV organization validation expiration dates.
  Before February 3, 2026, DigiCert will display the 397-day OV organization expiration date alongside the current 824-day OV organization expiration date to help you identify the impacted organizations.
  • Organization details page
    On the organization detail page in CertCentral, we are adding a second OV organization expiration date to comply with Ballot SC-81 requirements for a 397-day OV organization reuse period. This second expiration date allows you to easily compare the original and new expiration dates and plan for organization revalidation as needed.
    To access your organization detail page, in the left menu, go to Certificates > Organizations. On the Organizations page, select the organization name link.

References

• TLS Certificate Lifetimes Will Officially Reduce to 47 Days
• Voting Period Begins: SC-081v3: Introduce Schedule of Reducing Validity and Data Reuse Periods
• TLS certificate organization validation process