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All,<br>
<br>
The Policy Review Working Group has been reviewing the use of the
term "Certification Authority" in the BRs and is now considering
adopting a use of the term "Trust Service Provider", which is
included in ISO 21188 (referenced by WebTrust for CAs) and ETSI
definitions. In general, the term "CA" might be used for the more
technical systems for issuing and revoking certificates, while Trust
Service Providers could be used for recognizing that a party could
operate multiple CAs with different policies.<br>
<br>
A proposed definition of "<b>Certification Authority (CA)</b>" is "a
technical certificate generation service that is trusted by one or
more entities to create, sign, revoke, and provide status
information for public key certificates and is operated by a Trust
Service Provider."<br>
<br>
"<b>Trust Service Provider (TSP)</b>" would be defined as "an
organization providing trust services, through a number of
Certification Authorities, to their customers who may act as
Subscribers or Relying Parties."<br>
<br>
The goal of the WG is to modify the BRs to be clearer on the use of
terms, but not otherwise to change any rules. By defining "CA" as
the technical entity and "TSP" as the provider, we think we can
minimize the number of changes while clarifying the Baseline
Requirements.<br>
<br>
We invite your comments on this topic.<br>
<br>
<br>
Dimitris.<br>
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