The industry is moving toward shorter certificate lifespans, more frequent validation, and stronger, auditable controls to address security risks. To comply with the CA/B Forum rules, Sectigo will also reduce the SSL/TLS lifespans to 199 days starting March 12, 2026.
 

（DigiCert will begin the change even earlier, from February 24^th. Please see our blog article here for more detailed information.)
 

Key Changes for TLS Certificates & DCV Reuse

Here are the changes that directly impact TLS certificate issuance and validation:

• Shorter TLS/SSL Certificate Validity: Starting March 12, 2026, each issued Sectigo TLS/SSL certificate will be valid for a maximum of 199 days. You can still purchase multi-year subscriptions, but you need to re-issue certificates more frequently within that subscription period than before.
• Limited DCV Reuse: Domain Control Validation (DCV) can only be reused for up to 198 days. Therefore, you’ll need to perform DCV again for new issuances or re-issuances if the DCV records are older than this limit.
• New Code Signing Rule: After February 15, 2026, Sectigo-provisioned Code Signing certificates can only be purchased as a 1-year product.

Does this affect my current certificates?

No. Your current certificates remain valid until they expire. But if you reissue the certificate after March 12^th, it will be valid for a maximum of 199 days, and you may have to re-issue again if your subscription period is longer than that.

To simply put, from March 12^th onwards, domain validation and issuance will happen more frequently within the subscription period than before.

How NicSRS Helps You to Prepare for the Future

The SSL certificate validity will be gradually shortened to 47 days in 2029. By then, users will practically have to replace SSL certificates every month, presenting huge challenges and risks for companies especially if they manags hundreds of,  or even thousands of certificates. It's impractical and impossible to install, replace and monitor these certificates manually. NicSRS has designed and developed sslTrus CLM to help companies and websites to achieve SSL automation and visibility with ease. Multiple CAs? We got it! Private CAs? No problem! F5, SSH, Sanfor, cloud platform integration... Bring your CLM requirements to NicSRS and we'll provide you with a case-by-case solution.

References:

https://www.sectigo.com/dcv-industry-compliance-changes?utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9GZzU-dwTO95v6_O74DDOtIYOYmrguJN-l0i3CUSewkMewt5MU5-f8kIZkK2sDax2hNtKgPMDRkXRVxTQLPFHJ0wpRjA&_hsmi=400095111&utm_content=400095111&utm_source=hs_email
https://cabforum.org/2025/04/11/ballot-sc081v3-introduce-schedule-of-reducing-validity-and-data-reuse-periods/