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Issuance policies

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Issuance policies

A certification authority (CA) processes each certificate request by a defined set of rules. The certification authority may issue some certificates with no proof of identification and require subjects of another type to submit some proof. This provides different levels of assurance for different certificates. These levels of assurance are represented in certificates as issuance policies.

An issuance policy (also known as a certificate policy) is a group of administrative rules that is implemented when issuing certificates. They are represented in a certificate by an object identifier (also known as an OID) that is defined at the certification authority. This object identifier is included in the issued certificate. When a subject presents its certificate, it can be examined by the target to verify the issuance policy and determine if that level of issuance policy is sufficient to perform the requested action.