Major changes have taken place in recent years regarding certificates and we have moved towards shorter certificate lifetimes as automatic renewals have become more common.
As a step in this direction, on 1 September 2020 the maximum length of time a certificate can be issued will be reduced from two years to one.
If you are already using Let’s Encrypt or the fully automated certificate management on your managed server or hosting provider, you will not be affected.
Equally, if you are currently paying for a certificate, which you have previously updated manually, you will be able to cancel the certificate. It will then be automatically replaced and subsequent renewals will also be fully automatic.
If you use the certificate in a system that does not support automatic certificate updates, the certificate will need to be replaced every year.
We will only offer paid certificates on an annual basis and renewals of existing certificates that were previously renewed every two years will be adjusted to renew annually.