diff --git a/.gitlab/issue_templates/Internal_use_only-CVE.md b/.gitlab/issue_templates/Internal_use_only-CVE.md
index 7dcf7fe3a9..a30774cf71 100644
--- a/.gitlab/issue_templates/Internal_use_only-CVE.md
+++ b/.gitlab/issue_templates/Internal_use_only-CVE.md
@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@ confidential!
   - [ ] [:link:][step_backports]         **(SwEng)** Prepare backports of the merge request addressing the problem for all affected (and still maintained) branches of a given product
   - [ ] [:link:][step_finish_advisory]   **(Support)** Finish preparing the Security Advisory
   - [ ] [:link:][step_meta_issue]        **(QA)** Create (or update) the private issue containing links to fixes & reproducers for all CVEs fixed in a given release cycle
-  - [ ] [:link:][step_changes]           **(QA)** (BIND 9 only) Reserve a block of `CHANGES` placeholders once the complete set of vulnerabilities fixed in a given release cycle is determined
   - [ ] [:link:][step_merge_fixes]       **(QA)** Merge the CVE fixes in CVE identifier order
   - [ ] [:link:][step_patches]           **(QA)** Prepare a standalone patch for the last stable release of each affected (and still maintained) product branch
   - [ ] [:link:][step_asn_releases]      **(QA)** Prepare ASN releases (as outlined in the Release Checklist)
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e05a114862..4bfe45ddc1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ information regarding copyright ownership.
 1. [Building BIND](#build)
 1. [Automated testing](#testing)
 1. [Documentation](#doc)
-1. [Change log](#changes)
 1. [Acknowledgments](#ack)
 
 ### <a name="intro"/> Introduction
@@ -49,8 +48,7 @@ ongoing maintenance and improvement. BIND is open source software
 licensed under the terms of the Mozilla Public License, version 2.0.
 
 For a detailed list of changes made throughout the history of BIND 9, see
-the file [CHANGES](CHANGES). See [below](#changes) for details on the
-CHANGES file format.
+the [changelog](doc/arm/changelog.rst).
 
 For up-to-date versions and release notes, see
 [https://www.isc.org/download/](https://www.isc.org/download/).
@@ -163,35 +161,6 @@ can be found in the ISC Knowledgebase at
 Additional information on various subjects can be found in other
 `README` files throughout the source tree.
 
-### <a name="changes"/> Change log
-
-A detailed list of all changes that have been made throughout the
-development of BIND 9 is included in the file CHANGES, with the most recent
-changes listed first. Change notes include tags indicating the category of
-the change that was made; these categories are:
-
-|Category	|Description	        			|
-|--------------	|-----------------------------------------------|
-| [func] | New feature |
-| [bug] | General bug fix |
-| [security] | Fix for a significant security flaw |
-| [experimental] | Used for new features when the syntax or other aspects of the design are still in flux and may change |
-| [port] | Portability enhancement |
-| [maint] | Updates to built-in data such as root server addresses and keys |
-| [tuning] | Changes to built-in configuration defaults and constants to improve performance |
-| [performance] | Other changes to improve server performance |
-| [protocol] | Updates to the DNS protocol such as new RR types |
-| [test] | Changes to the automatic tests, not affecting server functionality |
-| [cleanup] | Minor corrections and refactoring |
-| [doc] | Documentation |
-| [contrib] | Changes to the contributed tools and libraries in the 'contrib' subdirectory |
-| [placeholder] | Used in the main development branch to reserve change numbers for use in other branches, e.g., when fixing a bug that only exists in older releases |
-
-In general, [func] and [experimental] tags only appear in new-feature
-releases (i.e., those with version numbers ending in zero). Some new
-functionality may be backported to older releases on a case-by-case basis.
-All other change types may be applied to all currently supported releases.
-
 #### Bug report identifiers
 
 Most notes in the CHANGES file include a reference to a bug report or
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 5ea7657c34..f96d2d5421 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1248,10 +1248,10 @@ AM_CONDITIONAL([HAVE_SPHINX_BUILD], [test -n "$SPHINX_BUILD"])
 AM_CONDITIONAL([BUILD_MANPAGES], [test -e doc/man/named.conf.5in || test -n "$SPHINX_BUILD"])
 
 #
-# Pull release date from CHANGES file last modification date
+# Pull release date from changelog.rst file last modification date
 # for reproducible builds
 #
-release_date=`date -u -r CHANGES +%Y-%m-%d`
+release_date=`date -u -r doc/arm/changelog.rst +%Y-%m-%d`
 AC_SUBST([RELEASE_DATE], $release_date)
 
 #