diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 30acb0d3e1a1f2..d209bdbd74a70c 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+Thu Mar 29 08:25:35 2012  Martin Bosslet  <Martin.Bosslet@googlemail.com>
+
+	* NEWS: add note about unified behavior of encoding nil values in
+	  instances of OpenSSL::ASN1::ASN1Data.
+
 Thu Mar 29 07:45:36 2012  Martin Bosslet  <Martin.Bosslet@googlemail.com>
 
 	* ext/openssl/ossl_asn1.c: raise TypeError when trying to encode nil
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index c8d8e747454abc..2c9b08b568b1dd 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -83,6 +83,13 @@ with all sufficient information, see the ChangeLog file.
 * zlib
   * Added support for the new deflate strategies Zlib::RLE and Zlib::FIXED.
 
+* openssl
+  * Consistently raise an error when trying to encode nil values. All instances
+    of OpenSSL::ASN1::Primitive now raise TypeError when calling to_der on an
+    instance whose value is nil. All instances of OpenSSL::ASN1::Constructive
+    raise NoMethodError in the same case. Constructing such values is still
+    permitted.
+
 === Language changes
 === Compatibility issues (excluding feature bug fixes)