It is important that they "are" or "be"?
I have lived in the UK for thirty years and have definitely seen the subjunctive decline in the past twenty in newspapers and magazines, making it, I suppose, one more victim of the internet. But, regardless of custom, it is not CORRECT to use "are." You have to distinguish between what ought to be and what is, and "are" means that something exists. We have the subjunctive for a reason, and it is a good reason. It's not the subjunctive's problem that ignorant and tin-eared people don't understand it.