[AfrICANN-discuss] New Registrar Agreement Covers Most Registrations

[Anne-Rachel Inné]

News Alert

http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-24nov09-en.htm
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 New Registrar Agreement Covers Most Registrations

Over 88 percent of domain names covered by new protections

24 November 2009

Less than six months after new registrant protections were approved by the
ICANN Board, over 88 percent of all generic domain names are now covered.

The protections include improved ways of storing data that require
registration companies to submit to more stringent rules. These are included
in a revised contract between ICANN and registrars, called the Registrar
Accreditation Agreement (RAA).

Since the revised RAA was approved on 21 May 2009, 650 registrars have
voluntarily agreed to be bound by the new agreement; collectively they
represent 88 percent of all generic top-level domains registered. In return,
those that have signed the new agreement are recognized by ICANN on its
listing of accredited companies.

Under their existing contract, registrars are not required to sign up to the
new RAA until their existing agreement ends, but they can voluntarily sign
up early. The high level of coverage achieved to date is due primarily to
these voluntary early adopters.

ICANN CEO and President Rod Beckstrom said of the high sign-up rate: “The
fact that the vast majority of generic domain names are now covered by these
protections is a clear sign of the industry’s goodwill and its commitment to
effective self-regulation - especially since some of these protections come
at a cost to the companies themselves. It is an extraordinary achievement in
a very short time.”

Some of the additional protections afforded registrants under the new
contract include:

   - Enhanced enforcement tools to assure registrar compliance with ICANN
   policies
   - Enhanced data escrow requirements to protect registrants that use
   privacy or proxy services
   - A Registrant Rights & Responsibilities document
   - New requirements placed on resellers
   - Improved contact information requirements
   - Registrar required training program

“Registrars and the ICANN community successfully collaborated to make sure
consumers are well protected while respecting the competitive marketplace
ICANN has made part of its mandate,” said Mason Cole, Vice President of
Oversee.net and chair of the Registrar Stakeholder Group. “It’s encouraging
to see how quickly and assertively registrars have adopted the terms of the
new agreement.”

As an aid to potential registrants, ICANN has added an indicator on each of
our public lists of registrars to show which registrars have adopted the
2009 RAA. See:

   - http://www.internic.net/regist.html
   - http://www.icann.org/en/registrars/accreditation-qualified-list.html
   - http://www.icann.org/en/registrars/accredited-list.html

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