[AfrICANN-discuss] Two Registrars Lose ICANN Accreditation

Wed Feb 10 19:46:40 SAST 2010

 News Alert

http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-09feb10-en.htm
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 Two Registrars Lose ICANN Accreditation

9 February 2010

ICANN terminated its accreditation agreement with two registrars ISPREG LTD
and SBNames Ltd for failure to comply with the requirements of the Registrar
Accreditation Agreement (RAA), the contract between ICANN and registrars
that governs the registration of domain names under generic top-level
domains such as dot-com and dot-org.

Letters have been sent to each registrar outlining the decision and reason
behind the decision.

*Related Links:*

Letter to ISPREG LTD:
http://www.icann.org/correspondence/giza-to-petrov-ispreg-09feb10-en.pdf

Letter to SBNames:
http://www.icann.org/correspondence/giza-to-petrov-sbnames-09feb10-en.pdf

To protect registrants, ICANN has initiated a process to identify a
qualified and accredited registrar to take over management of the domain
names formerly managed by ISPREG LTD and SBNames Ltd through a bulk
transfer. Guidance is provided below for registrants who may be affected by
this action.
Frequently Asked Questions

*Q. If I have domain names with a registrar that lost its accreditation,
will I lose my domain names?*

A. No. Your registrar’s gTLD names will be transferred to another registrar,
as described below. Two-letter country-code (ccTLD) names, such as dot-in
and dot-us, are not affected by this process.

*Q. Will I be charged for this process?*

A. No, the transfer process itself is provided free of any charge to
registrants. You should note, however, that it will not change the current
expiration date of your domain name registration. After the bulk transfer
process is completed, you will be contacted by the registrar that receives
the terminated registrar’s domain names about your options.

*Q. How long will it take ICANN to identify someone to receive the domain
names?*

A. We expect to identify a qualified registrar to receive domain names
within 30 days; however, the process of identifying a qualified registrar
and completing the transfer of registration information may, on occasion,
take longer than expected. ICANN will post a notice on its website when a
qualified registrar has been identified.

*Q. What do I need to do now?*

A. You do not need to do anything right now. You will be contacted by the
company that receives the domain names registered through your registrar in
due course.

*Q. What if I want to register my domain with a company other than the one
that is chosen for the bulk transfer?*

A. You will be able to transfer your domain to a different registrar after
the bulk transfer, assuming that no other condition exists to support a
denial of the transfer.

Please note that, the gaining registrar is allowed to deny transfers for the
first 60 days following the bulk transfer. If the gaining registrar allows,
you may move your domain in those first 60 days; otherwise, you will need to
wait 60 days before approaching a different registrar and requesting a
transfer. For more information on the transfer of a registration between
registrars, please see the Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy, at
http://www.icann.org/en/transfers/policy-en.htm.

*Q. My domain name with my registrar was about to expire. How can I make
sure it does not get lost in the transfer?*

A. If a registration is due to expire within the next 30 days, ICANN will
request that it be auto-renewed by the registry and maintained in its
auto-renew grace period.

*Q. What if my domain name is registered by a Whois privacy or proxy
service?*

A. If the privacy or proxy service is the registrant of record for your
domain name(s), you should ensure that the service forwards to you any
information it receives from the ICANN-accredited registrar selected to
receive the bulk transfer.

*Q. What does it mean that my registrar’s accreditation agreement was
terminated?*

A. Your registrar breached one or more provisions of its Registrar
Accreditation Agreement (RAA) and failed to cure the breach (es) within the
time period allowed by that contract. As a result, your registrar’s contract
with ICANN was terminated and it is no longer ICANN-accredited. This means
that your registrar will no longer be permitted to register generic
top-level domain names (such as dot-com and dot-org) or continue to manage
such registrations.

*Q. How will the domain name transfer process work?*

A. ICANN will follow the De-Accredited Registrar Transition Procedure
(posted at
http://www.icann.org/en/processes/registrars/de-accredited-registrar-transition-procedure-01oct08.pdf[PDF,
119K]) which is intended to ensure a timely transition in the event of
the de-accreditation of a registrar.

In summary, the De-Accredited Registrar Transition Procedure is initiated by
providing the de-accredited registrar an opportunity to propose a receiving
registrar at or about the same time ICANN posts a request for registrars to
submit expressions of interest if they wish to be considered as potential
recipients of a bulk transfer. Registrars are typically given one week to
submit their expressions of interest. ICANN considers several factors in
deciding whether to authorize a bulk transfer to the proposed registrar, and
the transfer can only be approved if it would promote the community
interest.

If the de-accredited registrar fails to propose a receiving registrar or if
ICANN determines that the proposed transfer would not promote the community
interest, ICANN will review all submitted expressions of interest and invite
all qualified registrar-applicants to participate in a one-week negotiation
period. In the negotiation period, the registrar-applicants must submit
competitive proposals that will be scored on pre-determined, objective
criteria. The qualified registrar with the highest score will be selected to
receive the bulk transfer of names.

Once the receiving registrar is selected, ICANN will provide it with
available registration data and notify the registries to effect the bulk
transfer after the data has been integrated into the receiving registrar’s
systems. The receiving registrar will then send notices to the affected
registrants, with instructions on how to begin managing names with the
receiving registrar.

*Q. Will the chosen receiving registrar receive my registration data for my
domain names?*

A. The registration data for the gTLD names formerly managed by your
registrar will be provided to the receiving registrar. This information will
allow the receiving registrar to contact all registrants and create customer
accounts for them so they may quickly begin managing their registrations. If
your name is registered by a Whois privacy or proxy service, the receiving
registrar will typically only receive the Whois privacy or proxy service
registrant information.

*Q. What if my domain name was deleted before my registrar was
de-accredited, but I want it back?*

A. If the name is available for registration, you may register it with your
preferred ICANN-accredited registrar (see
http://www.internic.net/regist.html).

If the name has since been registered by someone else, you have at least
three options:

   1.  Work out an agreement with the current registrant.
   2.  Wait to see if the current registrant lets the domain name expire.
   3.  If you believe the domain name is identical or confusingly similar to
   a trademark or service mark in which you have rights, and the current
   registrant has registered and is using the name in bad faith (and has no
   rights or legitimate interests in the name), you can begin an administrative
   proceeding under the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP).
   (Note: this is a narrow category, so you should proceed with caution.) For
   more details on this option, including a list of dispute resolution service
   providers, please see http://www.icann.org/en/udrp/udrp.htm.

Please note that the UDRP applies only to domain names in generic top-level
domains (such as dot-com and dot-net). Dispute resolution policies vary in
other TLDs such as dot-in, dot-uk and the 240+ other country code top-level
domains. You may wish to seek legal advice to determine if the UDRP is
applicable to your situation, or to assist in identifying additional
alternatives.

*Q. I have read everything above but I still have some questions. Whom
should I contact?*

A. The receiving registrar will contact you shortly after the bulk transfer
takes place. You should contact this registrar first with any issues. If you
are still not able to get an answer to your questions, you may contact
ICANN’s contractual compliance team at compliance at icann.org.
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