As we have announced, beginning January 1st 2014 registrars over the world should start requiring users have a complete Whois data information. Additionally the registrar will start sending a verification email to the domain registrant contact when you register a new domain name or when you change the First name, Last name and email address in the registrant contact information.
Please note the verification process is important, as if you do not verify the contact the domain will be disconnected, which means your website will be offline.
For more details please read the complete information below:
The Internet Corporation of Assigned Names & Numbers (ICANN) published an updated Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) - http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/registrant-rights/educational. The updated RAA contains several changes that our registrar is obligated to comply with and pass down to our respective customers.
The key changes are as follows:
1. Beginning January 1st, the registrar will begin requiring complete WHOIS data for all gTLD domain name registrations. You need to ensure the Registrant, Admin, and Tech fields are complete. If you rely on your default Billing data for new registrations, please ensure this data is complete.
2. In addition to requiring “complete” WHOIS data, ICANN has mandated that the address, telephone, and email address be properly formatted. Therefore, beginning January 1st, all customers must ensure they are sending this data in the proper format. RFCs defining the formatting options are here:
a. Validate that all email addresses are in the proper format according to RFC 5322 (or its successors).
b. Validate that telephone numbers are in the proper format according to the ITU-T E.164 notation for international telephone numbers (or its equivalents or successors).
c. Validate that postal addresses are in a proper format for the applicable country or territory as defined in Universal Postal Union (UPU) addressing format templates, the S42 address templates (as they may be updated) or other standard formats.
3. ICANN has requested that Registrars verify the Registrant email address associated with gTLD new domain name registrations. Our registrar recognizes that this is a change from how our customers manage their new registrations today. Thus, they have outlined the process below for addressing this verification mandate:
a. Beginning January 1st, all gTLD new registrations processed through our registrar will be subject to email verification. Specifically, they will be focused on verifying the Registrant email address.
b. When a new domain registration is received, our registrar will send an email on our behalf to the Registrant email address.
c. The white-labeled email will inform the Registrant that they must verify their email address within 15 calendar days of the domain name registration.
d. If they click the link within this email, our registrar will consider the Registrant as verified (future registrations from this Registrant will not require further verification)
e. If the Registrant does not verify themselves within the 15 calendar day window, our registrar will overtake the DNS of the domain name and post a page on this site listing instructions on how the name can be verified and, as a result, the DNS returned to the previous settings (i.e. their site goes back online).
f. Once a Registrant contact has completed the verification process, all future new registrations using that same Registrant contact information will be considered verified and will not be subject to the verification process.
4. ICANN has mandated that Registrars also utilize the above verification process when a domain name Registrant edits their First Name, Last Name, or email address information. As a result, our registrar will manage this modification process on behalf of us as follows:
a. Beginning January 1st, our registrar will utilize the verification procedure if an edit is made to the following Registrant fields:
i. Registrant First Name
ii. Registrant Last name
iii. Registrant Email Address
b. Our registrar will send a white labeled email to the Registrant new email address stating that they recognize they have modified their Registrant First Name, Last Name, or email address information and they are requesting they verify themselves by clicking on the link in the email.
c. If they click on the link in the email within 15 calendar days, they will accept the Contact as verified. The Registrant is then considered “verified” and will require no further verification.
d. If they do not click on the link within 15 calendar days, then our registrar will overtake the DNS of the domain name associated with that specific Registrant contact.
e. They will post a page on the domain listing instructions on how the domain(s) can be verified and, as a result, the DNS returned to the previous settings (i.e. their site(s) goes back online).
f. Once a Registrant contact has completed the verification process, all future domain names that are updated to this same contact information will not be subject to the verification process.
5. Resellers must provide a link to the ICANN webpage for registrant education, this link can be found here: http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/registrant-rights/educational.
6. Resellers must post a copy of the Registrant Benefits and Responsibilities to their site, you can find those details on ICANN’s website here: http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/registrant-rights/benefits.
