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Today ICANN is opening a comment period on the proposed amendment [PDF, 25K] to implement the new registry service proposed by NeuStar to offer Bulk Transfer After Partial Portfolio Acquisition (BTAPPA) to consenting registrars in the circumstance where one ICANN-accredited registrar purchases, by means of a stock or asset purchase, merger or similar transaction, a portion but not all, of another ICANN-accredited registrar’s domain name portfolio in the .BIZ top-level domain. NeuStar requested approval of the registry service at the request of two ICANN accredited registrars.

ICANN's Board of Directors by a 11-0 vote approved Resolution 06.85 to implement the service. The resolution authorized the President and General Counsel to enter into an amendment of the .BIZ Registry Agreement with NeuLevel (now named NeuStar). ICANN and NeuStar have negotiated an amendment to implement the approved service. Under NeuStar’s Terms of Service for BTAPPA [PDF, 29K], protections for registrants may include:

• The Gaining and Losing Registrars must have ICANN accreditation for the .BIZ TLD at the time the Transfer Request is submitted to NeuStar.
• The Gaining and Losing Registrars must each have a Registrar Agreement in effect with NeuStar and must be in good standing at the time of Transfer Request.
• The losing registrar shall provide to all domain name registrants involved in the bulk transfer 15 days advance written notice of the bulk change of sponsorship. Notice must include: (1) an explanation of how the Whois record will change after the bulk transfer occurs, (2) customer support and technical contact information of the Gaining Registrar; (3) a statement that all transfers rules and policies set by ICANN and the NeuStar shall remain in effect.

The amendment provides for a new Section 7 in Appendix 7 of the .BIZ Registry Agreement. Comments on the amendment submitted to registryservice@icann.org will be considered until 29 June 2007 16:00 UTC and may be viewed at http://forum.icann.org/lists/registryservice/. The process for considering new registry services is posted at http://www.icann.org/registries/rsep/rsep.html. Absent significant objections, ICANN will enter into this amendment following the public comment period. All documentation regarding this approved service and corresponding comment forum has been previously posted as part of the procedure at http://www.icann.org/registries/rsep/#2006002.