General Counsel's Briefing Regarding Proposed Revisions to .biz Registry Agreement to Implement Redemption Grace Period
29 May 2003

General Counsel's Briefing Regarding Proposed Revisions to .biz Registry Agreement to Implement Redemption Grace Period

To the Board:

One topic on the agenda for the 2 June 2003 Board meeting is approval of revisions to the .biz registry agreement to implemnent the Redemption Grace Period in that top-level domain.

Background of the Redemption Grace Period

The Redemption Grace Period is an ICANN-proposed initiative to respond to the increasing number of complaints made by customers with domain names that were unintentionally deleted and then registered by someone else, often using the domain name to display content repugnant to the former registrant. Frequently the registrant experienced significant delays and costs (many thousands of dollars paid to the new registrant) to recover the that name and have the former services (web service, e-mail, etc.) restored.

To address these very unfortunate situations, the ICANN staff proposed inserting a 30-day period after deletion of every name, in which the domain name would no longer resolve but the former registrant (and only the former registrant) could have the name restored for a fee. After favorable public discussion, the Board concluded that the idea should be further explored. [See also this supplemental paper.] At its Accra meeting, the Board adopted the following resolution:

Redemption Grace Period

Whereas, on 14 February 2002 the ICANN staff posted a proposal to establish a Redemption Grace Period for unsponsored TLDs under which names deleted by registrars would be deactivated for thirty days, during which the registrant could redeem the name through a registrar before being subject to re-registration;

Whereas, the proposal was the topic of discussion by registrars, registry operators, and users, including at numerous meetings, through e-mail, and at the ICANN Public Forum held 13 March 2002 in Accra, Ghana;

Whereas, the commentary received has shown that some domain names are being deleted without the intention of the domain-name holder;

Whereas, the community discussions have demonstrated broad support for the general points of the Redemption Grace Period Proposal, with the recognition that several technical details must be worked out before the proposal can be implemented;

Resolved [02.45] that the President is authorized to convene a technical steering group (including knowledgeable registry and registrar personnel and in consultation with the Domain Name Supporting Organization) to develop a concrete proposal implementing the Redemption Grace Period Proposal, to be considered by the Board at a later meeting after posting on the ICANN web site and an opportunity for public comment.

A technical steering group (consisting of three gTLD registrar representatives and three gTLD registry representatives) was convened and issued a report recommending adoption of the period and providing proposals for implementation details.

The technical steering group's proposal received broad community support. In response to this, the Board adopted the following resolution in Bucharest:

Redemption Grace Period

Whereas, ICANN resolution 02.45 authorized the convening of a technical steering group to develop a concrete proposal for implementation of a Redemption Grace Period for deleted domain names;

Whereas, the Technical Steering Group's Implementation Proposal was posted on the ICANN website on 7 June 2002;

Whereas, the proposal called for implementing a Redemption Grace Period by instituting an extended Delete Pending Period and a new Restore capability, which will be a new Registry Service for which registry operators will be able to charge a cost-based service fee;

Whereas, the Redemption Grace Period proposal was discussed and received broad community support at the ICANN Public Forum held 27 June 2002 in Bucharest, Romania;

Resolved [02.83] that the President and General Counsel are authorized to conduct negotiations on behalf of ICANN toward appropriate revisions to agreements between ICANN and the unsponsored TLD registry operators to implement the Redemption Grace Period in a manner consistent with the Technical Steering Group's Implementation Proposal.

Contractual Implementation

The contractual implementation of the Redemption Grace Period is being accomplished by revisions to ICANN's registry agreements with each unsponsored¹ TLD operator to accommodate the provision of the restoration capability as an additional service. On 15 January 2003, ICANN provisionally authorized VeriSign to introduce a Redemption Grace Period in the .com and .net top-level domains. VeriSign introduced the service on 25 January 2003. On 25 February 2003, the Board adopted resolution 03.17 confirming the authorization for amendment of the .com and .net registry agreements with VeriSign to implement Redemption Grace Period.

Registrants use the Redemption Grace Period to restore inadvertently deleted domains. Pointless implementation differences can significantly detract from registrants' efforts to restore mission-critical Internet services. Accordingly, a significant focus in implementing the Redemption Grace Period in the various unsponsored top-level domains is to provide consumers an easily understood service with few variations between different top-level domains. Although negotiation with each registry operator individually carries with it a practical need to recognize the different implementations and conditions facing different operators, the mutual desire of ICANN and the operators to enhance confidence in the stability of registrations generally is a strong incentive to mimimize inconsistencies in the procedures by which registrations may be restored in different top-level domains.

ICANN and NeuLevel have now completed negotiations of revisions to the .biz registry agreement for the Redemption Grace Period service, and NeuLevel is prepared to implement the service in mid-June. The proposed .biz Redemption Grace Period service substantially meets the specifications established by the Technical Steering Group's Implementation Proposal and, from a customer perspective, will be equivalent to the Redemption Grace Period service offered by VeriSign in .com and .net. In the case of .biz, NeuLevel has proposed a maximum restoration fee of US$40, which compares favorably with the US$85 pricing that VeriSign initially charged in .com and .net. Accommodation of the Redemption Grace Period service entails revisions to four of the agreement's appendices, as shown in the following redlined documents:

• Appendix C (Functional Specifications/Index)
• Appendix C, Part 10 (Functional Specifications/Grace Period)
• Appendix C, Part 11 (Functional Specifications/Additional Services)
• Appendix G (Registry Operator Maximum Price Schedule)
• Appendix O (Whois Specification – Public Whois)
• Appendix T (Registry Operator's Monthly Report)

Conforming changes to the Registry/Registrar Agreement (Appendix F) will also be involved.

We have also been engaged in discussions with other operators of unsponsored top-level-domain registries for implementation of the Redemption Grace Period, and are nearing completion of the contractual discussions with those operators as well. We expect that a Redemption Grace Period service will be introduced in .org in June 2003, with contractual documents persented to the Board for approval at the Montreal meeting that will be held 22-26 June 2003. Implementation in .info, .name, and .pro will follow.

Respectfully submitted,

Louis Touton
General Counsel

Note:

1. The decision of whether and how to implement a Redemption Grace Period in sponsored top-level domains has been left to the sponsors of those domains.

Page Updated 02-Jun-2003
©2003 The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. All rights reserved.