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Purchasing an ICANN-Accredited Registrar

An ICANN-accredited registrar is purchased when ownership of the entire corporate entity is transferred. In this scenario, the registrar corporation/entity continues to exist but has new owners. This transaction is distinct from an assignment of a registrar accreditation agreement. More information about RAA assignments is available on the Transferring (Assigning) an ICANN Accreditation page.

When an ICANN-accredited registrar is purchased, the acquired registrar must provide ICANN with the following:

  1. Notice of the purchase or acquisition (within 30 days if the registrar is accredited under the 2009 Registrar Accreditation Agreement; within 7 days if the registrar is accredited under the 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement);
  2. A statement affirming that the acquired registrar continues to meet the ICANN-adopted specification or policy on accreditation criteria then in effect, and is in compliance with its obligations under the RAA;
  3. A copy of the Purchase Agreement (confidential terms of the purchase may be redacted, but proof of the transaction or shares is required);
  4. A document certifying ownership transfer of the accredited registrar entity to the new owner, signed by both parties;
  5. If the registrar is accredited under the 2013 RAA
    1. An updated Registrar Information Specification [XLSX, 111 KB], including a certificate of good standing,
    2. If the registrar is accredited under the 2009 RAA

    3. List of officers and directors
  6. A Primary Contact Update Form [PDF, 184 KB] (if applicable).
  7. Registrar Contact Update Form [PDF, 212 KB] (if applicable)

The acquired registrar should send this information to ICANN by emailing registrarupdates@icann.org

The acquired registrar needs to verify that all of its contact data is up to date. If there are any questions about these requirements or the process, please contact registrarupdates@icann.org.

Domain Name System
Internationalized Domain Name ,IDN,"IDNs are domain names that include characters used in the local representation of languages that are not written with the twenty-six letters of the basic Latin alphabet ""a-z"". An IDN can contain Latin letters with diacritical marks, as required by many European languages, or may consist of characters from non-Latin scripts such as Arabic or Chinese. Many languages also use other types of digits than the European ""0-9"". The basic Latin alphabet together with the European-Arabic digits are, for the purpose of domain names, termed ""ASCII characters"" (ASCII = American Standard Code for Information Interchange). These are also included in the broader range of ""Unicode characters"" that provides the basis for IDNs. The ""hostname rule"" requires that all domain names of the type under consideration here are stored in the DNS using only the ASCII characters listed above, with the one further addition of the hyphen ""-"". The Unicode form of an IDN therefore requires special encoding before it is entered into the DNS. The following terminology is used when distinguishing between these forms: A domain name consists of a series of ""labels"" (separated by ""dots""). The ASCII form of an IDN label is termed an ""A-label"". All operations defined in the DNS protocol use A-labels exclusively. The Unicode form, which a user expects to be displayed, is termed a ""U-label"". The difference may be illustrated with the Hindi word for ""test"" — परीका — appearing here as a U-label would (in the Devanagari script). A special form of ""ASCII compatible encoding"" (abbreviated ACE) is applied to this to produce the corresponding A-label: xn--11b5bs1di. A domain name that only includes ASCII letters, digits, and hyphens is termed an ""LDH label"". Although the definitions of A-labels and LDH-labels overlap, a name consisting exclusively of LDH labels, such as""icann.org"" is not an IDN."