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Registry-Registrar Agreement (RRA) Amendment Procedure

Please note that the English language version of all translated content and documents are the official versions and that translations in other languages are for informational purposes only.

Updated 2 July 2018

For Registry-Registrar Amendments to include the approved Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data please refer to this page.

RRA Amendment main page

Published Proposals and Cover Notes (August 2021 – present)

Retired Published Proposal and Cover Notes (July 2009 – July 2021) – retired after updating the name of this mailing list to align with the procedure.

ICANN Procedure for Consideration of Proposed Amendments to gTLD Registry-Registrar Agreements

ICANN has developed the following process for consideration of proposed amendments to gTLD Registry-Registrar Agreements (RRAs) where the registry is required to obtain ICANN approval of such amendments. This process is designed to ensure registrar input (and public input where appropriate) before ICANN approves changes to an RRA.

Procedure for Consideration of Proposed RRA Amendments:

  1. The registry requesting amendment to its RRA must provide ICANN with a copy of its proposed RRA that indicates all changes in redline and a cover note. The registry-provided cover note should describe the purpose of the proposed changes. Although not mandatory, a consultation call with ICANN prior to submitting proposed changes to the RRA is recommended.
  2. ICANN will forward the redlined version of the proposed RRA and cover note to the Registrar Stakeholder Group for review while ICANN undertakes an internal review of the proposed changes. The length of the registrars' review period may vary depending on the complexity of the proposed changes or other circumstances, but will ordinarily not be longer than twenty-one (21) days. ICANN will ordinarily publish the proposal and cover note on its website.
  3. At the close of the registrar review period, if there are any concerns expressed, ICANN will consult with the registry and with the Registrar Stakeholder Group to attempt to resolve any such concerns.
  4. If the consultations result in changes to the proposal, ICANN will submit the revised document to the Registrar Stakeholder Group and open an additional review period, which will normally not exceed fifteen (15) days. Upon conclusion of any second review period, ICANN will attempt to resolve any remaining issues through consultation with the registrars and the registry.
  5. Following the above review and consultation process, ICANN will approve or reject the proposed changes. Some changes may require approval by ICANN's Board of Directors e.g., in cases where there might be a substantial effect on third parties or on the security and stability of the DNS.

RRA Amendment Approval Process Flowchart

RRA Amendment Approval Process Flowchart
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."