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Single Webpage for ICANN RDS/WHOIS-Related Policies and Contract Provisions

Originally posted: 15 April 2013
Last updated: 30 October 2019

This webpage contains a listing of the ICANN agreement provisions, policies, advisories and Bylaws obligations related to gTLD Registration Data Directory Services (RDDS) – WHOIS and Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP).1 For additional RDDS-related information, please also see lookup.icann.org and icann.org/rdap. For more information on Registration Data, please visit our Registration Data at ICANN page.

  1. ICANN Bylaws (as amended 18 July 2018)
  2. GNSO Consensus Policies
  3. Revised ICANN Procedure for Handling WHOIS Conflicts with Privacy Law (effective 18 April 2017)
  4. 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement
  5. Registry Agreements
    1. Base Registry Agreement
    2. Legacy TLDs not migrated to the Base Registry Agreements RDDS provisions
      1. aero TLD Sponsorship Agreement
      2. .com Registry Agreement
      3. .name Unsponsored Registry Agreement
      4. .net Registry Agreement
      5. .post Sponsored TLD Registry Agreement
      6. .xxx Registry Agreement
  6. Contracted Party Advisories
  7. Legal Notices Requiring RDAP Service Implementation

 

  1. ICANN Bylaws (as amended 18 July 2018)

    Article 4, Section 4.6 – Specific Reviews

  2. GNSO Consensus Policies

    ICANN's agreements with accredited registrars and gTLD registry operators require compliance with various specifically stated procedures and also with "consensus policies." Some of these consensus policies relate to WHOIS issues. See http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/consensus-policies for the authoritative list of consensus policies. At the time of publication of this webpage, the following GNSO Consensus Policies related to WHOIS are in force:

    Interim Registration Data Policy for gTLDs (20 May 2019)

    Additional WHOIS Information Policy (31 January 2016)

    Thick WHOIS Transition Policy for .COM, .NET and .JOBS (7 February 2014)

    Registry Registration Data Directory Services Consistent Labeling and Display Policy (9 January 2014)

    WHOIS Marketing Restriction Policy (12 November 2004)

    Restored Names Accuracy Policy (12 November 2004)

    WHOIS Data Reminder Policy (27 March 2003)

  3. Revised ICANN Procedure for Handling WHOIS Conflicts with Privacy Law (effective 18 April 2017)

  4. 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement

    Definitions: Section 1.21 – Registry Database

    Registrar Obligations:

    Section 3.3 – Public Access to Data on Registered Names
    Section 3.5 – Rights in Data
    Sections 3.7.5.7 and 3.7.8 – Business Dealings, Including with Registered Name Holders
    Section 3.12.2 – Obligations Related to Provision of Registrar Services by Third Parties

    Term, Termination and Dispute Resolution: Section 5.5.2.1.3 – Termination of Agreement by ICANN

    Miscellaneous Provisions: Section 7.4.5.2 – Negotiation Process

    WHOIS Accuracy Program Specification

    Registration Data Directory Service (WHOIS) Specification

    Specification on Privacy and Proxy Registrations

    Data Retention Specification

    Registrar Information Specification: Section 14

    Registrants' Benefits and Responsibilities: Domain Name Registrants' Responsibilities

    Transition Addendum to Registrar Accreditation Agreement

  5. Registry Agreements

    1. Base Registry Agreement (as updated 31 July 2017)

      Section 2.5 – Publication of Registration Data

      Section 2.13 – Emergency Transition

      Section 4.5 – Transition of Registry upon Termination of Agreement

      Section 7.13 – Severability; Conflict with Laws

      Specification 3 – Format and Content For Registry Operator Monthly Reporting: Section 2 – Registry Functions Activity Report

      Specification 4 – Registration Data Publication Services:

      Section 1 – Registration Data Directory Services

      Section 3 – Bulk Registration Data Access to ICANN

      Specification 5 – Schedule of Reserved Names

      Specification 6 – Registry Interoperability and Continuity Specifications: Section 1 – Standards Compliance

      Specification 10 – Registry Performance Specifications:

      Section 1 – Definitions

      Section 2 – Service Level Agreement Matrix

      Section 4 – RDDS

      Section 6 – Emergency Thresholds

    2. At the time of publication of this webpage, the following legacy TLDs have not migrated to the Base Registry Agreements RDDS provisions.

      1. .aero TLD Sponsorship Agreement (11 June 2009)

        Section 3.1(c)(v) – Covenants of Sponsor; Handling of Registry Data; WHOIS Service

        Appendix 4 – Registry Operator's Monthly Report: Section 5 – WHOIS Service Activity

        Appendix 5 – WHOIS Specifications

        Appendix 7 – Functional and Performance Specifications:

        Section A.4 – WHOIS Service Requirements
        Section B.2.7 – Definitions; "WHOIS Service"
        Section B.3.2 – Service Levels (Availability and Performance); WHOIS Service

      2. .com Registry Agreement (1 December 2012)

        Section 3.1(c)(v) – Covenants of Registry Operator; Handling of Registry Data; WHOIS Service

        Section 3.1(h) – Covenants of Registry Operator; Centralized WHOIS

        Appendix 1 – Data Escrow Specification:

        Exhibit A – Schedule for Escrow Deposits
        Exhibit B – Escrow Deposit Format Specification

        Appendix 4 – Registry Operator's Monthly Reports:

        Section A.5 – Monthly Report; WHOIS Service Activity
        Section C – Registry Functions Activity Report

        Appendix 5 – WHOIS Specifications

        Appendix 7 – Functional and Performance Specifications:

        Section 6 – Performance Specifications
        Section 7 – Responsibilities of the Parties

        Section 8.1 – Additional Services; Bulk Transfer After Partial Portfolio Acquisition (BTAPPA)
        Section 9 – Implementation of New Protocols

        Appendix 8 – Registry-Registrar Agreement: Section 2.9 – Obligations of the Parties; Domain Name Lookup Capability

        Appendix 10 – Service Level Agreement (SLA): Section 2 – SLA Credits

      3. .name Unsponsored Registry Agreement (1 December 2012)

        Section 3.1(c)(v) – Covenants of Registry Operator; Handling of Registry Data; WHOIS Service

        Appendix 4 – Registry Operator's Monthly Reports:

        Section A.4 – Monthly Report; WHOIS Service Activity

        Section D – Registry Functions Activity Report

        Appendix 5 – WHOIS Specifications

        Appendix 7 – Functional Specifications:

        Section 9.1 – Additional Services; Bulk Transfer After Partial Portfolio Acquisition (BTAPPA)
        Section 10 – Implementation of New Standards

        Appendix 8 – Registry-Registrar Agreement: Section 2.9 – Obligations of the Parties; Domain Name Lookup Capability

        Appendix 10 – Registry Performance Specifications:

        Section 1.11 – Performance Specifications; "WHOIS Service"

        Section 2 – Service Level Agreement Matrix

        Section 3.2 – Service Levels (Availability and Performance); WHOIS Service

        Appendix 11 – Registration Restrictions: Section 3(b)(iii) – Defensive Registrations; Common Defensive Registration Eligibility Requirements

      4. .net Registry Agreement (1 July 2017)

        Section 3.1(c)(v) – Covenants of Registry Operator; Handling of Registry Data; WHOIS Service

        Appendix 1 – Data Escrow Specification:

        Exhibit A – Schedule for Escrow Deposits
        Exhibit B – Escrow Deposit Format Specification

        Appendix 4 –Monthly Operators Reports:

        Section A.5 – Monthly Report; WHOIS Service Activity

        Section C – Registry Functions Activity Report

        Appendix 5-5A – WHOIS Specifications

        Appendix 7 – Functional and Performance Specifications:

        Section 1.5 – Standards Compliance; IPv6

        Section 1.6 – Standards Compliance; IANA Rootzone Database

        Section 6 – Performance Specifications
        Section 7.3 – Responsibilities of the Parties

        Section 8.1 – Additional Services; Bulk Transfer After Partial Portfolio Acquisition (BTAPPA)

        Appendix 8 – Registry-Registrar Agreement: Section 2.9 – Obligations of the Parties; Domain Name Lookup Capability

        Appendix 10 – Service Level Agreement: Section 2 – SLA Credits

      5. .post Sponsored TLD Registry Agreement (11 December 2009)

        Section 3.1(c)(v) – Covenants of Sponsor; Handling of Registry Data; WHOIS Service

        Appendix 4 – Sponsor's Monthly Report: Section 5 – WHOIS Service Activity

        Appendix 5 – WHOIS Specifications

        Appendix 7 – Functional and Performance Specifications:

        Section 4 – WHOIS Service Requirements
        Section 7 – Performance Specifications

        Appendix S – : Part VI – Public WHOIS Specification

      6. .xxx Registry Agreement (31 March 2011)

        Section 3.1(c)(v) – Covenants of Registry Operator; Handling of Registry Data; WHOIS Service

        Appendix 5 – WHOIS Specifications

        Appendix 7 – Functional and Performance Specifications:

        Section 4 – WHOIS Service Requirements
        Section 7 – Performance Specifications

        Appendix S – WHOIS Specification:

        Part 6 – Public Whois Specification
        Attachment 1 –.xxx Product List

        Amendment 2:

        Section VI – Amendment to Appendix 4 – Registry Operator's Monthly Reports: Section 2 Registry Functions Activity Report

        Section VII – Amendment to Appendix 5 – WHOIS Specifications

        Section VIII – Amendment to Appendix S, Part 6 – WHOIS Specification

        Amendment 4: Section 1.d. – Appendix 9 – Public Interest Commitments – Section d. – Registry Operator's Right to Disqualify Registration

  6. Contracted Party Advisories

    Clarifications to the Registry and Registrar Requirements for WHOIS (port 43) and Web-Based Directory Services (as updated 25 May 2018)

    Clarifications to the 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) WHOIS Accuracy Specification (16 November 2015)

    Registrar Implementation of the 2013 RAA's WHOIS Requirements (31 July 2013)

    Registrar Advisory Concerning the "15-day Period" in WHOIS Accuracy Requirements (3 April 2003)

    Steps to Improve WHOIS Data Accuracy (3 September 2002)

    Registrar Advisory Concerning WHOIS Data Accuracy (10 May 2002)

  7. Legal Notices Requiring RDAP Service Implementation

    Registrar legal notice re: RDAP service implementation (27 February 2019)

    Registry legal notice re: RDAP service implementation (27 February 2019)


1 The listing contains the RDS/WHOIS-related agreement provisions and policies that address access to and accuracy of public registration data.

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."