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Registration Directory Service Review (RDS)

Under the Bylaws (Section 4.6(e)), ICANN is committed to a periodic review of the effectiveness of the generic top-level domain (gTLD) registry directory service (RDS) and whether its implementation meets the legitimate needs of law enforcement, promotes consumer trust, and safeguards registrant data.

The ICANN organization (org) has conducted two iterations of the Registration Directory Service (RDS, formerly known as WHOIS) Review and is in the process of implementing RDS-WHOIS2 recommendations the Board approved in February 2020. For more information on RDS-WHOIS2 Review work, see here

The Board took action on 22 September 2022 to defer the Third Review of the Registration Directory Service (RDS3). See the Board resolution here.

Click here to learn more about ICANN Reviews.

Implementation of RDS-WHOIS2 Recommendations 

On 25 February 2020, the Board took action on each of the 22 recommendations issued in the RDS-WHOIS2 Final Report:

  • approve 15 recommendations (R1.1, R1.2, R1.3, R3.1, R3.2, R10.2, R11.2, R12.1, R15.1, LE.1, LE.2, SG.1, CC.1, CC.2, CC.3), in whole or in part, subject to prioritization.
  • reject two recommendations (R11.1, BY1).
  • place four recommendations (R4.1, R4.2, R5.1, R10.1) in pending further Board action status.
  • pass through two recommendations to the GNSO, in whole (CC.4) or in part (CC.1).

Prioritization of Board approved recommendations considered eligible for prioritization was completed in May 2022.

On 21 December 2023, the Board took action on the four recommendations (R4.1, R4.2, R5.1, R10.1) pending Board consideration. 

The table below provides information relating to the implementation of Board approved recommendations. Implementation status of recommendations should be understood as follows:

  • Complete: a recommendation's intent which is considered implemented or addressed and for which implementation documentation is available.
  • In progress: a recommendation for which work has started to address deliverables identified during the implementation design. Implementation design is the preparatory phase for implementation during which a cross-functional project team develops guidelines that include deliverables for implementation, costing out resources, risk assessment, as well as an inventory of existing work etc.
  • Not started: Work has not started due to, for instance, a dependency on another recommendation and/or process.

Where available, the priority level assigned by the community (where P1 corresponds to the highest priority and P4 to the lowest) is inserted in the table below. For more information on prioritization, see here

Rec #

Implementation Status

Priority Level Assigned by the Community

Description

Notes

R1.1

Complete

n/a

To ensure that RDS (WHOIS) is treated as a strategic priority, the ICANN Board should put into place a forward-looking mechanism to monitor possible impacts on the RDS (WHOIS) from legislative and policy developments around the world.

See implementation documentation.

R1.2

Complete

n/a

To support this mechanism, the ICANN Board should instruct the ICANN org to assign responsibility for monitoring legislative and policy developments around the world and to provide regular updates to the ICANN Board.

See implementation documentation.

R1.3

Complete

P4

The ICANN Board, in drafting the charter of a Board working group on RDS, should ensure the necessary transparency of the group's work, such as providing records of meetings and meeting minutes, to enable future review of its activities.

See implementation documentation.

R3.1

In progress

P4

The ICANN Board should direct ICANN org to update all of the information related to RDS (WHOIS) and by implication other information related to the registration of second-level gTLDs. The content should be revised to make the information readily accessible and understandable, and it should provide details of when and how to interact with ICANN org or contracted parties. [...]

N/A

R3.2

In progress

Eligible for prioritization

With community input, the ICANN Board should instruct ICANN org to identify groups outside of those that routinely engage with ICANN org, and these should be targeted through RDS (WHOIS) outreach. An RDS (WHOIS) outreach plan should then be developed, executed, and documented. [...]

N/A

R10.2

Complete

 

N/A

Reviewing the effectiveness of the implementation of WHOIS1 Recommendation 10 should be deferred. The ICANN Board should recommend that review be carried out by the next RDS (WHOIS) Review Team after the Privacy and Proxy Services Accreditation Issues (PPSAI) policy is implemented.

See implementation documentation.

R11.2

Complete

P4

The ICANN Board should direct ICANN org to ensure that the common interface displays all applicable output for each gTLD domain name registration as available from contracted parties, including multiple versions when the outputs from registry and registrar differ. The common interface should be updated to address any policy or contractual changes to maintain full functionality.

See implementation documentation.

R12.1

Complete

 

N/A

Reviewing the effectiveness of the implementation of Recs #12-14 should be deferred. The ICANN Board should recommend that review to be carried out by the next RDS Review Team after RDAP is implemented, and the translation and transliteration of the registration data launches.

See implementation documentation.

R15.1

Complete

P4

The ICANN Board should ensure that implementation of RDS-WHOIS2 Review Team recommendations is based on best practice project management methodology, ensuring that plans and implementation reports clearly address progress, and applicable metrics and tracking tools are used for effectiveness and impact evaluation.

See implementation documentation.

LE.1

Complete

P4

The ICANN Board should resolve that ICANN org conduct regular data gathering through surveys and studies to inform a future assessment of the effectiveness of RDS (WHOIS) in meeting the needs of law enforcement. This will also aid future policy development (including the current Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data Expedited Policy Development Process and related efforts).

See implementation documentation.

LE.2

Complete

P4

The ICANN Board should consider conducting comparable surveys and/or studies (as described in LE.1) with other RDS (WHOIS) users working with law enforcement on a regular basis.

See implementation documentation.

SG.1

Complete

P2

The ICANN Board should require that the ICANN org, in consultation with data security and privacy expert(s), ensure that all contracts with contracted parties (to include Privacy/Proxy services when such contracts exist) include uniform and strong requirements for the protection of registrant data and for ICANN to be notified in the event of any data breach. The data security expert(s) should also consider and advise on what level or magnitude of breach warrants such notification. [...]

Implementation documentation in progress.

CC.1

In progress

P4

The ICANN Board should initiate action intended to ensure that gTLD domain names suspended due to RDS (WHOIS) contact data which the registrar knows to be incorrect, and that remains incorrect until the registration is due for deletion, should be treated as follows: (1) The RDS (WHOIS) record should include a notation that the domain name is suspended due to incorrect data; and (2) Domain names with this notation should not be unsuspended without correcting the data.

N/A

CC.2

In progress

Not eligible for prioritization

The ICANN Board should initiate action intended to ensure that all gTLD domain name registration directory entries contain at least one full set of either registrant or admin contact details comparable to those required for new registrations under the 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) (or any subsequent version thereof) or applicable policies.

N/A

CC.3

Complete

n/a

The ICANN Board should take steps to ensure that ICANN Contractual Compliance is adequately resourced factoring in any increase in work due to additional work required due to compliance with GDPR or other legislation/regulation.

See implementation documentation.

*This updated table reflects current and reclassified implementation status categories of "Complete", "In Progress", and "Not started". Previously, it showed implementation design status. Because of this update, the status of some recommendations may have changed from prior reporting to now represent their implementation status.

Quarterly Updates on Specific Reviews

Review Progress and Milestones

The graphic below illustrates phases and status of each review - a Circle arrow 360 indicates that all activities within a given phase have been completed.  The chart that follows the graphic provides further details of key activities and milestones within each phase – you can view these details by clicking on each of the phases in the graphic.  The table also contains links to relevant documents.

RDS (formerly WHOIS)
PhaseActivityDescriptionStart DateDocuments
Conduct ReviewCall for VolunteersPublic announcement inviting volunteers to submit application28 Oct 2016
Call for Volunteers ExtensionApplication extended for the Registration Directory Service Review Team6 Dec 2016
Call for Volunteers DeadlineDeadline extension for the Registration Directory Service Review Team11 Jan 2017
Call for Volunteers DeadlineDeadline extension for the Registration Directory Service Review Team22 Feb 2017
Appointment of Board DesigneeBoard appoints a member to the RDS Review Team3 Feb 2017
Review Team AnnouncedSelection of the Registration Directory Service (RDS/WHOIS2-RT) Review Team Members Announced2 Jun 2017
Terms of ReferenceTerms of Reference and Work Plan submitted to ICANN Board.9 Feb 2018
Draft ReportRegistration Directory Service (RDS) - WHOIS2 Review Draft report4 Sep 2018
Draft Report & Recommendations Public CommentPublic Comment period for the Review Team's draft report of recommendations4 Sep 2018
Public Comment ExtendedPublic Comment period extended for the Draft Report of Recommendations6 Nov 2018
Final ReportRegistration Directory Service (RDS)-WHOIS2 Review Final Report3 Sep 2019
RDS Final Report Executive SummaryExecutive Summary of the RDS Final Report3 Sep 2019
Board Action*Public Comment on Final ReportFinal report and recommendations posted for Public Comment8 Oct 2019
Board Action on Final Report and RecommendationsBoard takes action on 22 recommendations25 Feb 2020
Deferral of Third RDS ReviewDeferral of the Third Review of the Registration Directory Service (RDS3)22 Sep 2022
Board Action on Pending RecommendationsBoard takes action on the four pending recommendations21 Dec 2023

*Some recommendations are pending Board consideration and/or prioritization. See above for more information.

For information on the first WHOIS Review, click here: RDS1.  For more information on Registration Data, please visit our Registration Data at ICANN page.

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."