IRTP-C

On December 1, 2016, the Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy will be updated to IRTP-C. ICANN designed this policy to prevent domain name theft. We are not entirely satisfied how the policy has evolved. Because we made serious efforts to steer things in a better direction, the resulting policy offers some hooks to fit into daily operations.

This email covers the following topics:

Summary of the IRTP-C;
Key Concepts;
Affected Operations;
Required Actions;
IRTP-C maintenance window.

Summary of the IRTP-C

If the registrant data is changed in such a way that the ownership might transfer to another person and or organization, both old and new registered domain name holders are required to accept the changes first.

However, both old and new registrants can appoint a “Designated Agent” to act on behalf of the registrant. This consent must be given explicitly. The Designated Agent is authorized to approve a change of registrant. After this change is completed, a notification will be sent to the old and new registrant.

ICANN has published the official policy on their website: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/transfer-policy-2016-06-01-en
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Key Concepts

Both the registrar (Realtime Register) and the reseller (you) have to be compliant with this updated policy. In the implementation of the policy, we have strived to make this as uncomplicated and efficient as possible. However, it’s good to have an understanding of the key concepts of the new transfer policy first.

Old Registrant
The registered domain name holder(according to the WHOIS information) at the moment a contact update, domain update or (internal) transfer is requested.

New Registrant
The registered domain name holder after the contact update, domain update or (internal) transfer is completed.

Material Change of the registrants’ details
Any change to the registrants’ name, organization, or email. Other details, like phone, postal code or country. are NOT considered as material changes.

Designated Agent
An entity which has explicit permission from the old or new registered domain name holder (registrant) to change contact information at the registry on their behalf.

60-day lock, opt out
After a material change of the registrant information, the domain names affected by this change are under a 60-day transfer lock. During this period, the domain names cannot be transferred to another registrar. However, the old registrant can choose to not use this lock (opt out).

Notification email
An email that is sent to the new and or old registrant to inform them about the material change of the registrant information. Realtime Register customizes this notification email in such a way that it matches the contacts’ brand.
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Affected Operations

• The IRTP-C applies to the following operations:
• Update contact request;
• Update domain request;
• Transfer in request;
• Transfer in request (internal).

Simplified flowchart of the IRTP-C affected operations

Required Actions

First, decide whether you will act as designated agent or not. As a designated agent you need to have explicit consent from your customer (the old and or new registrant) to transfer and or trade the domain or update the registrant information on their behalf.

If you aren’t a designated agent and you initiate material changes at some point, the registrant will receive branded emails with a request to accept the changes on a branded mydomainprovider.com page.

If you are acting as designated agent:
Make sure you get consent from your customers, either through your contract or through a secure web interface.
Resellers using the API integration, need to add an optional flag for the affected operations.
Resellers using the domain manager can tick the box in the applicable forms.

If you are NOT acting as the designated agent
Make sure to update the new and changed branding templates.

Please visit our blog post Get ready for the IRTP-C with detailed information to prepare for the new policy.

IRTP-C maintenance windows

To prepare our systems for the policy and the new API commands, we have planned maintenance windows for the OT&E and production environments.
 
The OT&E environment will be updated on Monday, November 21st, from 10:00 until 10:30 UTC. Within this period, the services of the OT&E environment will be interrupted. This will have no consequences for the production system. The IRTP-C policy will be activated during the release for testing purposes.

The production environment will be updated on Tuesday, November 29th, from 6:30 until 7:00 UTC. Within this period, the services for Realtime Register will be interrupted. DNS resolution will NOT be interrupted. The IRTP-C policy will NOT yet be activated during the release. You can start using use the designated agent parameters, these will be ignored until the IRTP-C policy is activated.
 
The IRTP-C policy will be activated on production Thursday, December 1st 00:00 UTC.