ICANN’s New Transfer Policy

On December 1, 2016, ICANN will be implementing a new transfer policy that will be imposed on all registrars. Currently, the transfer policy only covers domain transfers between registrars. The new transfer policy will cover the process of changing ownership of the domain from one registrant to another.

How will the new transfer policy work?
Every time a registrant updates their contact information, the policy is called upon, and validation requests will occur. This applies to any minor updates to a registrant’s first name, last name, organization and email address on a domain.

What would trigger this change of registrant process?
Making any change to the first name, last name, organization field, or email within the registrant contact object, will start the process. An approval email will go out to both the old and new registrants.

What happens if it’s not an actual transfer but minor updates to first name, last name, email or organization field?
At this time, any change to any of those fields will begin the change of registrant process.

Who has to approve the change of registrant request?
Both the new and the prior registrant need to approve the change of registrant request.

What happens if the new registrant approves the request but the old registrant denies the request?
This will cancel the whole request and the whois will revert back to the previous registrant’s info.

What happens if the new registrant denies the request?
Then the change of registrant request is canceled and the previous whois info remains the same.

How long does the new registrant have to approve the request before it expires/times out?
7 days from the change request.

How long does the old registrant have to approve the request before it expires/times out?
7 days from the time the new registrant approves the request.

What happens if I submit another change of registrant request when one is currently pending?
The first request will be canceled.

Will registrar and registrant transfer progress be synchronized (i.e. if there is a registrant change in the same process as a transfer)? Or will there be additional emails?
If a change of registrant is supposed to go along with a change of registrar, we recommend that the change of registrar is performed first, and the registrant is then changed with the new registrar of record. A change of registrant will lock the domain for transfers for 60 days. A registrar transfer will not lock the domain for a subsequent change of registrant.