GNSO Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery Working Group Presents Final Report

The GNSO Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery (PEDNR) Working Group has submitted its Final Report

http://gnso.icann.org/issues/pednr-final-report-14jun11-en.pdf [PDF, 998 KB]

to the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Council today, 14 June 2011.

The PEDNR WG was tasked to address questions in relation to what extent registrants should be able to renew their domain names after they expire. Following review of the comments

https://community.icann.org/download/attachments/9405459/PEDNR+Public+comment+review+tool+-+Final+-+8+June+2011.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1307530348000

received on its proposed Final Report, the Working Group now presents its Final Report, which contains 18 recommendations including the following:

1. Provide a minimum of 8 days after expiration for renewal by registrant (Recommendation #2)
2. An expired website must explicitly say that registration has expired and instructions on how to recover the registration (Recommendation #3)
3. The registration agreement must include information on the fees charged for the post-expiration renewal of a domain name (Recommendation #5)
4. Clear indication of methods used to deliver pre- and post-expiration notifications must be provided (Recommendation #6)
5. At least two notices prior to expiration need to be sent at set times and one after expiration (Recommendation #7 & #8)
6. Notifications must not solely be done by methods which require explicit action by the Registrant (Recommendation #9)
7. All gTLDs and registrars must offer Redemption Grace Period (RGP), with the exception of sponsored gTLDs (Recommendation #13 & 14)
8. The transfer of a domain name during the RGP should not be allowed (Rec#15)
9. ICANN should develop educational materials on how to properly steward a domain name and prevent unintended loss (Recommendation #16)
10. Best practice recommendations: Post-expiration notifications should be sent to some other contact point than to the email address associated with the expired registration (Recommendation #10), provide notice of where notification emails will be sent from (Recommendation #11), encourage registrants to provide a secondary email point of contact (Recommendation #12)

Further details and background on each of these and the other recommendations can be found in the PEDNR Final Report <http://gnso.icann.org/issues/pednr-final-report-14jun11-en.pdf>  [PDF, 998 KB]. The GNSO Council will now consider these recommendations for adoption.

Background

At the ICANN Meeting in Cairo in November 2008, the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC), voted to request an Issues Report on the subject of registrants being able to recover domain names after their formal expiration date. The ALAC request was submitted to ICANN policy staff and the GNSO Council on 20 November 2008. The Issues Report on Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery <http://gnso.icann.org/issues/post-expiration-recovery/report-05dec08.pdf>  [PDF, 422 KB] was submitted to the GNSO Council on 5 December 2008. The GNSO Council initiated a PDP <http://gnso.icann.org/resolutions/#200905>  on 7 May 2009 and tasked a Working Group to answer the following charter questions:

• Whether adequate opportunity exists for registrants to redeem their expired domain names;
• Whether expiration-related provisions in typical registration agreements are clear and conspicuous enough;
• Whether adequate notice exists to alert registrants of upcoming expirations;
• Whether additional measures need to be implemented to indicate that once a domain name enters the Auto-Renew Grace Period, it has expired (e.g., hold status, a notice on the site with a link to information on how to renew, or other options to be determined);
• Whether to allow the transfer of a domain name during the RGP.

The Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery (PEDNR) PDP Working Group started its deliberations in July 2009.

Further Information:

* PEDNR Final Report http://gnso.icann.org/issues/pednr-final-report-14jun11-en.pdf [PDF, 998 KB]

* PEDNR Public Comment Review Tool https://community.icann.org/download/attachments/9405459/PEDNR+Public+comment+review+tool+-+Final+-+8+June+2011.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1307530348000

* PEDNR PDP Proposed Final Report http://gnso.icann.org/issues/pednr/pednr-proposed-final-report-21feb11-en.pdf [PDF, 972 KB]

* PEDNR PDP Initial Report http://gnso.icann.org/issues/pednr/pednr-initial-report-31may10-en.pdf [PDF, 1.02 MB]

* PEDNR WG workspace https://st.icann.org/post-expiration-dn-recovery-wg/