Transfer of Registrations between Registrars Policy

ICANN's Transfer of Registrations between Registrars Policy or Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy governs the transfer of domain name registrations from one registrar (the losing registrar) to another (the gaining registrar). It also mandates that the gaining registrar verifies information about the registrant and receives a standardized form of authorization (FOA) before the transfer can take place. This policy is divided into 3 major sections.

Holder-Authorized Transfers

 * This section outlines the procedures that gaining and losing registrars must follow in order to transfer domain registrations.
 * In order to ensure that a registrant means to transfer his or her domain, the gaining registrar must receive a standardized form of authorization (FOA). This helps protect against domain name hijacking and unauthorized transfers, such as those that occur as a result of domain slamming.
 * A transfer request can be denied because of fraudulent activity, UDRP cases, court orders, a "dispute over the identity of the Registered Name Holder," outstanding or missing payments, a lack of permission, or being within 60 days of the creation or previous transfer of the domain.
 * ICANN-Accredited registrars are also required to have a Transfer Emergency Action Contact (TEAC) to address transfer emergencies quickly and efficiently.

ICANN Approved Transfers

 * In certain cases, ICANN can authorize the transfer of domain name registrations to another registrar. For example, ICANN can authorize the transfer of registrations to a registrar that buys out or otherwise acquires another registrar or can transfer names away from a registrar that has lost ICANN accreditation.
 * For this type of registrar transfer, certain conditions apply, such as the gaining registrar must be ICANN accredited and "have in effect a Registry-Registrar Agreement with Registry Operator for the Registry TLD." ICANN also requires a written agreement with the gaining registry operator "that the transfer would promote the community interest."
 * Read about an ICANN Approved bulk registration transfer from a registry that lost accreditation.

Transfer Dispute Resolution Policy

 * This section specifies that ICANN accredited registrars and registry operators must use the Registrar Transfer Dispute Resolution Policy.
 * Read ICANN's Registrar Transfer Dispute Resolution Policy

Additional Resources

 * Read the Transfer of Registrations between Registrars Policy
 * See an example of a FOA
 * View an ICANN RAA Breach of Notice resulting partially from violations of this policy.

Related Articles

 * Domain Slamming
 * Domain Name Hijacking
 * Domain Locking
 * Registrar Transfer Dispute Resolution Policy (TDRP)