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Expired domain deletion policy

The Expired Domain Dele­tion Pol­i­cy is an ICANN Con­sen­sus Pol­i­cy applic­a­ble to all ICANN-Accred­it­ed Reg­is­trars. It has been incor­po­rat­ed in the cur­rent (21 May 2009) Reg­is­trar Accred­i­ta­tion Agree­ment as fol­lows:

3.7.5 At the con­clu­sion of the reg­is­tra­tion peri­od, fail­ure by or on behalf of the Reg­is­tered Name Hold­er to con­sent that the reg­is­tra­tion be renewed with­in the time spec­i­fied in a sec­ond notice or reminder shall, in the absence of exten­u­at­ing cir­cum­stances, result in can­cel­la­tion of the reg­is­tra­tion by the end of the auto-renew grace peri­od (although Reg­is­trar may choose to can­cel the name ear­li­er).

3.7.5.1 Exten­u­at­ing cir­cum­stances are defined as: UDRP action, valid court order, fail­ure of a Registrar’s renew­al process (which does not include fail­ure of a reg­is­trant to respond), the domain name is used by a name­serv­er that pro­vides DNS ser­vice to third-par­ties (addi­tion­al time may be required to migrate the records man­aged by the name­serv­er), the reg­is­trant is sub­ject to bank­rupt­cy pro­ceed­ings, pay­ment dis­pute (where a reg­is­trant claims to have paid for a renew­al, or a dis­crep­an­cy in the amount paid), billing dis­pute (where a reg­is­trant dis­putes the amount on a bill), domain name sub­ject to lit­i­ga­tion in a court of com­pe­tent juris­dic­tion, or oth­er cir­cum­stance as approved specif­i­cal­ly by ICANN.

3.7.5.2 Where Reg­is­trar choos­es, under exten­u­at­ing cir­cum­stances, to renew a domain name with­out the explic­it con­sent of the reg­is­trant, the reg­is­trar must main­tain a record of the exten­u­at­ing cir­cum­stances asso­ci­at­ed with renew­ing that spe­cif­ic domain name for inspec­tion by ICANN con­sis­tent with claus­es 3.4.2 and 3.4.3 of this reg­is­trar accred­i­ta­tion agree­ment.

3.7.5.3 In the absence of exten­u­at­ing cir­cum­stances (as defined in Sec­tion 3.7.5.1 above), a domain name must be delet­ed with­in 45 days of either the reg­is­trar or the reg­is­trant ter­mi­nat­ing a reg­is­tra­tion agree­ment.

3.7.5.4 Reg­is­trar shall pro­vide notice to each new reg­is­trant describ­ing the details of their dele­tion and auto-renew­al pol­i­cy includ­ing the expect­ed time at which a non-renewed domain name would be delet­ed rel­a­tive to the domains expi­ra­tion date, or a date range not to exceed ten (10) days in length. If a reg­is­trar makes any mate­r­i­al changes to its dele­tion pol­i­cy dur­ing the peri­od of the reg­is­tra­tion agree­ment, it must make at least the same effort to inform the reg­is­trant of the changes as it would to inform the reg­is­trant of oth­er mate­r­i­al changes to the reg­is­tra­tion agree­ment (as defined in clause 3.7.7 of the reg­is­trars accred­i­ta­tion agree­ment).”

3.7.5.5 If Reg­is­trar oper­ates a web­site for domain name reg­is­tra­tion or renew­al, details of Registrar’s dele­tion and auto-renew­al poli­cies must be clear­ly dis­played on the web­site.

3.7.5.6 If Reg­is­trar oper­ates a web­site for domain reg­is­tra­tion or renew­al, it should state, both at the time of reg­is­tra­tion and in a clear place on its web­site, any fee charged for the recov­ery of a domain name dur­ing the Redemp­tion Grace Peri­od.

3.7.5.7 In the event that a domain which is the sub­ject of a UDRP dis­pute is delet­ed or expires dur­ing the course of the dis­pute, the com­plainant in the UDRP dis­pute will have the option to renew or restore the name under the same com­mer­cial terms as the reg­is­trant. If the com­plainant renews or restores the name, the name will be placed in Reg­is­trar HOLD and Reg­is­trar LOCK sta­tus, the WHOIS con­tact infor­ma­tion for the reg­is­trant will be removed, and the WHOIS entry will indi­cate that the name is sub­ject to dis­pute. If the com­plaint is ter­mi­nat­ed, or the UDRP dis­pute finds against the com­plainant, the name will be delet­ed with­in 45 days. The reg­is­trant retains the right under the exist­ing redemp­tion grace peri­od pro­vi­sions to recov­er the name at any time dur­ing the Redemp­tion Grace Peri­od, and retains the right to renew the name before it is delet­ed.

For infor­ma­tion on the effect of this pol­i­cy on the 2001 ver­sion of the RAA see http://www.icann.org/en/registrars/eddp-21sep04-enp.htm