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Domain Specific Policies and Practices

Various registries have policies for things like citizenship or residency requirements, and procedures that must be followed for things like registrations, transfers, and payments. You'll find that documentation and information listed below.

.AT

Policies:

  • Available to anyone.
  • Registrar and registrant transfers require confirmation from the registrant, either by replying to a confirmation email from the registry or with a fax confirmation.
  • There is no charge for registrant transfers, and the registration term does not change.
  • Completed registrar transfers add one year to the registration term.
  • Domains that are not renewed are removed from SRS 28 days prior to expiry. At that time, they become the sole responsibility of the registrant. They still remain active at the registry, and auto-renew by default. If they do not cancel their domain before the "28 Days Prior" date, THE REGISTRANT IS RESPONSIBILE FOR PAYING THE REGISTRY FOR THE RENEWAL.
  • Cancelling an AT name requires signed documentation from the registrant.
  • AT names removed from SRS can be recovered by submitting a registrar-transfer order.

Forms:

.ASIA

Policies:

  • Available only to legal entities within the Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific region (defined by ICANN as Asia/Australia/Pacific region; see http://www.icann.org/montreal/geo-regions-topic.htm)
  • In order to activate a .ASIA domain, you must provide at least 2 functional nameservers.

.BE

Policies:

Registry WHOIS checking

  • Registrants are expected to respect the general terms and conditions of .BE's DNS agreement. One of the essential obligations is to provide correct data during the registration process.
  • The .BE registry regularly reviews WHOIS information and when questionable data is encountered, the registry will send an email to the registrant's email address requesting them to update the WHOIS information. Registrants are given 14 days to update their information. If no changes are made, the domain name will be revoked.
  • Registrants have 40 days after the revocation to contact the registrar in order to update the WHOIS information and reactivate the domain.

.CA

Policies:

.CC

Policies:

.CH

Policies:

  • Available to anyone.
  • Registrar, registrant transfers and ALL modifications (DNS, contact changes, etc) require confirmation from the registrant, either by replying to a confirmation email from the registry, or with a fax confirmation on their company letterhead.
  • There is no charge for registrant transfers, and the registration term does not change.
  • Completed registrar transfers add one year to the registration term.
  • At least two servers must be provided, but there are no specific zone requirements.
  • Registrar transfers require an authorization code. The registrant can obtain this code from the either SWITCH or, if applicable, the partner of SWITCH where they are currently registered. The code can be entered in the SRS Order Notes.
  • Domains that are not renewed are removed from SRS on the last day of the month prior to expiry. For example, if the SRS expiry date is listed as Oct 14th, the domain will be deleted from SRS the previous Sept 30th if no renewal order is received. They still remain active at the registry, usually for several months. These names can be recovered by submitting a registrar-transfer order until deleted by registry.

.CN

Policies:

Currently, new .CN domain registrations through non-Chinese Registrars have been suspended by CNNIC, the .CN registry operator.

Existing Registration Audits

CNNIC is now requesting documentation for some existing .CN registrations.

  • Required documentation for ALL applications must include:
    • The domain name registration application form, with the seal of the business OR signature of a representative from the business. Please ensure that the purveyor ID: p091231141702055 is included in the form.
    • A photocopy of the business license. Business license means the official document of the business, company or organization (such as company or organization registration).
    • A photocopy of the applicant's personal ID. Acceptable personal ID may include copies of a driver's license, passport, resident card/ID.
  • IMPORTANT NOTE: The Admin contact ID, Technical contact ID, Payment contact ID and Representative (Registrant ID) on the hard copy application form MUST match the information for the domain name.
  • Registrants should be directed to submit the required documents via email to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or by fax to: +86 10-58812666-2. An emailed PDF is the preferred method and Registrants should also send a copy of all documents to Neustar Customer Service at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Neustar is the registration service partner of OpenSRS.

.DE

Policies:

  • In order to register a .DE domain name, either the Registrant (Owner) or the Administrative Contact must be based in Germany with a verifiable German address.
  • In order to activate a .DE domain, you must provide at least two functional nameservers; however, you may provide up to five nameservers per domain. Additionally, the two required nameservers must be active on two different subnets and must be authoritative for the domain name at the time of registration. If the name is registered and the nameservers are not active, the Registrant has thirty (30) days in which to activate and park the name on them. If the nameservers are not activated at the end of the 30-day period, DENIC deletes the name without refund. The nameservers associated with the domain name can be modified during the 30-day period, subject to DENIC verification. If the nameservers do not meet DENIC criteria, the change request is ignored.

.DK

Policies:

  • Available to anyone.
  • Servers must be REGISTERED with the registry, DK-Hostmaster, by whoever is authoritative for them (registrant, hosting co., etc). Servers are registered at https://www.dk-hostmaster.dk/english/technical-administration/dns-server-contacts/register-name-server/.
  • Registrant transfers require signed documentation (which will be emailed to RSP upon submission of orde
  • Domains that are not renewed are removed from SRS the day that they expire. They still remain active at the registry, usually for several weeks. These names can be recovered by submitting through the same Domain Redemption tool in RWI used to redeem gTLD's

.ES

Policies:

  • Available to anyone.
  • Registrar transfers must be confirmed by the admin contact (registry sends them an email).
  • Any modifications to the registrant contact in our system are NOT automatically updated at the registry. Changes to the current registrant contact information must be submitted to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , while registrant-transfers require documentation to be completed and submitted (see below).
  • At least two servers must be provided, but there are no specific zone requirements.
  • Domains remain active for 10 days past expiry, during which time they can be renewed as usual. After 10 days, the name is deleted and made available by the registry.

Forms:

Important Note About Payments

The registry operator for .ES will accept multiple requests for a domain name and await payment from registrars and/or registrants. The requests are taken on a first-come, first-served basis, and the registry then awaits payment.

Each registration in the queue has 20 days to fulfill the payment obligation. If the payment obligation is not fulfilled in this timeframe, the order is cancelled and the next order has another 20 days.

If the registration is ultimately successful, the order will be marked as completed and the reseller will receive notification and will be charged.

Please note that if a domain is available and registered through OpenSRS, Tucows pays the registry at that time and the domain is registered. Queuing will only occur if there are previous registrations made by other entities.

Registrant Transfer

The procedure details and documentation for registrant-transfers can be viewed at https://www.nic.es/procedimiento-transmision/article/267 (Note: available in Spanish only).

Please email all completed documentation to  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or fax to 416-538-5454.

.FR

Policies:

  • "Individual" registrants must be located in France and provide their place and date of birth in the SRS Order Notes.
  • "Organization" registrants located in France must provide their SIREN/SIRET number in the SRS Order Notes.
  • "Organization" or "individual" registrants NOT located in France may only register a ..fr if they have a France-recognized trademark on the domain they are registering. They must provide the trademark registration number in the SRS Order Notes. They also must provide an admin contact located in France.
  • Registrant transfers must be confirmed by the admin contact (registry sends an email)
  • Registrar transfers require an auth_info code. The registrant can obtain this code from the current registrar. The code can be entered in the SRS Order Notes.
  • Registration terms begin anew at the completion of registrar and registrant transfers.
  • Domains that are not renewed are deleted from OpenSRS the day they expire. They remain in quarantine at the registry for 30 days. During this time, these names can be recovered by submitting through the same Domain Redemption tool in RWI used to redeem gTLD's.

Documentation:

.IT

Policies:

  • Registrants MUST be located in the European Union.
  • "Individual" registrants must provide their place and date of birth, and either their code fiscale (if located in Italy) or any other personal ID number (if located elsewhere in the EU) in the SRS Order Notes.
  • "Organization" registrants must provide their VAT number in the SRS Order Notes. The admin contact must be a representative of the same organization.
  • Documentation signed by the admin contact required for all new registrations (LAR agreement) and transfers.
  • Registration terms begin anew at the completion of registrar and registrant transfers.
  • Domains that are not renewed are removed from SRS the day they expire. They still remain active at the registry, usually for several months. these names can be recovered by submitting through the same Domain Redemption tool in RWI used to redeem gTLD's.

IT DNS Requirements

Registration Documentation

(English versions are only provided as a guide. The Italian version must be sent)

  • New registration Letter of Assumption of Responsiblity (where registrant is an individual)
  • New registration Letter of Assumption of Responsiblity (where registrant is an organization)

Transfer documentation

.LI

Policies:

  • Available to anyone.
  • Registrar, registrant transfers and ALL modifications (DNS, contact changes, etc) require confirmation from the registrant, either by replying to a confirmation email from the registry, or with a fax confirmation on their company letterhead.
  • There is no charge for registrant transfers, and the registration term does not change.
  • Completed registrar transfers add one year to the registration term.
  • At least two servers must be provided, but there are no specific zone requirements.
  • Registrar transfers require an authorization code. The registrant can obtain this code from the either SWITCH or, if applicable, the partner of SWITCH where they are currently registered. The code can be entered in the SRS Order Notes.
  • Domains that are not renewed are removed from SRS on the last day of the month prior to expiry. For example, if the SRS expiry date is listed as Oct 14th, the domain will be deleted from SRS the previous Sept 30th if no renewal order is received. They still remain active at the registry, usually for several months. These names can be recovered by submitting a registrar-transfer order until deleted by registry.

.COM.MX

Policies:

  • .MX is an open registry; you do not have to be a resident or business operator to register a .COM.MX domain.
  • Registrar-transfers require auth code.
  • COM.MX names are deleted outright the day they expire. There is no redemption period.

.NL

Policies:

  • .NL domains are available to anyone. Requests submitted without a Netherlands address will automatically have a "SIDN-specified domicile address" provided as the local presence for the registrant.
  • A charge is applied for registrant-transfers.
  • Registrar transfers may require signed documentation if denied by current registrar.
  • Registration terms begin anew at the completion of registrar and registrant transfers.
  • Domains that are not renewed are deleted from OpenSRS the day they expire. They remain in quarantine at the registry for 30 days. During this time, these names can be recovered by submitting through the same Domain Redemption tool in RWI used to redeem gTLD's.
  • Registrar-transfers require an auth code.

Documentation:

.TV

Policies:

.US

NEXUS Requirements

Prospective registrants in the usTLD must fall in one of three U.S. Nexus categories and must certify that they have a "bona fide presence in the United States." Prospective registrants must indicate their use of the domain by selecting one of the following categories: Note: By agreeing to the policies of the registry, registrants agree to having one of the requirements below. Nothing further is required from the reseller to prove the registrant has a legitimate registration.

Nexus Category 1

A natural person (i) who is a United States citizen, (ii) a permanent resident of the United States of America or any of its possessions or territories, or (iii) whose primary place of domicile is in the United States of America or any of its possessions.

Nexus Category 2

An United States entity or organization that is (i) incorporated within one of the fifty (50) U.S. states, the District of Columbia, or any of the United States possessions or territories or organized, or otherwise constituted under the laws of a state of the United States of America, the District of Columbia or any of its possessions or (including a federal, state, or local government of the United States, or a political subdivision thereof, and unincorporated organizations based in the United States).

Nexus Category 3

An entity or organization (including a federal, state, or local government of the United States, or a political subdivision thereof) that has a bona fide presence in the United States of America or any of its possessions or territories.

  • If foreign entity, Applicant must state country of citizenship.
  • Check from category list, basis for compliance with Nexus requirement - regularly sells goods in the United States; regularly provides services in the United States; regularly engages in business activities, trade or other business (commercial or non-commercial including not-for-profit) relations in the United States;
  • Maintains an office or other property within the United States.

The registry operator conducts weekly random checks for US nexus requirements. They select a small sample (approximately 0.5% of new registrations) and send the selected registrants a Nexus confirmation email.

Each selected registrant will have 30 days to respond to the registry operator. If the registrant fails to respond, the registry operator will attempt a second contact with the registrant. If there is no response to the second contact, the registry operator will delete the domain name. The registry operator is not refunding registration fees for deleted names.

Tucows will receive a copy of any Nexus Confirmation emails sent to domain names registered under our accreditation. We anticipate this will affect only small numbers of registrants.

Documentation: