Hi Alan,
Here is the feedback I have received from Compliance:
"Contractual Compliance¹s position is that there is no compliance issue when
the registrant is not able to initiate a domain name transfer because he is
no longer listed in the Whois as the registrant due to Whois changes made by
a registrar following expiration. In this situation, the registrar¹s acts
and/or omissions do not amount to a breach of ICANN policy or the RAA.
The situation described appears to be a business matter between the
registrar and the registrant, which would be determined by the terms and
conditions of the registrar¹s auto-renew policy and registration agreement
(i.e., the ex-registrant is enforcing his/her rights (if any) under those
instruments and ICANN is unlikely to have authority to intervene). My own
experiences in dealing IRTP complaints to date suggest many registrants try
to initiate transfers before the expiration of their domain name
registrations."
With best regards,
Marika
>> Hi Alan,
>>
>> I think it is looking very good. Let me know if there is anything I can do
>> to help.
>>
>> On the issue of transfer during auto-renew grace period, I'm still going
>> back and forth with compliance / legal to get a clear answer, but the
>> feedback I have received so far seems to
confirm that there is no 'right' /
>> contractual obligation that states that a registrant after expiration has
>> the right to transfer a domain name registration. Any direct registrant
>> "rights" would have to come from either
contract or law. If the registration
>> has expired then so effectively has the registration agreement, and
>> therefore the registrant probably doesn't
have the same "rights" any more in
>> relation to the registrar. It is worth keeping in mind that transfers are
>> initiated by and at the gaining registrar,
so the issue is not really about
>> the ex-registrant's "right" to request or initiate a transfer, but rather
>> what obligations the losing registrar should have to assist a customer who
>> effectively is no longer the registrant of the name. I'm trying to get
>> feedback from the compliance team on whether many / any complaints are
>> received in relation to this type of scenario, or whether it is more a
>> scenario that could occur in theory but doesn't really happen in practice.
>>
>> I'll keep you posted,
>>
>> Marika