Important Notice of New Implementations - Change to Transfer Implementation

ATTENTION NIXI REGISTRARS 

IMPORTANT NOTICE OF NEW IMPLEMENTATIONS 

CHANGE TO TRANSFER IMPLEMENTATION 

Prior to transition, the outgoing Technical Service Provider (TSP) imposed a strict 60 day transfer lock on new registrations by applying the serverTransferProhibited EPP Status. Tucows Registry Services (TRS) as the new TSP does not enforce a 60 day transfer lock. Under ICANN Transfer policy the 60 day lock is at the discretion of the Registrar and a registrar responsibility to manage. 

TRS does not enforce a registry-level 60-day transfer lock. In line with the ICANN Transfer Policy, the application of a 60-day transfer restriction is at the discretion of the registrar, not the registry. It is the registrar’s responsibility to manage this policy. To align with this interpretation, TRS is discontinuing the use of registry-imposed 60-day transfer locks. All domains previously under serverTransferProhibited for this reason have now been updated to use the clientTransferProhibited status instead. 

Registrars that wish to continue enforcing a 60-day transfer restriction may do so by using the clientTransferProhibited status, in accordance with their own policies and implementation practices.

Change to Auto-Renew Domain Lifecycle Behavior 

As part of the transition to Tucows Registry Services (TRS) as the new Technical Service Provider (TSP), we are aligning the domain expiration and renewal process with the standard auto-renew domain lifecycle, consistent with NIXI policy. 

Key Change: 

TRS will auto-renew domain names on their expiration date, extending the expiration by one year. This change improves lifecycle clarity and ensures a consistent experience for registrars and registrants. 

How It Works: 

• When a domain name reaches its expiry date, TRS will automatically renew the domain for one year. 
• The domain then enters a 45-day Auto-Renew Grace Period (autoRenewGracePeriod), during which: 
  • The registrar may delete the domain without being charged for the renewal. 
  • If the domain is not deleted, the renewal fee will be charged once the domain transitions out from the autoRenewGracePeriod, i.e. when 45-day autoRenewGracePeriod elapses, or the domain name is explicitly renewed or transferred.

Previous Behavior: 

Under the outgoing TSP, domains were not automatically renewed on the expiration date. Instead, the expiration date remained unchanged (i.e., in the past) throughout the 45-day auto-renew grace period. The domain was only renewed, and the renewal fee applied, at the end of that autorenew grace period—if it had not been deleted. 

Summary of the TRS Auto-Renew Lifecycle:

• Expiry Date → Domain is auto-renewed immediately, i.e. expiration date is automatically extended for 1 year.
• +45 Days (at the end of the autoRenewGracePeriod)  → If the domain is not deleted, renewal fee is charged.
• Domain remains deletable and non-billable during the 45-day autoRenewGracePeriod.

This change aligns with industry standards and ensures better consistency across lifecycle events.

Security Standards for EPP

“What No Whitelisting? Is the new registry system secure?” 

Yes the new TSP system is very secure without whitelisting. 

Tucows Registry requires each registrar to have a Certificate to authenticate connection to the EPP. This provides an additional layer of security. We have our certificate authority and the registrars are the only ones that have the private key. We carry out an additional check as each Registrar must have the right certificate and correct matching Registrar ID. 

REGISTRAR CONSOLE 2FA IS MANDATORY

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