Notification of UDAI policy amendments
Following a public consultation, the DNCL Board has approved a small number of amendments to the Registering, Managing and Cancelling (RMC) Policy and Transfer to Another Registrar (TAR) Policy.
The amendments relate to the generation and use of UDAIs – Unique Domain Authentication Identification IDs, and will see:
- UDAIs able to be used on the anyname.nz website to reserve a name at the second level, or to specify a preference in the case of a conflicted domain name.
- Automatic generation of UDAIs by the Registry on initial registration of a domain name only.
At the same time, the DNCL Board has also agreed an additional, functional change that will see UDAIs expire after 30 days.
The amended RMC and TAR policies will come into effect on 5 September 2014.
Amends to RMC Policy
Clauses 12.3 and 12.5 in the Registering, Managing and Cancelling (RMC) Policy will be amended.
Clause 12.3 will be amended to read: Neither NZRS, nor the DNC, know the UDAIs for domain names.
Clause 12.5 will be amended to read: Registrars are required to pass on the UDAI to registrants whenever a new UDAI is generated. This applies from when a registrar first connects to the SRS. As stated in clause 7.6, the UDAI must also be provided to registrants on request. If the registrar fails to provide a UDAI to the registrant, the DNC may do so.
Amends to TAR Transfer to Another Registrar (TAR) Policy
Clause 3.5 in the Transfer to Another Registrar Policy will be amended. Clause 4.6 will be removed.
Clause 3.5 will be amended to read: If a statement is sent with the UDAI it should contain the following wording: “The Unique Domain Authentication Identification (UDAI) is required to enable a transfer of your domain name from one registrar to another. If you are asked to provide the UDAI for anything other than this you should query the request”.
With the introduction of .nz registrations at the second level some registrants will require the UDAI as part of their Preferential Registration Eligibility.
Clause 4.6 relating to UDAI forwarding will be removed.
Summary of public consultation
The DNC opened a public consultation on the UDAI policy amendments on 4 July 2014. The consultation closed on 18 July 2014, with three submissions received.
The submissions can be viewed at:
All three submitters were against the amendments, particularly raising concerns about the impact on registrants of having to request a new UDAI when switching registrars. However, DNCL notes empirical evidence from the registry showing that, in all recent transfer cases, new UDAIs are already requested just prior to the transfer.
In response to the feedback from submitters, Clause 12.5 of the RMC Policy was strengthened – making it clear that UDAIs must also be provided to registrants on request and also specifying that, if the registrar fails to provide a UDAI to the registrant, the DNCL may do so.