The Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Council of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is seeking Expressions of Interest for a chair of the policy development process (PDP) working group that will conduct a review of the Transfer Policy.
Candidates interested in serving this role should review the Expression of Interest document before submission. The document details the role, required skills and experience, and the selection process. The deadline to submit an Expression of Interest is Friday, 16 April 2021 at 23:59 UTC.
All submissions should be sent to gnso-secs@icann.org. By submitting your personal data, you agree that your personal data will be processed in accordance with the ICANN Privacy Policy, and you agree to abide by the electronic Terms of Service.
Background on the Transfer Policy and the PDP
The Transfer Policy, formerly the Inter‐Registrar Transfer Policy (IRTP), is an ICANN consensus policy that went into effect on 12 November 2004. The policy governs the procedure and requirements for registrants to transfer their domain names from one registrar to another. The goal of the Transfer Policy was to provide enhanced domain name portability, resulting in greater consumer and business choice and enabling registrants to select the registrar that offers the best services and price for their needs.
On 22 April 2019, ICANN organization (org) delivered the Transfer Policy Status Report to the GNSO Council. This was pursuant to Recommendation 17 of the Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy (IRTP) Part D PDP Working Group's Final Report, which provides, "[t]he Working Group recommends that contracted parties and ICANN should start to gather data and other relevant information that will help inform a future IRTP review team in its efforts."
The GNSO Council convened a Transfer Policy Scoping Team to recommend an approach to and scope of the potential review, as well as composition of the PDP working group or review team. Drawing on recommendations included in the Scoping Team Initial Scoping Document, the GNSO Council instructed ICANN org to draft a Preliminary Issue Report, outlining the issues described within the Transfer Policy Initial Scoping Paper. ICANN org produced a Preliminary Issue Report, which was published for Public Comment, followed by a Final Issue Report. On 18 February 2021, the GNSO Council voted to initiate a two-phased PDP to review the Transfer Policy, which will determine if changes to the policy are needed to improve the ease, security, and efficacy of inter-registrar and inter-registrant transfers.