Registrar

A registrar has direct relationships with domain name registries and is authorized to sell domain names. In order to become a registrar, one has to be accredited via an ICANN process, in which they must meet certain business and technical requirements. See our list of registrars.

Related Terms

• Accredited Registrar: A Registrar that has been certified as meeting certain minimal criteria to act as a Registrar for a specific TLD. This term is almost solely used when referring to Registrars that have been certified by ICANN. ccTLD Registries also accredit registrars, and though they may use differing terms, the concepts are largely the same.

• Sponsoring Registrar: The Registrar responsible for the submission of the domain name to the Registry.

• Registrar Operator: A term used to denote the entity providing the technical services to a Registrar in support of their registration services. Also referred to as a "Registrar Outsourcer" or "Registrar Provider"

Background

From 1993 to 1998 Network Solutions was the only Registrar and Registry Operator for .com, .net and .org top level domain names (TLDs) based on a Cooperative Agreement between the company and National Science Foundation (NSF). The Department of Commerce (DOC) extended and amended the Cooperative Agreement with NSI when the contract expired in 1998. Under the new Cooperative Agreement, NSI will continue to serve as a Registry Operator and to implement a Shared Registry System (SRS) by June 1, 1999, which will be accessible for multiple registrars to be accredited by the non-profit organization that will takeover the technical management of the DNS. Five registrars will be chosen by the new corporation to test bed the SRS. The Agreement was modified twice to adjust the date of the deployment of the SRS from June 1 to June 25, 1999 and the inclusion of a registration fee for new domain names; $9 for one year and $18 for two years and the Registrar License Agreement. In November 1998, the DOC officially recognized ICANN as the new private, non-profit organization responsible in administering the technical management of DNS. Part of its responsibility is to supervise the deployment and transition to SRS, to develop and implement procedures for registrar accreditation to ensure competitive registration system and to maintain the stability and security of the internet.

On March 4, 1999, the ICANN Board adopted the Statement of Registrar Accreditation Policy for .com, .net and .org TLDs. Under the policy, registrars seeking to participate in the SRS Testbed Program are required to pay $2,500 while all other registrar applicants will pay $1,000. Applicants that were not selected for the test bed were considered for regular accreditation.

ICANN accepted applicants for the SRS Testbed Program from March 11 to April 8, 1999. On April 21, 1999, ICANN announced the five registrars selected to participate in the testbed including:

1. America Online (AOL)
2. CORE (Internet Council of Registrars)
3. France Telecom/Oléane
4. Melbourne IT
5. Register.com

In addition, ICANN also announced the names of 29 companies that will receive accreditation after the completion of the SRS Testbed Program. The testbed ended on November 30, 1999. The List of Businesses to be Accredited as Post-Testbed Registrars is available here

ICANN continued to accept applications for registrar accreditation until today. Here is a complete list of existing ICANN Accredited Registrars]

External Links

GNSO Registrars' Constituency Mailing List