Additional Whois Information Policy
The Additional Whois Information Policy (AWIP) is meant to clarify the meaning of EPP status codes in Whois data and make consistent the identification of registrars by their Globally Unique Registrar Identification number. This policy obligates ICANN-accredited registrars and gTLD registries to provide query-based access to registration data via web pages and at port 43. They must also include their Whois output information to help users identify their sponsoring registrar and status codes.[1]
Overview
This policy concerns extensible provisioning protocol (EPP) status codes, which indicate the status of a domain name registration.[2] The AWIP requires that registrars and registries only refer to EPP status codes and provide a link or URL next to each EPP status code to direct the user to the appropriate ICANN webpage for more information. Registrars cannot remove the link, and registries must include the ICANN-issued Globally Unique Registrar Identification number (GURID aka IANA ID) in their Whois output.
History
On June 24, 2009, the GNSO Council launched a Policy Development Process (PDP) concerning the Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy (IRTP).[3] On May 30, 2011, the IRTP Working Group B submitted its Final Report.[4] Recommendation 8 was to standardize and clarify Whois status messages regarding the "Registrar Lock" status. On June 22, 2011, the GNSO Council requested that ICANN staff provide a proposal for a technically feasible approach to meet this recommendation, which the councilors adopted on February 16, 2012, and the ICANN Board adopted on May 6, 2012.
Thus, the AWIP was adopted by ICANN as a Consensus Policy on 6 May 2012. By January 31, 2016, all ICANN-accredited registrars and gTLD registries were expected to be in compliance with the AWIP in terms of their registrations in all top-level domains.
Effect of GDPR
In its Final Report, released September 3, 2019, the RDS/Whois Review Team 2 stated that no issues were found in relation to the implementation of the AWIP and the GDPR. Registries and registrars can be in compliance with both documents.[5]