---
id: "registrant"
kind: "glossary-term"
title: "registrant"
language: "en"
category: "Industry roles and organizations"
updated: "2026-10-10T10:28:55Z"
canonical: "https://tldlog.com/glossary/registrant/"
translations:
  es: "https://tldlog.com/es/glosario/titular/"
  de: "https://tldlog.com/de/glossar/domaininhaber/"
  fr: "https://tldlog.com/fr/glossaire/titulaire/"
  it: "https://tldlog.com/it/glossario/assegnatario/"
  pt-BR: "https://tldlog.com/pt/glossario/titular/"
  ru: "https://tldlog.com/ru/glossariy/registrant/"
  zh-Hans: "https://tldlog.com/zh/cihui/zhuceren/"
---

# registrant

The person or organization that holds the right to use a domain name for the registration period. The registrant accepts the registrar's terms and must keep contact details accurate. Under ICANN's current gTLD rules, if an organization name is entered, that organization is treated as the registrant.

The registrant is the person or organization that holds a domain name. Holding a name gives the right to use it for a set period; it is not ownership. Knowing who the registrant is avoids several common ways of losing a name.

## What a registrant is

ICANN's contracts call the registrant the "Registered Name Holder". For generic top-level domains (gTLDs), every registration rests on a registration agreement between the registrant and a registrar accredited by ICANN. The Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) obliges registrars to make every registrant sign one, with a minimum set of clauses.

The registrant can be a person or an organization. As of October 2026, under the Registration Data Policy, if the Registrant Organization field is filled in, that organization is considered the registrant, and the person named is its point of contact.

## What you own and what you only rent

ICANN is direct about this: a registrant does not "own" a domain name. Registering one is "more like leasing" it from the registry operator, for a period that depends on the registry operator. A name cannot be bought forever, but it can be renewed before each period ends.

What the registrant holds is the right to use, renew, restore and transfer the name. Someone who "buys" an existing name acquires the right to have it registered in their own name and to keep managing and renewing it. ICANN's authority is only contractual, so it cannot return a lost name to anyone.

Country-code domains follow national rules. For .es, the 2005 text of Spain's Orden ITC/1542/2005 takes the same approach: assigning a name gives the right to use it, and that right can be transferred voluntarily if the new holder meets the plan's conditions.

## Your duties: accurate data, renewals and lawful use

### Accurate data

- Give the registrar accurate and reliable contact details, and update them within seven days of any change.
- Answer the registrar's questions within 15 days, and keep account details current, including payment details if the name renews automatically.
- Expect the registrar to verify your email address or phone number within 15 days of a registration, a transfer to a new registrar or a change of registrant. Without a reply, it checks the details by hand or suspends the name until they are verified.

Wilfully giving false details, wilfully not updating them within seven days, or not answering accuracy questions for more than 15 days is a material breach of the agreement, and grounds for suspension or cancellation.

### Renewals

Registrars must remind the registrant at least twice before a gTLD name expires: about a month before and about a week before. If the name is neither renewed nor deleted, one more notice follows within five days after expiry. Without consent to renew, the name is cancelled by the end of the auto-renew grace period, or earlier if the registrar chooses.

A name deleted eight or more days after expiry stops resolving for at least its last eight days. After deletion, all gTLD registries except sponsored ones must offer a 30-day Redemption Grace Period (RGP), during which the registrar that deleted the name can restore it at the request of the registrant at expiration.

### Lawful use

The registrant states that, to their knowledge, the name and its use do not infringe anyone else's rights and that it is not registered for an unlawful purpose. The registrant takes sole responsibility for the registration and use of the name, covers the registry operator against claims arising from it, and remains the registrant even when someone else uses the name.

## Your rights: transfers, notices and dispute processes

- **Information and privacy.** The registrant can download the registration agreement at any time, and is entitled to clear information about the registrar, prices, support, why data are collected and how to correct them. Deceptive notices and hidden fees are not allowed. The registrant can consent to have more of their contact data published.
- **Changing registrar.** If the registrant cannot generate the auth code themselves, the registrar must provide it and remove the transfer lock within five calendar days of the request. A registrar may charge a transfer fee, but cannot refuse a transfer only because that fee is unpaid.
- **Changing registrant.** Registrants must be free to pass the name to someone else. The registrar asks for confirmation, usually by email, within a deadline it sets of no more than 60 days.
- **Disputes.** The registrar must describe how it handles complaints. Under the UDRP, the registrant must take part in a mandatory administrative proceeding when a complaint falls within that policy.

### Adopted but not yet in force

On 7 June 2026 the ICANN Board adopted 47 recommendations to change the Transfer Policy, including mandatory locks and a separate Change of Registrant Data (CORD) Policy. As of October 2026 they are not yet in force, and the current Transfer Policy still applies.

## Registrant, account holder and contacts: who is who

- **Registrant:** the holder of the rights.
- **Account holder:** whoever pays for or manages the name, when that is not the registrant.
- **Contacts:** as of October 2026, registrars no longer need administrative or billing contacts, a rule in force since 21 August 2025. A technical contact is optional, and can be the registrant or a contact that is not personal data.

A change to the registrant's name, organization or email address is a change of registrant; correcting a typing error is not. As of October 2026, it starts a 60-day lock on transfers to another registrar, unless the registrant opted out before the request.

## Common mistakes, such as registering in an employee's name

- **The agency registers the name in its own details.** ICANN warns that a developer may be the registrant of record even when the client paid. Proof of payment may be needed to show the registrar who should hold the name.
- **The name is in an employee's personal name.** By the same logic, the employee is the registrant, not the company. Filling in the Organization field makes the organization the registrant.
- **A verification email is ignored.** The name can be suspended.
- **The contact email is out of date.** Renewal reminders never arrive.

### A worked example

Example Ltd asks a web agency to register example.com. The agency enters its own name and email, and Example Ltd pays. The agency is the registrant of record; Example Ltd is at most the account holder. To fix this, Example Ltd asks for a change of registrant, which both confirm. In a real dispute, the registrar or a lawyer can say how the rules apply.

## Sources

- [Registrants' Benefits and Responsibilities](https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/benefits-2013-09-16-en)
- [2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement, version approved 21 January 2024](https://itp.cdn.icann.org/en/files/accredited-registrars/registrar-accreditation-agreement-21jan24-en.htm)
- [Registration Data Policy](https://www.icann.org/en/contracted-parties/consensus-policies/registration-data-policy)
- [Transfer Policy (updated 21 February 2024)](https://www.icann.org/en/contracted-parties/accredited-registrars/resources/domain-name-transfers/policy)
- [General Questions - ICANN](https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/faqs-84-2012-02-25-en)
- [Orden ITC/1542/2005, de 19 de mayo, que aprueba el Plan Nacional de nombres de dominio de Internet bajo el código de país correspondiente a España («.es»)](https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-A-2005-8902)

## related terms

- [registrar](https://tldlog.com/glossary/registrar/)
- [Registration Data Policy](https://tldlog.com/glossary/registration-data-policy/)
- [change of registrant](https://tldlog.com/glossary/change-of-registrant/)
- [registration](https://tldlog.com/glossary/registration/)