--- id: "registry-agreement" kind: "glossary-term" title: "Registry Agreement" language: "en" category: "Governance and policy" updated: "2026-10-10T10:28:55Z" canonical: "https://tldlog.com/glossary/registry-agreement/" translations: es: "https://tldlog.com/es/glosario/acuerdo-registro/" de: "https://tldlog.com/de/glossar/registry-agreement/" fr: "https://tldlog.com/fr/glossaire/contrat-registre/" it: "https://tldlog.com/it/glossario/registry-agreement/" pt-BR: "https://tldlog.com/pt/glossario/contrato-registro/" ru: "https://tldlog.com/ru/glossariy/soglashenie-administrirovanii-reestra/" zh-Hans: "https://tldlog.com/zh/cihui/zhuce-guanli-jigou-xieyi/" --- # Registry Agreement The contract between ICANN and the operator of a gTLD. It sets technical, policy and abuse duties, fees owed to ICANN and, for some TLDs, pricing rules. Most new gTLDs use a standard base agreement. Legacy TLDs such as .com have their own versions. Every generic top-level domain runs under a contract with ICANN called the Registry Agreement. It sets what the registry must do and pay, and what happens when it changes hands or stops. ## What the Registry Agreement is It is a contract between ICANN, a California nonprofit public benefit corporation, and the registry operator of one gTLD. Most new gTLDs use a standard base form: the version approved on 21 January 2024 for TLDs of the 2012 Round, or the 2026 version, approved by the ICANN Board on 12 March 2026 for successful applicants in the 2026 Round. The base agreement lasts ten years and renews for further ten-year periods, except in cases of termination or repeated material breach. ## What a registry must do: the key specifications Under the base agreement, a registry must: - Follow consensus policies, including future ones. - Sell names only through ICANN-accredited registrars, giving all of them equal access. - Give registrars at least 30 days' notice of higher prices for new registrations and 180 days for renewals, keep renewal prices uniform, and let registrars renew for one to ten years at the price in force before an increase. - Pay fees to ICANN. In the 2026 form, as of 1 January 2025, these were 6,437.50 US dollars (USD) per quarter plus USD 0.2575 per transaction above a threshold. Both amounts can be adjusted (as of October 2026). The base agreement sets notice rules, not price caps. Legacy TLDs have negotiated agreements of their own, and the .com agreement, between ICANN and VeriSign, Inc., does cap prices: the maximum may rise by up to 7% in each of the last four years of every six-year period. Its current term runs through 30 November 2030 and can be renewed (as of October 2026). ### Specification 9: the Registry Code of Conduct Since 2010, ICANN has allowed the same group to own both a registry and a registrar in new gTLDs (vertical integration), and Specification 9 is the main safeguard. The registry may not favor any registrar, nor register names in its own right except through an accredited registrar, apart from reserved names and up to 500 names. A linked registrar must be a separate legal entity with separate accounts. A TLD used only by the operator and its affiliates can ask for an exemption. ### Specification 10: service levels ICANN tests every registry from probes around the world. Monthly targets include 100% availability of the DNS service and no more than 864 minutes of downtime (about 98%) for EPP and for RDAP. ## Public interest commitments and abuse duties Specification 11 holds the public interest commitments (PICs). Some were offered by applicants; others apply to all. A registry must: - Use only registrars under the 2013 RAA. - Make registrars ban, in their customer terms, malware, botnets, phishing, piracy, infringement, fraud, counterfeiting and other illegal activity, with suspension of the name as a possible consequence. - Check its TLD for DNS abuse periodically and keep statistics on what it found and did. - Not reserve a generic-word TLD for one company and its affiliates. ICANN enforces these commitments, and complaints can also go through the PICDRP, in its revised form since 1 February 2020. Remedies can include termination. The agreement defines DNS abuse as malware, botnets, phishing, pharming, and spam used to deliver them. When a registry has actionable evidence of it, it must act promptly: at minimum, refer the name to the registrar or act itself. ## How the contract changes: amendments and new services **One registry.** To add, change or remove a registry service, a registry uses the RSEP. ICANN checks for significant security, stability and competition issues; some services, such as Registry Lock, have a fast track. Approval may require a contract amendment. **All registries.** A global amendment works in steps: 1. ICANN consults a working group of the registries and posts the text for at least 30 days. 2. The ICANN Board approves it. 3. Registries vote within 60 days. It passes with a yes from operators that paid two-thirds of the previous year's fees and from a majority of operators, one vote per TLD. Not voting counts as no. 4. It takes effect 60 days after ICANN's notice. ## When a registry is sold or the agreement ends An assignment of the agreement, a change of control of the operator, or a new subcontractor for a critical function, such as the back-end provider, needs ICANN's prior approval. The operator gives at least 30 days' notice, and ICANN runs background checks. Silence for 30 days counts as consent. ICANN may terminate if a material breach stays uncured 30 days after notice. The registry may terminate for any reason with 180 days' notice. ICANN then makes a preliminary determination, open to public comment, on whether to move the TLD to a successor; for a TLD used only by its operator, it needs the operator's consent. For example, the operator of .juniper gave termination notice on 8 June 2026; ICANN's preliminary determination of 20 July 2026 was not to transition it, and it confirmed this in a final determination on 15 September 2026. If DNS is down for 4 hours in a week, or EPP or RDAP for 24 hours, ICANN can appoint an emergency operator (EBERO). ## Why it matters to registrants Registrants are not party to the contract, but it shapes what they get. It makes registries give registrars advance notice of wholesale price rises, and it sets service levels with an emergency backup and continuity rules. When a TLD ends without a successor, its names stop working. The abuse rules reach registrants too: a registrant of shop.example accepts registrar terms that ban phishing, and can have the name suspended for it. How a clause applies in a given case is a question for the registrar, the registry or a lawyer. ## Sources - [Registry Agreement (2026 Base Registry Agreement)](https://itp.cdn.icann.org/en/files/registry-agreements/base-registry-agreement-12-03-2026-en.pdf) - [2024 Global Amendments to the 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) and Base gTLD Registry Agreement (Base RA)](https://www.icann.org/en/contracted-parties/registry-operators/global-amendments/2024-global-amendments) - [Registry Agreement Termination Information Page](https://www.icann.org/en/contracted-parties/registry-operators/services/registry-agreement-termination-service) ## related terms - [registry operator](https://tldlog.com/glossary/registry-operator/) - [RAA](https://tldlog.com/glossary/raa/) - [contracted parties](https://tldlog.com/glossary/contracted-parties/) - [price cap](https://tldlog.com/glossary/price-cap/)