ICANN has notified registrars and registries that it wouldn’t demand termination of domain names’ registration in case registrants didn’t get to renew their registrations due to natural disasters. Domain Incite reports that this concerns the countries of the Caribbean that were hit hard in September 2017 by a series of powerful hurricanes, the most destructive of which was hurricane Maria. A lot of victims and also serious destruction was left after natural disasters. In particular, in some countries power transmission and communication lines were destroyed, as a result of which domain name registrants were physically unable to renew their registrations on time.
ICANN registration agreements have strict rules when it comes to registration renewal. Mitigating circumstances exist, but they are considered if the registrant has financial or legal difficulties. However, in the letter sent to heads of registrars and registries, Global Domains Division president Akram Atallah said that the corporation, obviously, recognizes the consequences of a hurricane to be a circumstance that might prevent timely renewal. ICANN will not take any measures against registrars that didn’t cancel domain registrations that were not renewed on time because of the hurricanes. Atallah also expressed an opinion that ICANN should develop a centralized policy in relation to such problems caused by natural disasters.
