ICANN Domain Contact Policy Update
ICANN's new Registration Data Policy came into effect on August 21, 2025. This policy changes how domain registration information is handled and brings domain data practices in line with global privacy and data-protection requirements. This change affects all gTLD's (.com, .net, .org, etc). Please note that ccTLD's like .ca are not affected by this change.
These updates may affect how the ownership of your domain is interpreted. We highly encourage Bravenet members to review their contact details if they have not already done so.
Changes to Ownership Interpretation
Under the current ICANN policy, the value entered in the Organization field of the registrant contact is considered the legal owner of the domain.
If you maintain a domain, it's important to verify this information is accurate and up-to-date:
- If the domain should be owned by an individual, the Organization field should be left blank and the registrant’s Name field should list the correct person.
- If the domain is intended to be owned by a business or organization, the Organization should contain the appropriate business name.
- Under this policy, the information in the registrant domain contact organization field is also published in the publicly accessible Registration Data Directory Services. Please note, that if you already have domain privacy disabled, any value entered in the Organization field will already be publicly visible.
Confirming these fields help ensure the domain's owner is correctly recorded under the updated policy.
Providing Consent
Existing Domains
If your domain has an entry in the Organization field, ICANN now requires that you provide consent for that organization to be recognized as the legal owner.
1. Log in to your Bravenet account.
2. Go to the Domains tab.
3. Click Manage next to the domain.
4. Click Review Now.
5. If you agree, check the consent box and click Provide Consent.
New Domains
New domain registrations will request consent whenever an organization is listed, as ICANN requires confirmation before assigning ownership to that organization.
After adding the domain to your cart:
- Check the box to provide consent if the organization should be the legal owner.
- If you do not want to give consent, create a new contact and leave the Organization field blank so the domain is registered to an individual instead.
Personal Domains and Placeholder Organization Values
If your domain is intended to be owned by an individual, the Organization field should be left blank.
In some cases, existing domain contacts may include placeholder values in the Organization field, such as “None,” “Personal,” “Not Applicable,” or similar entries. Under ICANN’s updated Registration Data Policy, any value entered in the Organization field is treated as the legal owner of the domain and may be published in public registration data.
Because of this, placeholder values should not be used.
What You Should Do
You can achieve this by creating a new domain contact with no organization value filled out and assigning it to your domain. Please see the following article for instructions on how to create a new domain contact: Updating domain contact information.
Additional Information
For more details about the Registration Data Policy, please visit: https://www.icann.org/en/contracted-parties/consensus-policies/registration-data-policy