.CA Registry Transition Information

On October 12th, 2010, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) will transition from the current Registry platform to a new platform. Along with the cutover to this modern platform, CIRA is also bringing in some changes to domain policies and procedures aimed at simplifying and standardizing .CA domains with the rest of the domain industry.

Key Transition Timelines

• October 5, 2010: freeze on .CA transfers and contact information changes.

• October 12 at 9:00am EDT to October 13 at 9:00 EDT, 2010: the existing CIRA platform is decommissioned and a new registry platform will take its place. CIRA will use a 24 hour maintenance window to migrate existing .CA domains to the new platform.

NEW: October 5th Transaction Freeze

As part of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) transition to its new registry platform on October 12th, 2010, CIRA is initiating a freeze on certain transactions involving .CA domain names beginning on October 5th, 2010.

Here is a list of affected transactions:

* Change Registrant

Seven days prior to the start of migration, October 5, any attempt to request a Change Registrant cannot be processed.

* New Registrations

No new registrations will be allowed during the freeze.

* Change Critical Information

Seven days prior to the start of migration, October 5, any attempt to request a Critical Change of information cannot be processed.

* Manual Change of Administrative Contact Email

Seven days prior to the start of migration, October 5, any attempt to request a Manual Change of Administrative Contact cannot be processed.

* Cancel a New Domain

Three days prior to the start of migration, October 9, any attempt to request a cancellation of a domain cannot be processed.

* New Registrants who have not approved the Registrant Agreement

CIRA will continue to allow registration of all new Registrants up the migration date, October 12. Registrants that do not approve the Registrant Agreement before the migration date will receive a subsequent notice from CIRA after the migration with details on how to approve a Registrant Agreement in the new system. Registrants that navigate to the existing Registrant website will be presented with information about how to complete their pending application.

What is Changing?

At a high level, some of the upcoming changes include:

• The domain lifecycle will be changed to bring it in line with industry standards and more like generic top-level domains (gTLDs). Changes include moving to a similar renewal grace period, redemption period, and the use of authorization codes for transfers. Additionally, domains will be renewed upon transfer.

• CIRA Registrant profiles and passwords will be eliminated and domains will be managed at the Registrar level, with no further confirmations required (currently Registrants have a separated CIRA profile to approve some management functions).

• Third- and fourth-level domains will no longer be available for registration. It will still be possible to manage and renew any existing third- and fourth-level domains.

• WHOIS privacy will be managed at the Registrar level (currently it is managed at the CIRA website).

• Registrar-to-registrar transfers will allowed only after the domain is registered for 60 days (currently 30 days).