Did you know there is a new domain name transfer and registrant change policy that is being implemented by ICANN on December 1, 2016? You can read the full transfer policy on ICANN’s website.

In addition,  OpenSRS published a blog post about the policy change. Here is how the company stated that these changes will impact its customers:

Any changes to first name, last name, organization or email address fields for the owner of any gTLD domain name will now start a trade process
The process involves obtaining explicit confirmation from current and new registrants before a change can be completed
After a change of registrant has been completed, previous and new registrant need to receive notifications about the change, with no option of reversing the change
After a change of registrant has been completed, the domain is by default locked for transfers to a new registrar for the following 60 days

I believe this change is going to impact many of us who regularly buy and sell domain names.

One of the most obvious ways this will impact my business is

There has been a ton of political and mainstream discussion about the expiring IANA contract between ICANN and the US government. Despite some last minute efforts to thwart the transition, the contract has officially expired. I am not into political discussion and debate, so I stayed away from writing about this topic.

I am on ICANN’s news distribution list (you should also  sign up for ICANN news), and I want to share the news release ICANN sent out this morning announcing the transition of the stewardship of IANA functions. You can also read it directly on the ICANN website. Personally, I don’t think Internet users (or domain investors)  will see any changes with this transition.

Here is ICANN’s email from this morning: