Domain lifecycle

Pending periods

In pending periods certain operations are not allowed.

• Redemption Grace Period: consists of

  • Redemption Period: valid for 30 days after a delete, during this period, the domain can be restored. Restore request is the only transaction allowed.

  • Pending Restore: in order to successfully restore a domain in the redemption period, a restore report is required. This report must be submitted during the 7 days of the pending restore period. In case no restore report is submitted, a new 30 day redemption period begins. Restore report is the only transaction allowed.

  • Pending Delete: If a domain is deleted and not restored, it is placed in the pending delete period at the end of the redemption period. This period lasts 5 days, after which the domain is available for registration. No transactions are allowed.

• Pending Transfer Period: see the section on Transfer.

Grace periods

DNS Belgium supports all grace periods as described in RFC 3915.

Each domain can only be in one grace period at a time. When a domain enters a grace period, the previous grace period ends. A delete transaction always ends the current grace period. A subsequent domain restore never puts the domain in the previous grace period.

The following grace periods are defined:

• Add grace period: the add grace period lasts 5 calendar days from the date of initial registration. Upon deletion in this period, the domain is immediately purged and thus available for re-registration. The registrar is credited for an amount corresponding to the registration fee (unless the registrar is already over its monthly allowance of add grace transactions). Note that the refund for the add grace period is performed at the end of each month and not immediately after each individual delete transaction. Calculation of the refund is performed outside the registry core. A renew or transfer transaction ends the add grace period. To prevent misuse and domain tasting in particular, ICANN’s Add Grace Period Limits Policy applies (available at: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/agp-policy-2008-12-17-en). Deletions in the add grace period exceeding the monthly allowance are not refunded. The monthly allowance is limited to 10% of the registrar’s net new registrations in that month or fifty domain names, whichever is greater.

• Renew grace period: after each renew transaction, a renew grace period of 5 calendar days starts. When the domain is deleted in this timeframe, the registrar is credited for the corresponding renewal fee and the domain enters a Redemption Grace Period. An approved transfer or subsequent renew of the domain immediately ends the renew grace period.

• Transfer grace period: after a successful domain transfer, a transfer grace period of 5 calendar days starts. When a domain is deleted in this timeframe, the sponsoring registrar is credited for the amount billed for the domain transfer and the domain enters a ‘Redemption Grace’ Period. A subsequent domain transfer or renew of the domain immediately ends the transfer grace period.

• Auto-renew grace period: every auto-renew is followed by an auto-renew grace period of 45 calendar days. When a renew transaction is performed, the auto-renew grace period is terminated. When the domain is deleted in this timeframe, the registrar is credited for the corresponding renewal fee and the domain enters a Redemption Grace Period. When the domain name is transferred away, the fee for the auto-renewal is refunded to the losing registrar.

The grace period of the domain is returned via an extension of the info transaction. A poll message is sent when the grace period of a domain name ends.

Renewals

The registration system has auto-renew set per registrar as default. This feature can’t be turned off.

The renew transaction is also implemented in line with ICANN requirements.

The EPP status clientRenewProhibited can be used by the registrar to disable the auto-renew feature on a per-domain basis. Auto-renews are prevented by this status. Renews are also prevented by this status (as per definition).