On 1 May 2012 we will be introducing multi-year registration periods so that .uk domain names can be registered and renewed for between 1 and 10 years by member registrars.

To find out more about MYRP, please view our webinar here.

This will see the following changes being made to our systems.
 

1. Variable registration periods enabled so that domains can be registered and renewed for between 1 and 10 years
2. Implementation of a new charging structure:
   
   • Single year = £3.50 + VAT.
   • 2+ years bought together in a single operation = £2.50 + VAT per year
     
3. Auto-renew functionality updated so that the number of years can be specified, as well as the number of days in advance of the expiry date that the renewal will be automatically submitted.

New business rules - what will be different?

1. Domains can be registered or renewed for single-year periods
2. Domains can be registered or renewed for up to ten years
3. Domains can be renewed at any point as long as the additional years added to the domain do not take the total registration period over 10 years. 
4. The number of WHOIS domain registration status statements will be reduced from 7 to 3 leaving:
   • Renewal required (for domains that have expired)
   • Registered until expiry date
   • Registration not required (this is the status when the 'do not renew' option is selected)
   
   The following status statements will be removed:
   
   • Registration request being processed
   • Renewal request being processed
   • Renewal invoice being processed
   • Registered until renewal date
5. The ‘Relevant Dates’ section of the WHOIS output will change to show the domain’s Expiry Date rather than its Renewal Date.
6. A renewal invoice that is not paid within terms will no longer result in taking the expiry date back to its pre-renewal value.  This will enable us to permit renewal at any time.
7. The next-bill and auto-bill renewal functions will be updated to permit renewal at any point (no 6-month limit)
8. Two new fields will be introduced next-period and auto-period which can be used in conjunction with next/auto-bill functions to set the number of years the domain is to be renewed for.
   e.g. next-bill: 10, next-period: 6. In this example the domain is automatically renewed 10 days before expiry for a period of 6 years.
9. Domain cancellation will no longer be permitted once the registration invoice for the domain has been issued. This brings cancellation of registration requests in line with rules for withdrawing renewal requests, which can only be done until the renewal invoice has been issued. This will be between 7 and 38 days depending on when the request is submitted to us.  (Note: Registrations withdrawn post invoicing are not eligible for a credit under the current system.) 
   
10. If a domain is moved to a new registrar before a renewal invoice is paid by the old registrar we will not require the new registrar to renew the domain. We will continue to require the old registrar to pay the invoice issued to them – this is in line with our current practice. The new registrar can renew for additional years if there are any available to be renewed.
    

What will stay the same?

• Default registration & renewal period will remain at two years.  This means that registrars choosing not to use the new functionality will see no difference to their billing cycles and will not need to set the new renewal-period fields unless they want to start using the new single or multi-year registration periods.
• We will not enable the automatic renewal of domains for 1 year when a registrar transfer occurs but will review feedback from registrars and may introduce this in the future if there is strong registrar demand.
• Registrars will continue to be able to withdraw a renewal request up until the renewal invoice is issued.
• We do not plan to develop a default renewal-period selection option for Registrars in Online Services (or any other system), the default will be two years and any preferred registration/renewal patterns will need to be set on a per domain level using the next/auto-period functions
• Member voting rights will continue to be calculated based upon the number of paid domains at the voting rights calculation point
• Non-member registrars will not be able to use the multi-year registration functionality.  This will be available to members only.  Non-members will only be able to register and renew domains for the default 2-year period.

Timeline

Key dates for the deployment of multi-year registration periods are as follows:

• 31 Jan 2012 - EPP & Automaton instructions online
• 29 Mar 2012 - Testbed available
• 01 May 2012 - Launch multi-year registration periods

Further information

A technical specification with the details of the EPP and Automaton commands that will be used with the new functionality is available here.
 

To find out more about MYRP, please view our webinar. If you have any questions about the introduction of multi-year registration periods please contact our Customer Services team on 01865 332233 or by email to support@nominet.org.uk.