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The Domain Name Commissioner (DNC) Debbie Monahan, announced today that Domainz Ltd would be the subject of a sanction. She added however, that because of mitigating circumstances it would not be as punitive as it might otherwise have been.

In making the announcement Ms Monahan spoke about the circumstances leading to the sanction being imposed. The central issue was that Domainz's procedure was to register domain names for only one month and then on receipt of payment change the duration to twelve. This was done to minimize the risk of non-payment. The Commissioner said problems arose when Domainz didn't change the period of registration quickly enough. This meant that if in the interim, a registrant went to a new registrar, the register might still show one month when in fact the registrant had paid for twelve. In a number of cases, ensuing problems and confusion over double billing were proving burdensome and counter-productive to client customer relations. The incorrect term being recorded on the register was also a breach of the .nz policies and procedures.

The sanction imposed upon Domainz means that for a single and continuous period of 48 hours during a normal working week Domainz will be unable to accept new registrations or transfers. However Domainz will be able to continue to manage and renew their existing names.

In imposing the sanction, the DNC acknowledged the work done by Domainz through the implementation of the Shared Registry System (SRS) and the introduction of a competitive .nz registrar market. The DNC also recognised that there was no malicious intent in Domainz' actions; that Domainz has since amended its processes to be acceptable to the DNC, and that Domainz had worked with affected parties to remedy any problems it had unwittingly caused.

Ms Monahan concluded by saying that the sanction does not signal a lack of confidence in Domainz as a registrar. However she added that breaches of .nz policies and procedures are taken seriously and that those who wittingly or unwittingly break the rules can expect that there will be consequences.

Domainz intends to execute their 48 hour sanction from 0900 on Wednesday 16 July through to 0900 on Friday 18 July, within the imposed time limit of 21st July.

Any queries should be emailed to info@dnc.org.nz.