The ultimate guide to ICANN accreditation

If you have a website, chances are you know what a domain name registrar is. But have you ever wondered what ICANN's accreditation process entails? If you did or want to become ICANN accredited yourself, this blog post is for you.

First, it is essential to understand that the accreditation program's goal is to set a minimum standard for domain name registrar operations. Nobody wants hundreds of thousands of websites to go offline because a registrar goes bankrupt or a rogue registrar to enable crime. The accreditation process is very in-depth and typically takes between 90 and 120 days.

The first step is to ensure you can meet ICANN's requirements for accredited registrars. In most cases, the best way to do this is to work with a registrar backend provider, such as my company Staclar. Most backend providers can also help you complete and submit your application to ICANN and provide ongoing support to your new registrar business. If you want to go through the process yourself, you need to familiarize yourself with various ICANN policies, such as the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, the Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy, the Expired Registration Recovery Policy, and many more. The application form asks for your implementation of many of these policies. You will also need to provide 24/7 contacts for transfer-related emergencies and abuse requests from law enforcement agencies.

While you can also do this later, now is a good time to start working on your implementations of EPP, the protocol used by registrars to communicate with registries, RDAP, the successor to Whois, and the Whois protocol, the original protocol used to publish registration data. You will also need a system for generating registrar data escrow files. If you use a registrar backend provider, they should have an implementation of all required protocols already. As some registries require general liability insurance of varying sizes, with the largest requiring $2,000,000 coverage, you should also look for an insurance company. Further, you have to engage a lawyer to draft your registration (and, if applicable, reseller) agreement.

Before you apply to ICANN, you have to prepare some documents. You will need your company's certificate of incorporation, a certificate of good standing, and proof of liquid working capital of at least $70,000. If your company is older than two years or has previously sold domains as a reseller, you also need a copy of your audited accounts. In case you are self-hosting your infrastructure, ICANN may ask for a network diagram in a later step. If non-English documents are submitted, ICANN obtains a translation of them at its own expense. Once you have gathered the documents, you can fill out and send the application form to ICANN.

After receiving the application, ICANN sends a certificate of submission for digital signature by the registrar's primary contact and conduct an initial check of the application form. Only if the initial assessment is successful, it invoices the $3,500 application fee.

ICANN then verifies that the application is complete. From now on, if any information is missing or ICANN has additional questions, the registrar must respond to its requests within 72 hours.

Now the actual review process begins. In this step, ICANN orders background checks on the registrar's key staff and conducts a detailed review of the application. ICANN will likely have additional questions based on the responses you put on the application form, which it will send to you.

Once you have answered all of ICANN's questions (and potential additional questions resulting from the responses to them) satisfactorily, it will inform you about your application's approval. ICANN will now ask you to confirm your details for the RAA (the Registrar Accreditation Agreement) and to provide additional information for ICANN's records. If your certificate of good standing is now older than six months, you need to provide a new one. In this step, ICANN will also provide you with your IANA ID (also called a GURID).

You must now sign an agreement with a registrar data escrow provider. If you choose one of the two ICANN-designated escrow providers (DENIC and Iron Mountain), the escrow provider's services are provided to you free of charge. At your own expense, you can also choose from a list of other ICANN-approved escrow providers. Additionally, you will receive an invoice for the first year's accreditation fee of $4,000.

Now that you have completed all steps and paid the invoice for the annual accreditation fee, ICANN countersigns the accreditation agreement and provides you with access to the Naming Services Portal. It also sends you a welcome kit with additional information you need to get started. A few days later, ICANN will inform the registries and update the IANA Registrar ID list.

You are now officially an ICANN accredited registrar. You can complete onboarding with your escrow provider and get in touch with the different registries to obtain access to their TLDs now. Remember that you must have data escrow, RDAP, and Whois in place before registering any gTLD or sTLD domains.