Draft Amendments in Terms and Conditions for Registrants

NIXI, is a not for profit Organization under section 8 of the Companies Act 2013, and was registered on 19th June, 2003. Government of India has authorized NIXI as .IN Registry, since January 2005. Now .IN domain names are available to anyone on first-come-first-served basis. For more details, please visit www.registry.in

.IN is India’s top-level domain on the Internet. Like .COM, .IN can be used for e-mail, Web sites, and other applications. But unlike other domains, .IN is a unique symbol of India and its role in the world.

NIXI operates the .IN Registry under the policy framework of Government of India which can be accessible at https://registry.in/public/uploads/files/inpolicy_0.pdf.

NIXI signs Registrar Accreditation Agreement at the time of accreditation of Registrars which can be accessed at https://registry.in/system/files/RAA_28042022.pdf. Under the said agreement clause 6.1 highlighted states ” The Registrars will desist, at all times, from involving themselves, or through their re-sellers, in any way in the squatting, grabbing, hoarding, infringement, auctioning, drop catch or selling of the .IN domain names at a exceptionally higher price than the published MRP, they are regularly charging from the public. Any such involvement of the Registrar will lead to the termination of Accreditation, financial penalty and legal action as per the provisions of the Laws applicable in India.”

There is no clause mentioned in the Terms and Conditions for Registrants which states about the protection of already registered domain names from auction or reselling the domain name at higher/ unjust prices.

Since there is no restrictions placed on the Registrants, some Registrars are using registrants as proxy and carry out illegal and unfair trade practices pertaining to sale/ purchase of delegated/registered .IN/ ,BHARAT domain names which affect the market environment.

Accordingly, to curb the same, NIXI proposed that the word “Registrar” may be replace with “Registrar/Registrant” to include both in the .IN Registrant Terms and Condition Policy and RAA.

NIXI invite feedback from the public on the above proposed draft amendment. The submissions will not be disclosed and held in fiduciary capacity, to enable persons submitting feedback to provide the same freely. No public disclosure of the submissions will be made.

The feedback on the draft amendments with proper clarification/ justification may be submitted at [email protected] by 17th July 2023 by 16:00 Hrs. After this feedback, in person consultation is also proposed.