| Q. |
1.)What Is CIRA? |
| A. |
CIRA is the Canadian Internet Registration Authority. It
is a not-for-profit organization mandated to operate the .CA top-level domain. |
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| Q. |
2.)When Does CIRA Become The Official
.CA Registry? |
| A. |
CIRA will become the official .CA registry on December 1,
2000. CIRA-certified
registrars has began accepting new .CA registrations since November 8, 2000. However,
the registrations will be made in the UBC registry until November 30, 2000. On December 1,
2000, they will be automatically transferred to and become operational in CIRA's registry.
This also means that queued requests for registration of new .CA names will be processed
beginning November 8, 2000. |
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| Q. |
3.)What Will CIRA's Activities Be? |
| A. |
As a registry, CIRA will set policy for, manage and
operate the .CA domain database for registrars and registrants. |
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| Q. |
4.)How Is CIRA Governed? |
| A. |
The Board of Directors governs the operations of CIRA. The
Board of Directors currently consists of ten members - seven representatives elected by
the membership of CIRA (all registrants are members of CIRA), and three representatives
appointed from the following communities of interest: Internet Users, Registrars and the
Commercial Internet Industry. In addition, the government of Canada has a permanent,
non-voting, ex-officio position on the CIRA Board of Directors. |
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| Q. |
5.)Who Was Responsible For Registering
The .CA Domain Before CIRA? |
| A. |
Domain names ending in .CA have been assigned and
registered by the .CA Committee, a volunteer organization headed by Mr. John Demco, the
Computing Facilities Manager for the Department of Computer Science at UBC. On a voluntary
basis, UBC provided the technical and administrative resources to house and operate the
registry. |
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| Q. |
6.)What Is A Registrant? |
| A. |
A registrant is the person in whose name a .CA domain name
is registered. |
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| Q. |
7.)What Is The Re-Registration Period?
|
| A. |
The re-registration period is the time during which
existing .CA domain name registrants are required to re-register their domain names in the
new .CA registry operated by CIRA. The re-registration period began September 18, 2000. It
will continue until the Operational Transfer Date (OTD), December 1, 2000. All names that
are not re-registered by that date will become inactive until they are re-registered and
activated in CIRA's system. Domain names registered in the University of British Columbia
(UBC) Registry prior to November 8, 2000 will be reserved for re-registration until
January 31, 2000. CIRA's main objective is to ensure
that all existing registrants have the opportunity to re-register their names before the
OTD. |
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| Q. |
8.)How Do I Renew My Existing .CA
Domain Name With CIRA? |
| A. |
To renew:
- Ensure that your registration information is accurate by
checking the Whois database at the top of this page. The
administrating information will be used for the renewal process. If your e-mail
information is not up to date you will not receive important information on when your
domain name is expiring and how to renew it. Your contact information will be used during
the re-registration process. If your e-mail information is not up to date, you will not
receive important information on how to confirm your re-registration and will not be able
to re-register the domain name. If your information is not up to date please correct it.
- Click here to go to renewal page to update and renew your
domain name. Your re-registration can only be done through the services of a certified
registrar.
- Make the necessary arrangements with the registrar to have a
re-registration request submitted to CIRA and completed prior to December 1st, 2000.
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| Q. |
9.)Can I Register Or Re-Register A .CA
Domain Name Directly With CIRA, And Avoid Dealing With Registrars? |
| A. |
No. Registrants must go through CIRA-certified registrars.
|
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| Q. |
10.)What Happens If I Do Not
Re-Register My Existing .CA Domain Name With CIRA By December 1, 2000? |
| A. |
Although CIRA will reserve domain names already registered
in the UBC system until January 31, 2001, the failure to re-register a domain name before
December 1, 2000 will result in a website or email address being inaccessible through the
domain name until the domain name is re-registered in the CIRA registry and activated by
CIRA. UBC registrants will be able to re-register
their names with CIRA at any time, but their domain names will only be reserved until
January 31, 2000. After this period, if the existing registrant has not re-registered the
domain name, the domain name will be made available to others for registration. |
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| Q. |
11.)If The Name Ceases To Be Active
After December 1, 2000, How Long Will It Take Before It Is Activated In CIRA's Registry? |
| A. |
The .CA domain name will be activated within days of being
re-registered with CIRA, depending on the volume of requests at the time. |
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| Q. |
12.)Does CIRA Have A Blocking Policy
For Domain Names? |
| A. |
Yes. CIRA will block domain names up and down. This means
that anyone who registers a .CA domain name, whether it is a second level (xyz.ca), a
third level (xyz.on.ca), or a fourth level (xyz.ottawa.on.ca), will be assured that no one
could register the same domain name at any other level without the registrant's written
consent. This policy applies to new registrations and to existing registrations that have
been re-registered with CIRA. |
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| Q. |
13.)Will CIRA Keep Registering 3rd
And 4th Level Domain Names After The Operational Transfer Date? |
| A. |
CIRA will continue to register 3rd and 4th level domain
names under provincial, and territorial sub-domains as well as their official municipal
sub-domains. To qualify such domain names must meet CIRA's requirements for the
registration of domain names. Provincial or
territorial governments wishing to request that CIRA place additional constraints on the
allocation of domain names under their respective provincial or territorial domain codes
or wishing to take over the administration of their respective provincial or territorial
domain codes, under the .ca domain, may do so but only after entering into a contractual
arrangement with CIRA that is satisfactory to CIRA. |
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| Q. |
14.)What Has CIRA Done To Notify The
Registrant Community Of The Upcoming Changes? |
| A. |
The transfer and its implications on registrants have been
widely publicized for well over one year through:
- The CDNCC public consultation, held in the fall of 1998,
which led to the creation of CIRA. The final report of the consultation can be found on
the CIRA web site in the CIRA section.
- Numerous e-mail messages to each member of the .ca
registrant community as well as the registrar community for the past 18 months;
- Advertisement on the CDNNET web site at www.cdnnet.ca (CDNNET being the registry operated by UBC)
since May 2000;
- Advertisement on the CIRA web site at www.cira.ca since the summer of 1999;
- Advertisement on Industry Canada's Strategies web site;
- Numerous national and local newspaper and radio reports.
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| Q. |
15.)When Did CIRA Start Operating The
New Registry? |
| A. |
The Operational Transfer Date of the registry is set for
December 1, 2000. However, CIRA began processing requests for new .CA registrations on
November 8, 2000. The registrations will be made in the UBC registry until November 30,
2000. On December 1, 2000, they will be automatically transferred to and become
operational in CIRA's registry. |
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| Q. |
16.)When Can Applicants Start
Registering New .CA Domain Names Through The Services Of CIRA-Certified Registrars? |
| A. |
Applicants will be able to register new .ca domain names
through the services of CIRA-certified
registrars on and after November 8, 2000. |
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| Q. |
17.)Will .CA Registrants Have
Portability Of Their Domain Name Registrations Between CIRA-Certified Registrars? |
| A. |
Yes, registrants will have portability of their domain
name registrations. Registrars are required to enter
into an agreement with each registrant. However, no such agreement shall contain any terms
that prevent a registrant from changing registrars at any time.
If a registrant decides to change registrars, both the
benefit of the registration fees paid to CIRA by the first registrar and the domain name
registration are transferable. That is, the remainder of the registration period for which
the registration fees have been paid will remain in force. If there is a change in
registrar, CIRA will charge the new registrar a Registration Transfer Fee.
Registrars are permitted to charge their departing registrants an administrative fee up to
$20.00+GST. |
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