ICANN Grants Data Retention Waiver To 4 European Registrars

ICANN granted data retention waivers to 4 European registrars:

1. GANDI SAS (France)
2. IP Twins SAS (France)
3. CPS-Datensysteme GmbH (Germany)
4. Hostserver GmbH(Germany)

The 4 registrars submitted to ICANN a Registrar Data Retention Waiver Request (“Waiver Request”) pursuant to Section 3 of the Data Retention Specification of the 2013 RAA, which provides that if a registrar is subject to the same applicable law that gave rise to ICANN’s request to grant a previous data retention waiver under the 2013 RAA, a registrar may request that ICANN grant a similar waiver, which request shall be approved by ICANN, unless ICANN provides Registrar with a reasonable justification for not approving such request.

The Registrars Waiver Requests cite the previous data retention waiver granted by ICANN to RegistryGate GmbH, ingenit GmbH & Co. KG, 1APl GmbH, OVH SAS and MAILCLUB SAS on the basis of its contention that compliance with the data collection and/or retention requirements of the Data Retention Specification in the 2013 ‭RAA violates applicable law in Germany. There are now at least 15 European registrars with such waivers. See here, here and here.

ICANN hereby grants the 4 Registrars a limited waiver from compliance with certain provisions of the 2013 RAA on the following terms:

1. ICANN agrees that, following Registrar’s execution of the 2013 RAA, for purposes of assessing Registrar’s compliance with the data retention requirement of Paragraph 1.1 of the Data Retention Specification in the 2013 RAA, the period of “two additional years” in Paragraph 1.1 of the Data Retention Specification will be deemed modified to “one additional year.”
2. In all other respects the terms of the Data Retention Specification will remain AS-IS. The waiver granted to Registrar applies only to the post-sponsorship period of retention of the data listed in the Paragraphs 1.1.1 through 1.1.8 inclusive of the Data Retention Specification, and it does not constitute a waiver of any other provisions of the 2013 RAA or other ICANN policies applicable to registrars. Without limiting the foregoing, nothing in this waiver limits Registrar’s obligation to comply with Consensus Policies or Temporary Policies developed and adopted in accordance with ICANN’s Bylaws (“ICANN Policies”) or limits Registrar’s obligation to comply with any amendment, supplement or modification of the 2013 RAA approved and adopted in accordance with the terms of the 2013 RAA (“RAA Amendments”). In the event of any inconsistency between this waiver and the terms of any ICANN Policy or RAA Amendment, the terms of the ICANN Policy or RAA Amendment will control.
3. The waiver granted to Registrar shall remain in effect for the duration of the term of the 2013 RAA signed by Registrar.