Italy introduces 'Drop Time' process

Registro.it, the registry managing ‘.it’, the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Italy, has introduced a new process called ‘Drop Time’, which will publish lists of ‘.it’ domain names that are due to be deleted.

As part of the Drop Time process, ‘.it’ domain names that are due to be deleted will now be deleted at clearly scheduled times which are currently set at 09:00 and 16:00 Central European Time (CET). The list of domain names scheduled for deletion are published at 01:00 CET each morning. The domain names are then scheduled for deletion at either 09:00 or 16:00 CET the following day.

The Italian registry is not the first to offer this type of service, as a number of other ccTLD operators, including NASK (‘.pl’) for Poland and RUCenter (‘.ru’) for Russia, are already offering a similar service.

Clearly such a process is likely to attract the interest of domainers, looking to secure good domain names upon their expiration and, as a result, it is likely that the registry will experience some spikes in traffic around 09:00 and 16:00 every day depending upon the selection of domain names being deleted. As such, registrants of ‘.it’ domain names should be conscious of the fact that any ‘.it’ domain name that is allowed to lapse will be included on a published list of domain names due for deletion and may well be targeted by third parties upon deletion.

David Taylor and Sean Kelly, Hogan Lovells LLP, Paris