OwnerChange (COR)

Change of Registrant process — FOA and Designated Agent modes

The ICANN Change of Registrant (COR) policy (in force since December 2016) governs how domain ownership is transferred between registrants. Any change to registrant first name, last name, organisation, or email triggers the COR process.

What Triggers COR

First name: Any change to registrant first name.
Last name: Any change to registrant last name.
Organisation: Any change to organisation field. As of RDP 2025: Organisation treated as legal owner if populated.
Email: Any change to registrant email address.

ℹ Changes to phone, fax, address, or admin/tech/billing contacts do not trigger COR.

COR Modes

FOA Mode: Form of Authorization. Both current and new registrant receive email requiring explicit confirmation. Both must approve. If either rejects or times out, the change is cancelled and WHOIS reverts.
DA Mode: Designated Agent. The registrar acts as Designated Agent for both parties. Both registrants must have agreed to the registrar acting in this capacity. Streamlined process without individual email confirmations.

60-Day Lock

After a COR completes, a 60-day transfer lock is applied (clientTransferProhibited). This prevents the domain from being transferred to another registrar during this window.

⚠ COR trap: If a registrant needs to transfer the domain to a new registrar shortly after an ownership change, they must opt out of the 60-day lock before initiating the COR. The opt-out cannot be applied retroactively.

AutoDNS API

## Owner Change
POST https://api.autodns.com/v1/domain/example.com/_ownerChange

{
  "name": "example.com",
  "ownerc": { "id": 99887766 },
  "confirmOrder": true
}

## Trade (registry-level ownership change)
POST https://api.autodns.com/v1/domain/example.com/_trade