ZA Domain disputes

ZA Registry Consortium is not the first point of contact for domain complaints initiated by means of the regulations, but rather interacts with accredited dispute resolution providers (South African Institute for Intellectual Property Law) who handle these matters directly:

1. ZARC (the Administrator) will lock a domain name upon receiving instructions from a provider (South African Institute for Intellectual Property Law) to do so. The lock will only be removed upon further instructions from the provider, or alternatively a court of competent jurisdiction.

2. A status change notice will be sent to both the Registrar and Registrant informing them of the lock.

3. Upon being officially informed that a domain name matter has been adjudicated in favour of a complainant, ZARC will notify both the Registrar and Registrant of the pending transfer.

4. The provider will also forward the required domain name update details to ZARC for processing. This will include all Registrant information and possibly a new Registrar nomination.

5. Subject to the provisions of regulations 30, 11(3) and 11(4) of the CO.ZA published policies and procedures, found here, ZARC will update all Registrant information so as to reflect the complainant’s details. If instructed by the provider, they will also process and update to the Registrar field thus transferring the domain name to the complainant’s Registrar of choice.

6. Once the domain name has been updated in accordance with the provider’s instructions, the domain lock will be removed.

The dispute process can be initiated through Domain Disputes or Arbitration