FAQ about Domain-TRANSIT

 DENIC sends invoices for the administration of individual domains only to customers of our service DENICdirect. There are three possible circumstances in which you might have received an invoice from DENICdirect: 

• You or your authorized agent requested DENIC to register a domain or to make a Provider Change;
• Your domain is already being administered by DENICdirect, and the annual renewal fee is due;
• Your domain was in a state of TRANSIT with DENIC and you didn't complete either a Provider Change or a Domain Deletion within time limit set. 

If you believe that you have received an invoice from us that is a mistake, please contact our service DENICdirect immediately.

TRANSIT is the name that DENIC gives to a procedure, which makes sure that a domain holder does not lose their domain if it ceases to be administered by a DENIC member.
Here is some background information:You as the domain holder usually have asked a provider to request registration of your domain by DENIC. This provider either is a DENIC member themselves or cooperates with a DENIC member. This DENIC member will handle all communication with DENIC concerning the domain. The member "administers the domain".

DENIC writes to the domain holder and communicates them their TRANSIT password. The domain holder can now use this password on a personalized webpage (http://transit.denic.de)

• to generate a provider change password (AuthInfo) for their domain for the change to the DENIC member who is going to administer the domain in the future
• or to request the deletion of the domain

This procedure ensures that the rights of domain holders to their domains are safeguarded.

 As a domain holder you will normally have arranged to have your domain registered at DENIC by a provider. The provider must either have been a DENIC member or must have worked with a DENIC member.

The member in charge of your domain has informed DENIC that he/she has ceased administering it. There are various possible reasons for that. It happens, in particular, if your contract with your provider is terminated – either by you or the provider.

The DENIC member thus transferred administration of the domain to us. The domain is now in a state known as TRANSIT, and you must decide within a few weeks what is going to happen to it. The Internet access, webspace and other services that your former provider used to supply are not included in this transfer and it is probable that they will not be available to you in future.

In almost all cases, DENIC does not know why its member no longer wants to administer your domain. If you want answers to that type of question, you should contact your former provider or, alternatively, the DENIC member who was involved, if you know who it was.

Your domain will also be placed in TRANSIT if a DISPUTE entry was made on your behalf and you become the new Domain Holder following the deletion of the former holder.

A domain that is in TRANSIT remains registered in your name. You need have no fear of losing your domain through deletion simply because you don't have a valid provider contract. The additional services that you used to get from your former provider (such as webspace for a homepage) will probably no longer be available with the termination of the contract or will only remain available for a short period of time. If you want to make absolutely sure, you'll need to contact your former provider.
You must realize that you cannot afford to do nothing. Within the period of four weeks mentioned in DENIC's letter, you must either have moved to a new provider or delete the domain. If you don't do either of these things, your domain will be transferred for administration to our DENICdirect Service, and you will have to pay the corresponding charges in accordance with DENIC's current price list.

If your domain is placed in TRANSIT, DENIC informs you accordingly by letter. The letter is sent to the domain holder's address that is stored in our database. You as the domain holder then have a period of four weeks to decide what is to happen to the domain concerned.
To make sure that your domain remains registered, you must arrange for a DENIC member to take charge of administering it again. If you no longer want to keep your domain, you can initiate its deletion.
If you do nothing by the date stipulated in the letter, DENIC takes over administration of the domain according to the terms and conditions of its DENICdirect Service and sends you an invoice based on its current price list. You are thus urged to make your mind up as quickly as possible as to which of the alternatives you want.
To put your decision into practice, please go to the TRANSIT Service Center. Here, you will find explanations how to further proceed.

 Bei einer Domain mit mehreren Domaininhabern erhält der administrative Ansprechpartner (Admin-C) das TRANSIT-Schreiben. Sie als Admin-C müssen dann innerhalb einer Frist von vier Wochen entscheiden, was mit der betroffenen Domain passieren soll.

 DENIC is the central registry for all .de domains. Even if you arranged for a provider to register the domain for you, the domain itself is the object of a contractual relationship between DENIC and you. This contract is governed by DENIC's Domain Terms and Conditions and its Domain Guidelines. In addition, of course, there is a contractual relationship between you and your provider regarding looking after the domain and providing the other services you use. For as long as your domain is administered by a DENIC member, the provisions of § 4 (2) of DENIC’s DomainTerms and Conditions are suspended (i.e. your duty to pay DENIC). For Domains placed in the TRANSIT state, however, this suspension is lifted and you, once again, have a duty to pay. However, to begin with DENIC just informs you by letter and allows you a free period of four weeks. If you apply for the deletion of your domain within this period or if you succeed in transferring it to another provider, DENIC does not charge you anything.

 You are entirely free to have a domain administered by one of our members, by any other provider of your choice or by our service DENICdirect.

Domain administration through our service DENICdirect does not include any Internet access or webspace. Therefore, you may need an internet service provider as well, if you plan to have your domain administered by DENICdirect.

 It depends on the terms of your contract with your former provider whether or not the technical data concerning your domain is still correct and whether services linked to your domain (such as a homepage or e-mail accounts) are still accessible. DENIC has no information at all about this. If you need the answers to such questions, you'll have to contact your former provider.

 Provided you complete Deletion or a Provider Change from TRANSIT within the time limit set, DENIC does not charge you anything. Your new provider may perhaps charge you for a Provider Change. If so, and how much, is something you can only find out by asking your new provider.

 The letter sent to you by DENIC gives you a free period of four weeks within which to complete a Provider Change or a Deletion. If you fail to do either of these things or if your new provider fails to initiate the formal procedure of Provider Change within that period, your domain is transferred for administration by our service DENICdirect. DENIC sends you an invoice for the appropriate amount in accordance with its current price list. Please note that the service DENICdirect does not include either Internet access or webspace.

 You have received an invoice from DENICdirect, because the administration of your domain has now been transferred to DENICdirect, since you did not complete the provider change or deletion within the period allowed for TRANSIT. It is still possible for you to delete your domain, if you want to do so, or you can transfer it to another provider. In both cases, you should contact DENICdirect.

 DENIC provides forms for many transactions and also insists on their use. That makes the job easier for both you and us. All you have to do is print out the forms and complete them, and DENIC knows it will receive the declarations needed. It should thus not be necessary for us to contact you again to seek clarification, which would only mean delays. The reason that DENIC insists on you (or your representative) using only original forms is to avoid forgeries and to prevent misunderstandings arising at some later date.

 You can contact DENIC by post, e-mail, fax or phone.

Our office hours are:
 Monday–Thursday: 9:00–12.00 and 13.00–17:00 (Central European Time) Friday: 9:00 –12:00 and 13:00–15:00 (C.E.T.)

Our postal address is:
 DENIC eG
 Kaiserstraße 75-77
 60329 Frankfurt am Main
 Germany

E-Mail: info[at]denic[dot]de

Phone: +49 69 27 235 0
 Fax: +49 69 27 235 235

Our Helpdesk can be reached Monday - Friday 8:00 - 18:00 (C.E.T.).
 Phonel: +49 69 27 235 270
 Fax: +49 69 27 235 238
 E-Mail: info[at]denic[dot]de

Please understand that we do not open any attachments to avoid the potential riks of importing a virus.

Simply communicate your concern directly in the e-mail, by fax or letter. We will deal with it immediately.

DENIC makes domains under .de available for a new registration immediately after their deletion, because it is not possible for a .de domain to be deleted without the domain holder's express wish. Sometimes domain holders decide that they do not want to use their domain anymore; sometimes they are forced to delete it, for instance on account of a court order to that effect against which there can be no further appeal. In both cases, it is in the interests of the domain holder for deletion to take effect immediately. For .de domains, there are no grounds apart from the domain holder's wish that can lead to a deletion; .de domains do not expire and do not need explicit renewal after a given period of time (as is the practice for some other Top Level Domains). Furthermore, providers are not permitted to delete domains, for instance if the domain holder is in payment arrears or has disappeared without trace. The procedure that comes into play in such cases is called TRANSIT. DENIC's TRANSIT procedure is comparable with the procedure which other TLDs call the "redemption grace period", but it offers domain holders appreciably more service and security.

Going beyond what is offered by a redemption grace period, a domain in DENIC's TRANSIT procedure is not only immune from being reregistered, but DENIC goes as far as proactively contacting the domain holder during this period and informing them of the options available to them (deletion or provider change) and supports them directly in implementing their decision.

So DENIC offers two procedures. Given that the deletion can only take place with the consent of the domain holder, there is no plausible reason for not allowing other prospective holders who would like to use such a domain from doing so without delay, now that its former holder does not want it any more. On the contrary, a waiting period would cause new problems. Take the example of a domain subject to a DISPUTE entry: why should the claimant who filed an objection against the old domain holder and won have to wait weeks, or even months, to have the domain transferred to them? It would also not be clear who would be the holder of the domain during the waiting period: the old domain holder, or DENIC or no one? A further possible risk might be that domain grabbers threatened with court action would release a domain in order to pacify the claimant only to take it back again at the end of the waiting period?

Nor is there any convincing argument in favour of a precautionary waiting period in order to prevent any potential abuse of the domain through its new holder. Here, it is the responsibility of the current domain holder, before applying for deletion, to weigh up the possible consequences of their existing customers and users being annoyed at finding somebody else's webpages at the accustomed address. Having thought the situation through in this way, the current domain holder ought then to inform their customers and users in an appropriate manner of the pending deletion.