Leap year registrations

Domain name registrations that are made on February 29 must be assigned a future expiry date. Each registry has developed their own policy for assigning expiry dates to leap year registrations. Some registries calculate the expiry date as if the domain was registered on February 28. Some calculate the expiry date as if the domain was registered on March 1

For example, this list shows the expiry date for leap year registrations for a number of OpenSRS domains:

  • .AT—February 28
  • .BE—February 28
  • .BIZ—February 28
  • .BZ—February 28 for 1 to 3 year registrations; February 29 for 4 year registrations
  • .CA—February 28
  • .CC—February 28
  • .CH—February 28
  • .CN—March 1
  • .CO—February 28
  • .COM—February 28
  • .DE—March 1
  • .DK—February 28
  • .ES—February 28
  • .EU—February 28
  • .FR—March 1
  • .IN—February 28 for 1 to 3 year registrations; February 29 for 4 year registrations
  • .IT—March 1
  • .INFO—February 28
  • .LI—February 28
  • .ME—February 28
  • .MOBI—February 28
  • .MX—March 2
  • .NAME—February 28
  • .NET—February 28
  • .NL—February 28
  • .ORG—February 28
  • .TEL—February 28
  • .TV—February 28
  • .UK—February 28
  • .US—February 28
  • .WS—February 28 for 1 to 3 year registrations; February 29 for 4 year registrations

When a domain is registered on 29 February, it is assigned an expiry date of 28 February based on there being 365 days per year in the term. From time-to-time, this date is synchronized with the authoritative date in the WHOIS of most registries. As a result, some registrants may notice a slight alteration in expiry dates reported in the WHOIS. For .DE registrations, the expected expiry is treated as authoritative.

 

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