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.IT domain policies

.IT is the TLD for Italy.

Registration details 

Registration details can be found in the TLD reference chart.

Residency requirements

The registration of a domain name in the ccTLD .it is permitted only to persons who have citizenship, residence or a registered office in the countries of the European Economic Area (EEA), the Vatican, the Republic of San Marino, and Switzerland.

WHOIS Privacy

As of Feb 2019, Whois contact privacy is only applicable to entity types 'Persons, Foreign and Italian'

Name server & DNS Requirements

In order to activate a .IT domain, you must provide at least two functional nameservers. Nameservers can be provided when registering the .IT domain or when activating the .IT domain. All DNS zones must be configured beforehand.  

The following DNS requirements must be pre-configured for any domain name registered:

  • The servers’ IP addresses must be static and correspond to those actually associated with them.
  • The first nameserver must be the same as indicated in the Server of Authority (SOA) record of the domain name.
  • A CNAME must not be associated with the domain name.
  • The name of the nameserver specified in the SOA cannot be a CNAME.
  • At least one MX or A record must exist for the domain name.
  • Where an MX record is listed, it must not have an associated CNAME.
  • Whenever interrogated, the servers must not give the following responses: not responding, not reachable, not running, non-existent domain, host not found, server failure, query failed.
  • Indicated nameservers must be authoritative for the domain name.
  • Check for the correct nameserver configuration by visiting http://dns-check.nic.it/

The domain name and nameserver details are transferred to the zone file within 24 hours, after which time the domain name becomes active.

Note: Nameserver changes can take up to five days to complete pending validation by the Registry. During that time, the domain's status is pendingUpdate, and the old nameservers continue to be displayed.  If the name servers are properly configured, the nameservers will update right away.   If not, the registry will continue checking for 5 days.  If the servers are still not correctly configured after that, the registry will remove the new servers and relists the servers previously associated with the domain.  If, after 30 days, the DNS requirements are not met, the IT registry will delete the domain.

The Registry will update the dns zone twelve times a day, precisely at: 1.00 am, 3.00 am, 5.00 am, 7.00 am, 9.00 am, 11.00 am, 1.00 pm, 3.00 pm, 5.00 pm, 7.00 pm, 9.00 pm and 11.00 pm.  If the name servers were modified or disrupted due to expiry, please wait ~15 minutes after the times listed here for the change to take effect.  

When using OpenSRS systemdns name servers, the first few nameserver tests may fail with errors "Not authoritative answer" but after a few tests it should pass.

Renewals

All .IT domains have a registration term of one year, and are automatically renewed.  

Transfers

To transfer a .IT domain name to OpenSRS

  1. In the Order Management section, enter the domain name in the Transfer a domain field, and then click Transfer . The Transfers for .it page appears.
  2. Complete the Transfer Form.
  3. Click Submit.

The current Registrar has five days to confirm or deny the transfer. If there is no response after five days, the transfer automatically completes, and a new one year registration period begins.

Changes of ownership

When you change the registrant information, there is no charge applied, and the registration term does not change.

To change ownership of a .IT domain

  1. Log in to the Manage Web Interface and enter the new owner's information in the Manage Profile section. For more information on the Manage Web Interface, see The Manage Web Interface (MWI).

Domains in status inactive/to be reassigned

Domains carrying a WHOIS status of inactive/to be reassigned are a result of a dispute resolution process with the .it Registry.

The plantiff who submitted the dispute with the registry won the rights to the domain, and the domain enters a 30 day window for said plantiff to claim.

At this time OpenSRS does not support the registrations of domains won as part of this dispute resolution process.

We plan on implementing this feature in the future with no communicable timeline for completion.

 

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