On January 1, 2014, the Internet Corporate for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, released a series of new changes to the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA), an agreement that applies to all websites currently online. These new changes are now affecting anyone who has a domain and are liable to have their website suspended, meaning they will be taken down, if web domain owners don’t verify their information in a timely manner.

This brand new verification process requires all Whois data to be valid and up-to-date, even if the current information is the correct data. This information includes a full name, address, phone number and email address. It is essential to verify all of this information as soon as possible as the ICANN will pull your website and there will be a delay in bringing your website online again to review all information provided. This can take up to two days.

All web domain owners will be given a total of 15 days to verify their records. ICANN will send up to 4 emails to remind the owner to update their information, regardless if the website a completely new domain or an existing domain. When the 4th and final email is ignored, your website will be suspended and you will be required to request a new verification email. Luckily, once the verification process is completed, you will not be required to do it again for every website unless you decide to change your information.

To learn more about the new Registrar Accreditation Agreement about Whois information, visit the ICANN website. It is important to note that your hosting service is not involved in any way with this verification process, but your hosting service’s customer support may have more information regarding the services they can offer to help you verify or recover your website.