The rules that bind a public WCAAN act.

The rules on this page are provisional founding instruments issued on 6 August 2026. They remain in force unless adopted permanently, superseded, or withdrawn. They do not claim earlier adoption, statutory force, external audit, or public consultation.

A root change begins with an authorized decision. The decision identifies the namespace, approved current state, approved resulting state, conditions, effective window, and rollback authority. A technically valid request without authority must be refused. An authorized request that cannot be published safely must also be refused. The reasons differ, and the record must preserve that distinction.

Before implementation, the proposed state is checked for canonical names, valid resource data, delegation coherence, authoritative reachability, DNSSEC consistency, transition safety, and an applicable restoration point. The expected prior state is then compared with the live root. A mismatch returns the instruction to WCAAN instead of guessing which state was intended.

Tan's Network reports whether the instruction was applied, refused, rolled back, or left partially applied. A successful report identifies the resulting serial and available validation evidence. A refusal identifies the exact unsafe or contradictory condition. A rollback identifies both the trigger and restored state.

WCAAN remains responsible for the meaning of its decision. Tan's Network remains responsible for reporting the technical state faithfully. Neither responsibility cancels the other.

An absolute DNS name is filed in canonical A-label form, lower case, with the final dot. Where a Unicode display form exists, the filing may record it beside the canonical name. The A-label is the value used for root publication.

A delegation identifies every authoritative nameserver and the glue needed to reach in-bailiwick servers. Validation checks that the resulting delegation is not lame, does not depend circularly on itself, and is served consistently by the proposed authoritative set. Reachability evidence must state where and when it was observed.

A DNSSEC change identifies the complete DS records, matching DNSKEY evidence, key roles, algorithms, digest types, publication windows, overlap, and removal conditions. A transition is safe only when validators can move from the prior state to the resulting state without an avoidable break in the chain of trust.

Removing the last DS record is not a routine cleanup. It changes a secure delegation into an insecure one and therefore requires explicit authority for that result. An emergency key replacement may shorten the ordinary sequence only where the filing identifies the active risk, temporary state, expiry, and restoration plan.

An incident is material where it affects the integrity or availability of the root, DNSSEC signing, a delegated namespace, registry protocol service, public registration data, or the authority by which a change was made. A failed internal check with no external effect may remain operational evidence rather than a public incident. The distinction depends on effect and authority, not embarrassment.

The notice records the first observed time, detection method, affected state, user effect, containment, restoration, technical cause, institutional cause where different, remaining uncertainty, and corrective work. It must distinguish observation from inference. A technically precise narrative based on facts not in evidence is still fiction.

The initial notice may omit detail whose publication would worsen an active failure or expose credentials, keys, private contact data, or a continuing vulnerability. The public entry must state the category withheld, why withholding is necessary, and when it will be reviewed. As knowledge changes, WCAAN appends a version. It does not silently replace the account that partners previously received.

The absence of a published incident does not establish the absence of an incident. It may mean that none occurred, that reporting was not yet required, or that available evidence remains insufficient. The register distinguishes among these states where the evidence permits it.

The public register records decisions that affect external partners. It does not publish internal deliberations, which remain privileged Willing International discussion. The relevant facts, final decision, reasons, conditions, and implementation result are published.

A correction preserves the prior statement or an exact description of it, identifies the evidence requiring correction, and records when the corrected state took effect. Editing yesterday's rule into today's without preserving either is not document control. It is merely memory with CSS.

A consultation provides time for submissions in support, objections, and answers. Its notice identifies the proposal, authority, evidence, questions, accepted channel, publication treatment, and closing time. WCAAN explains which arguments affected the result. Institutional weight does not turn repetition into evidence.

Ordinary consultation remains open for at least 21 days. A shorter period requires recorded urgency. An emergency technical measure may precede consultation where delay would cause significant failure, but the measure, authority, expiry, rollback, and later confirmation remain subject to publication.