RGP
RGP is the acronym for Redemption Grace Period and represents the period during which a registrant can apply to recover/retrieve a domain name after the domain name has been canceled. [1]
Short overview
The problems related to the deletion of domain names is rather common. There are various reasons for such situation: fraud, mistake or even inadvertence. The ICANN developed the RGP in order to allow registrant to correct the mistakes or detect the causes for such unfortunate situations. [2]
The domain name in subject cannot be retrieved unless the original registrant does the action of retrieving it. Otherwise, no other registrants are allowed to register the domain name during the RGP. The redemption grace period usually lasts up to 30 days after the cancellation of the domain name.
The reason for RGP
It is important to keep in mind that the RGP occurs due to the registrant's failure to renew the domain registration. Thus, in the case of domain name expiration, the redemption grace period is smaller - only 12 days. In this way, it clearly depends upon the situation when determining the RGP.
In the case of the 30-days RGP, when this expires there is still a 5-day period during which the domain name is pending for deletion. The 5-days period is also known as RHP (Redemption Holding Period) and during this period the domain names is locked. This period is the last notice/warning for registrants to correct their mistakes unless they prefer deletion of the domain name.
How does it work?
Instead of just deleting and returning the domain name to the pool of domain names available for registration, the name is offered a 30-day grace period during which the original registrant can retrieve it by getting in touch with the domain registrar. If the RGP expires and the registrant fails to retrieve the domain during period, then it is deleted from the registry's database. However, in order to retrieve the domain name during the 30 days RGP there is an addition fee which must be paid by the registrant. The redemption fees vary from time to time but are definitely unavoidable costs in the case of RGP. [3]
During the RGP all websites and email services are stopped and nothing will work because all Internet services are being disabled so that something must be done in order to correct this situation or the domain name is left for cancellation. The users which need the domain name should make sure it does not enter in the RGP because additional costs are involved with the renewal of the registration.
When the RGP expires as well, the domain name will enter the public pool of domain names once again and is no longer redeemable.
Furthermore, in order to avoid additional redemption costs the registrant should get informed regarding the expiration date of the domain name.