Garth, if this is what they said, then I believe that they are incorrect. It is the case that Whois need only be provided if there are sponsored registrations, but the others are required if the Registrar operates a web site for registration, etc. So there is no chickin and egg situation regarding that. Alan At 02/04/2012 12:27 PM, Garth Bruen at Knujon.com wrote:
(Apologies for list cross-posts)
Folks,
Recent discussions with ICANN compliance have revealed what appears to be a new standard (or perhaps it was always the standard) for triggering Registrar contract obligations. According to compliance, certain contract obligations (like posting of policies, terms, pricing and WHOIS) cannot be enforced until the Registrar actually sponsors domain names.