Current WHOIS policy is reflected in a series of commitments under ICANN's agreements with its registries and registrars and "consensus policies" adopted by ICANN in response to recommendations from the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO). As a result, there is no one document that describes the entire WHOIS policy, although the excerpts of the relevant policy and contractual terms are available here.

ICANN's agreements with accredited registrars and with gTLD registry operators require compliance with various specifically stated procedures and also with "consensus policies" that are adopted from time to time. Since ICANN's creation, the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) has recommended three WHOIS consensus policies aimed at improving the accuracy of WHOIS data and combating its abuse.

Current consensus policies regarding WHOIS include:

1. A WHOIS Data Reminder Policy (WDRP) requires registrars to send an annual notice about WHOIS accuracy to their customers (effective October 31, 2003)
2. A Restored Names Accuracy Policy (RNAP) that applies when names have been deleted on the basis of submission of false contact data or non-response to registrar inquires (effective November 12, 2004)
3. A WHOIS Marketing Restriction Policy (WMRP) prohibiting redistribution or marketing use of the mandated bulk access to WHOIS information (effective November 12, 2004)
4. An Additional WHOIS Information Policy (AWIP) that clarifies the meaning of EPP status codes in Whois data and requires the consistent identification of registrars by their GURID in Whois.
5. The Thick WHOIS Policy Development Process identified the need to support 'thick' WHOIS for all gTLDs.
6. Translation and Transliteration of Contact Information Policy developed to address the way that contact information data – commonly referred to as 'WHOIS' – is collected and displayed within generic top-level domains (gTLDs).

In addition to these consensus policies, ICANN has also developed a Procedure For Handling WHOIS conflicts with Privacy Law (effective January 2008) which details how ICANN will respond to a situation where a registrar or registry indicates it is legally prevented by local/national privacy laws or regulations from complying with the provisions of its ICANN contract regarding the collection, display and distribution of personal data via WHOIS.