Author: Carine VIGNERON

Account Manager - Registries Relations Specialist - Nameshield group

.SBS : Sunrise phase opening

.SBS : Sunrise phase opening

The .SBS (side by side) is a short, thoughtful, three-letter domain extension, perfect for social causes, charitable organisations and other philanthropic initiatives, and any progressive business, individual, or community that believes in social and financial inclusion.

It is important to note that a part of the profits linked to the registration of .SBS domain names will be donated by the ShortDot registry to a non-profit organization.

Here is the launching schedule:

  • Sunrise Phase: May 6, 2021 – June 7, 2021
  • EAP (Early Access Period) : June 8 – June 15
  • General Availability: June 8, 2021, on a first come, first served basis

For more information about your .SBS registration conditions, please contact your Nameshield consultant.

Image by truthseeker08 from Pixabay

.EU: Brexit and UK citizens, what will happen at the end of the transition period ending on 31/12/2020

Image source: MIH83 via Pixabay

Last January, we indicated that we would keep you informed of the expected updates from Eurid regarding the conditions of registration of the .EU for UK citizens following the Brexit.

Eurid has indeed announced that from January 1st, 2021, it will NO LONGER allow the registration of any new domain name by UK holders.

The registry will also refuse the update of a domain name to a UK registrant.

Registrants who do not comply with these rules will be notified as of 21/12/2020.

The new eligibility conditions for a .EU domain name will be as follows:

TO BE:

  • a citizen of the European Union, independently of their place of residence; or
  • a physical person who is not a citizen of the European Union and who is a resident of a Member State; or
  • a company established in the European Union; or
  • an organization established in the European Union, without prejudice to the application of national law.

So be vigilant with your currently registered .EU in order to comply with these new rules that will come into force, as a reminder, in January 2021.

PLEASE NOTE:

  • Union citizens who are residing in the United Kingdom will remain eligible to hold a .EU domain name after the end of the transition period. They will have to update their registration data and prove their Union citizenship.
  • UK citizens residing in a Union Member State will remain eligible to hold a .EU domain name after the end of the transition period. UK citizens residing outside of the Union Member States, on the other hand, will no longer be eligible to hold a .EU domain name after the end of the transition period.

Modification of registration conditions in .DZ – Register the equivalent in .TM.DZ to keep control!

Modification of registration conditions in .DZ
Image source : SofiLayla via Pixabay

The Algerian registry has changed its registration conditions quite restrictively. These changes also affect already registered domain names:

  • The applicant must now be “an entity established in Algeria, having legal representation in Algeria”.
  • This means that holders or applicants holding only an Algerian brand and who cannot justify a local presence in Algeria will have to move towards the registration of a .TM.DZ domain name.
  • Please note, registering a .TM.DZ domain name opens an identical registration in .DZ.

Another important element relating to .DZ already registered:

  • Changes are no longer possible on these names, except for holders who are a local entity. The only “operation allowed” is renewal.

Our advice:

Since the end of 2018, Nameshield has been encouraging you to register your .TM.DZ domain names, we of course maintain this advice and strongly encourage you to quickly register the equivalent of your .DZ in .TM.DZ. This will maintain a high level of reactivity, especially in case of emergency modifications.

The launch of 8 new extensions for India

Domain Names - Extensions India - IDN in Indian Language - Nameshield
Image source: 0426xgds via Pixabay

.IN Registry launches new Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) in Indian Language.

IDN registrations will begin on March 16th 2020 and listed as below:

Internationalized Domain Name (IDN)

.ಭಾರತ

.ଭାରତ  

.ভাৰত   

.भारतम्  

.भारोत 

.بارت    

.ڀارت       

.ഭാരതം     

Language

Kannada

Oriya

Assamese

Sanskrit

Santali

Kashmiri

Sindhi

Malayalam

The launch schedule would be as follows:

  • Sunrise A (Indian Registrant holding Indian Trademarks) : starts 16/03/2020 ends 15/05/2020
  • Sunrise B (Overseas Registrant holding Indian Trademarks) : starts 16/04/2020 ends 15/05/2020
  • Sunrise C (Existing Registrant holding ASCII domain name .in) : starts 01/06/2020 ends 30/06/2020
  • General Availability: 15/07/2020

Note that the possibility of registration during the priority phase of SUNRISE for foreign holders starts a beat later.

For more information on the conditions for registration, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Grandfathering registrations of a .TW in Chinese characters are opened for .TW domain names’ holders

Domain names in .TW in Chinese characters - .台灣
Image source: Yenyu_Chen via Pixabay

The .TW registry (TWNIC) offers grandfathering registrations for holders of existing ASCII.TW domains that wish to register the same ASCII domain under .台灣 (.xn--kpry57d).

Before the official opening, TWNIC provides priority registration for registrants who meet the eligibility requirements.

For example, twnic.tw can be registered for twnic.台灣 in the grandfathering period.

The following eligibility criteria apply and are checked by the registry:

  • The creation date for ACSII.tw should be earlier than the same ASCII name under .台灣 (.xn--kpry57d)
  • The registrant of ASCII.台灣 (.xn--kpry57d) should be the same as ASCII.tw
  • ASCII.tw and ASCII.台灣 (.xn--kpry57d) should be managed under the same registrar when creating ASCII.台灣.

Grandfathering Period : from January 7th, 2020 to February 10th, 2020.

The ASCII.tw Domain Name “.台灣(.xn--kpry57d)” will be starting  on February 18, 2020.

For more information on the conditions for registration of your .台灣, don’t hesitate to contact us.

*An internationalized domain name (IDN) is an Internet domain name that contains at least one language-specific script or alphabet, such as Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Devanagari, Hebrew.  It allows the use of domain names in the native language of Internet users using special characters such as Asian, Arab or African users.

BREXIT – The plan of the .EU for UK citizens

Following BREXIT, Eurid (.EU registry) had recently updated its Domain names Registration Policy, by modifying the conditions of attribution of a .EU domain name for the British and Gibraltarians, according to the plan below:

* From 1st November 2019, EURid will NOT allow the registration of any new domain name where the registrant’s residence or establishment country code is either GB or GI, unless the citizenship country code of the registrant corresponds to an EU27 Member State.

* On 24 October 2019, and following explicit confirmation by the Commission, EURid will notify by email both GB and GI registrants and their providers about their forthcoming non-compliance with the .eu regulatory framework.

During this two-month period, the domain names concerned remained active and could continue to be used by their holders.

* As of 1 January 2020, all registrants who did not demonstrate their eligibility will be deemed ineligible and their domain names will be WITHDRAWN. A WITHDRAWN domain name no longer functions, as the domain name is removed from the zone file and can no longer support any active services (such as websites or email).

Twelve months after the UK withdrawal, i.e. on 1 November 2020, all the affected domain names will be REVOKED, and will become AVAILABLE for general registration. Their release will occur in batches from the time they become available.

* No transfer to GB / GI registrants will be possible during the two-month period between 1 November and 1 January, unless they have a citizen country code from an EU27 member state. The transfer to a non GB / GI registered will remain possible.

Following the UK’s official leave from the European Union on January 31, the United Kingdom and the EU will enter into the so-called “transition period” until December 31, 2020.

During this “transition period”, residents and citizens of the United Kingdom will continue to be able to own and register .eu domain names. The plan described above will apply from the end of the transition period and will soon be updated accordingly.

Nameshield will keep you informed as soon as Eurid will update the rules.

For its part, the British register (NOMINET) has no plans currently to restrict .uk domain names – they can be registered irrespective of nationality or place of residence. All are eligible.

Cyprus: Registrations of first level .CY domain name are opened

Cyprus: Registrations of first level .CY domain name are opened
Image source : dimitrisvetsikas1969 via Pixabay

The .CY registry announces the registration of first level .cy domain names, i.e.domainname.cy

The owners of second level registered domain names, can also apply for the same domain names with a first level extension .CY.

Please note that the 2019 Decree does not provide for commitment on any domain names and thus, all requests will be examined on First Come First Served basis.

To submit a request, don’t hesitate to contact our customer support.

ccTLDs news : .AR domain name registrations for Argentina are opened

ccTLDs news : .AR domain name registrations for Argentina are opened
Image source: Mampu via Pixabay

Argentina now offers the possibility to register .AR domain names. Until now, it was only possible to register third level domain names particularly in .COM.AR.

Here are the launching periods planned:

Sunrise period – From 11/09/2019 to 09/11/2019

  • Priority to holders of domain names registered in the zones .com.ar, .net.ar, .org.ar, .int.ar, .tur.ar, before December 1st, 2015 and in effect at August 27, 2019.
  • At the end of this period, if only one request is received, the user who did the request can register the domain name by paying the corresponding tax. If many requests are received by the registry for the same name, the holder of the name will be decided by drawing lots.

Intermediary period – From 27/11/2019 to 27/01/2020

During this period, all the community can request the registration of domain names available in .AR.

The reserved and restricted domain names are excluded and some domain names will likely be subjects to approval.

  • Reserved domains: domain names identical to names registered in ‘.gob.ar’ and ‘.mil.ar’ are exclusively reserved to these names’ holders. To note: Even a domain name reserved in one of the .AR zones can be classified as reserved by the Argentinian registry.
  • Restricted domains: Even a domain name reserved in one of the .AR zones can be classified as reserved by the Argentinian registry, making these names unavailable for registration.
  • Terms which are subjects to approval: normal words or expressions which, if they are part of a domain name, must be approved by the Argentinian registry. They include names that are aggravating, discriminatory or contrary to the law, to morality or to good customs, or that could cause confusion, deception or identity theft.

For any information, don’t hesitate to contact your Nameshield’s expert.

General availability: 15/09/2020 (Update)

Starting 15/09/2020, domain names available can be registered in .AR by any user, depending on the conditions set by the rules of the Argentinian registry.

For reminder, the registration conditions of the .AR include the providing of supporting documents.

If your current domain names portfolio doesn’t have COM.AR, NET.AR, etc. and you wish to register a .AR at the time of the general availability, we advise you to anticipate and to contact your consultant to know the detail of the documents to provide.