.tlds explained


Domain Name Registrations

International Domain Policy

Domain Specific Policies and Practices

Various registries have registration limitations in place such as citizenship, company registrations or residency requirements. Procedures must be followed to succesfully complete registrations, transfers, and payments. You'll find further TLD specific documentation and information below:

AT | ASIA | AU | BE | BIZ | BZ | CA | CC | CH | CN | CO | DE | DK | ES | EU | FR
IN | INFO | IT | LI | ME | MOBI | MX | NAME | NL | TEL | TV | UK | US | WS


 

.AT

.at is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Austria. It is administered by NIC.AT

Policies:

  • Available to anyone.
  • Registrar and registrant transfers require confirmation from the registrant, either by replying to a confirmation email from the registry or with a fax confirmation.
  • There is no charge for registrant transfers, and the registration term does not change.
  • Completed registrar transfers add one year to the registration term.
  • Domains that are not renewed are removed from our registrar 28 days prior to expiry. At that time, they become the sole responsibility of the registrant. They still remain active at the registry, and auto-renew by default. If they do not cancel their domain before the "28 Days Prior" date, THE REGISTRANT IS RESPONSIBILE FOR PAYING THE REGISTRY FOR THE RENEWAL.
  • Cancelling an AT name requires signed documentation from the registrant.
  • AT names removed from our registrar can be recovered by submitting a registrar-transfer order.
AT DNS Requirements

All nameservers specified in the template are checked via all IP addresses. If glue records have been entered, the IP address is the target of the query instead of the host name. The following queries must return answers that are correct and contain an aa-Flag (authoritative answer):

  • The domain query on each nameserver must include NS entries for all specified hosts
  • If IP addresses have been specified in the template, the must match the IP addresses of the NS hosts.
  • There must not exist CNAME records for both NS hosts and zone names.
  • The SOA record for zones must be returned.
  • All specified nameservers and hidden master nameservers must be accessible by any address, via UDP Port 53 as well as via TCP Port 53.

Forms:

 

.ASIA

.asia is a sponsored top-level domain, sponsored by the DotAsia Organization, with the back-end registry operated by Afilias. It was approved by ICANN on 19 October 2006. It serves as a regional domain for companies, organizations, and individuals based in the region of Asia, Australia, and the Pacific.

Policies:

  • .asia domain names can be registered for 1-10 years.
  • Available only to legal entities within the Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific region (defined by ICANN as Asia/Australia/Pacific region. follow this link for a complete list.
  • In order to activate a .ASIA domain, you must provide at least 2 functional nameservers.

Documentation:

 

.AU

.au is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Australia. Oversight of .au is by .au Domain Administration ltd. (auDA).

Policies:

  • Domains are registered/renewed for 2 years.
  • All domains except id.au require that the entity be an Australian registered business or company incorporated in Australia.

Cancellation Policy

  • Upon registration or renewal, there is a 3 calendar day grace period during which the transaction may be cancelled.
  • Outside of this three-day window, you are free to cancel your domain name registration at any time by notifying us via e-mail at support@woktron.com.
  • Your registration of a domain name may also be subject to suspension, cancellation, or transfer should you be found to violate any term of our end user agreement, located at http://www.woktron.com/en/terms-service.

Documentation:

 

.BE

.be is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Belgium. The domain became active in 1989 and was administrated by Pierre Verbaeten of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. In 2000, the control of the TLD was transferred to DNS Belgium.

Policies:

  • Registrants are expected to respect the general terms and conditions of .BE's DNS agreement. One of the essential obligations is to provide correct data during the registration process.
  • The .BE registry regularly reviews WHOIS information and when questionable data is encountered, the registry will send an email to the registrant's email address requesting them to update the WHOIS information. Registrants are given 14 days to update their information. If no changes are made, the domain name will be revoked.
  • Registrants have 40 days after the revocation to contact the registrar in order to update the WHOIS information and reactivate the domain.
 

.BIZ

biz is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is intended for registration of domains to be used by businesses.

The biz TLD was created to relieve some of the demand for domain names in the .com top-level domain, and to provide an alternative for businesses whose preferred domain name in com had already been registered by another party. There are no specific legal or geographic qualifications to register a biz domain name, except that it must be for "bona fide business or commercial use". It was created in 2001 along with several other domains as the first batch of new gTLDs approved by ICANN in the expansion of the Domain Name System following the increased interest in Internet commerce in the late 1990s

Policies:

  • .BIZ domain names can be registered/renewed for 1-10 years.
  • Available to anyone.

Documentation:

 

.BZ

.bz is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Belize. It is administered by the University of Belize.

Policies:

  • .BZ domain names can be registered/renewed for 1-10 years.
  • Available to anyone.
 

.CA

.ca is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Canada. It is administered by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA).

Policies:

  • Canadian domain names can be registered for 1-10 years.
  • Registrations are restricted to entities who are residents of or have a presence in Canada.

Documentation:

 

.CC

.cc is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Cocos (Keeling) Islands, an Australian territory. It is administered by VeriSign through a subsidiary company eNIC, which promotes it for international registration as "the next .com"

Policies:

  • Registration is for 1-10 years.
  • .CC is the top-level domain (ccTLD) for Cocos (Keeling Islands)
  • Also accepted to represent "Chinese Corporation," "Country Club," and others.
  • "Premium" .cc registrations are available from the .CC registry.

Documentation:

 

.CH

.ch is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Switzerland. It is administered by SWITCH Information Technology Services. The ".ch" domain derives from Confoederatio Helvetica(Helvetic Confederation), the Latin name for the country.

Policies:

  • Available to anyone.
  • Registrar, registrant transfers and ALL modifications (DNS, contact changes, etc) require confirmation from the registrant, either by replying to a confirmation email from the registry, or with a fax confirmation on their company letterhead.
  • There is no charge for registrant transfers, and the registration term does not change.
  • Completed registrar transfers add one year to the registration term.
  • At least two servers must be provided, but there are no specific zone requirements.
  • Registrar transfers require an authorization code. The registrant can obtain this code from the either SWITCH or, if applicable, the partner of SWITCH where they are currently registered.
  • Domains that are not renewed are removed 45 days prior to the last day of the expiring month. For example, if the expiry date is listed as Oct 14th, the domain will be deleted the previous Sept 15th (45 days prior to Oct 31st). if no renewal order is received by that date. They still remain active at the registry, usually for several months. These names can be recovered by submitting a registrar-transfer order until deleted by registry.
 

.CN

.cn is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for mainland China.

The domain name administration in People's Republic of China is done through a branch of the Ministry of Information Industry. This ministry oversees everything from telecommunications to broadcasting similar to the Federal Communications Commission in the United States. The registry is maintained by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC). The actual registrations are done through commercial registrars similar to other parts of the world.

With little over 3.3 million registrations it is the 5th most popular ccTLD, after .de, .uk, .nl and .eu

Policies:

  • Chinese domain names can be registered for 1-5 years.
  • Anyone can register a .CN domain name, providing they abide by Chinese Law.
  • Currently, new .CN domain registrations through non-Chinese Registrars have been suspended by CNNIC, the .CN registry operator.

Documentation:

Existing Registration Audits

CNNIC is now requesting documentation for some existing .CN registrations.
  • Required documentation for ALL applications must include:
    • The domain name registration application form, with the seal of the business OR signature of a representative from the business.
    • A photocopy of the business license. Business license means the official document of the business, company or organization (such as company or organization registration).
    • A photocopy of the applicant's personal ID. Acceptable personal ID may include copies of a driver's license, passport, resident card/ID.
  • IMPORTANT NOTE: The Admin contact ID, Technical contact ID, Payment contact ID and Representative (Registrant ID) on the hard copy application form MUST match the information for the domain name.
 

.CO

.co is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Republic of Colombia. It is administered by .CO Internet S.A.S., a strategic venture formed between Arcelandia S.A. (which has interests in a variety of Internet-related businesses) and Neustar, Inc (a provider of global registry and managed DNS services for top-level domains).

Policies:

  • .co domain names can be registered/renewed for 1-5 years
  • Domain names that end with .com.co, .edu.co, .org.co , .net.co can be requested by organizations or companies, or by corporations that have a NIT and are registered in La Camara de Comercio.
  • Natural persons with an identity card only can register a domain name that ends with .nom.co.
 

.DE

.de is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is administered by DENIC.

Policies:

  • In order to register a .DE domain name, either the Registrant (Owner) or the Administrative Contact must be based in Germany with a verifiable German address.
  • In order to activate a .DE domain, you must provide at least two functional nameservers; however, you may provide up to five nameservers per domain. Additionally, the two required nameservers must be active on two different subnets and must be authoritative for the domain name at the time of registration. If the name is registered and the nameservers are not active, the Registrant has thirty (30) days in which to activate and park the name on them. If the nameservers are not activated at the end of the 30-day period, DENIC deletes the name without refund. The nameservers associated with the domain name can be modified during the 30-day period, subject to DENIC verification. If the nameservers do not meet DENIC criteria, the change request is ignored.
 

.DK

.dk is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Denmark. The supervision of the .dk top-level domain is handled exclusively by DK Hostmaster. Registrations of domain names with the characters ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, and ? are also allowed.

Policies:

  • Available to anyone.
  • Servers must be REGISTERED with the registry, DK-Hostmaster, by whoever is authoritative for them (registrant, hosting co., etc). Servers can be registered at https://www.dk-hostmaster.dk/english/technical-administration/dns-server-contacts/register-name-server/.
  • Registrar transfers require the current registrant's DK-Hostmaster User ID and password to be provided.
  • Domains that are not renewed are removed at the end of the month that they expire. They still remain active at the registry, usually for several weeks. These names can be recovered by submitting through the same Domain Redemption tool in RWI used to redeem gTLD's
 

.ES

.es is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Spain. It is administered by the Network Information Centre of Spain.

Policies:

  • Available to anyone.
  • Registrar transfers must be confirmed by the admin contact (registry sends them an email).
  • Any modifications to the registrant contact in our system are NOT automatically updated at the registry.
  • At least two servers must be provided, but there are no specific zone requirements.
  • Domains remain active for 10 days past expiry, during which time they can be renewed as usual. After 10 days, the name is deleted and made available by the registry.

Important Note About Payments

The registry operator for .ES will accept multiple requests for a domain name and await payment from registrars and/or registrants. The requests are taken on a first-come, first-served basis, and the registry then awaits payment.

Each registration in the queue has 20 days to fulfill the payment obligation. If the payment obligation is not fulfilled in this timeframe, the order is cancelled and the next order has another 20 days.

Forms:

 

.EU

.eu is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the European Union. The TLD is administered by EURid.

Policies:

  • .EU domain names can be registered/renewed for 1-10 years.
  • Only companies having their registered office, central administration or principal place of business within the European Community, organizations established within the European Community without prejudice to the application of national law, or natural persons resident within the European Community, may apply for a .EU domain name.
 

.FR

.fr is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for France. The TLD is administered by AFNIC.

Policies:

  • "Individual" registrants must be a resident of the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and must provide their place and date of birth in the Order Notes.
  • "Organization" registrants must be a located in the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein. "Organization" registrants located in France must provide their SIREN/SIRET number in the Order Notes.
  • Registrant transfers must be confirmed by the admin contact (registry sends an email)
  • Registrar transfers require an auth_info code. The registrant can obtain this code from the current registrar.
  • Registration terms begin anew at the completion of registrar and registrant transfers.
  • Domains that are not renewed are deleted the day they expire. They remain in quarantine at the registry for 30 days. During this time, these names can be recovered by submitting through the same Domain Redemption tool in RWI used to redeem gTLD's.

Documentation:

 

.IN

.fr is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for India. The domain is operated by INRegistry under the authority of NIXI, the National Internet Exchange of India. INRegistry was appointed by the government of India.

Policies:

  • .in domain names can be registered for 1-10 years.
  • Generic names are not allowed.(eg. news.co.in, shipping.gov.in are not allowed)
  • For domains under all categories, except ind.in and gen.in, the domain must be derived from the name of the organization name/entity.
  • Organizations should register the domain name within the appropriate second level domains(SLDs) that corresponds to the type of the organization/entity.
  • The Administrative contact of the domain must be from the organization/entity requesting the domain name.
  • For domains under all categories, except ind.in and gen.in, the organization/entity applying for the domain name must have it's office in India.
 

.INFO

The domain name info is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet, The name is derived from information indicating that the domain is intended for informative Internet resources, although registration requirements do not prescribe any theme orientation.

The info TLD was a response to ICANN's highly publicized announcement, in late 2000, of a phased release of seven new generic top-level domains. The event was the first addition of major gTLDs since the Domain Name System was developed in the 1980s. The seven new gTLDs, selected from over 180 proposals, were meant in part to take the pressure off the com domain.

The info domain has been the most successful of the seven new domain names, with over 5.2 million domain names in the registry as of April 2008. ICANN and Afilias have also sealed an agreement for country names to be reserved by ICANN under resolution 01.92.

Documentation:

 

.IT

.it is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Italy. The TLD is administered by IT-NIC. Because it is also the English word it, and many words end with -it, this can commonly used in the construction of domain hacks, such as play.it, write.it or make.it.

Policies:

  • All .it requests are now processed in real-time.
  • Potential registrants must be located in the European Union.
  • DNS must be provided and meet specific zone requirements.
  • Domains can only be registered one year at a time.
  • Domains that are not renewed have a 10 day grace period (during which renewals can be processed as normal), following by a 30-day redemption period (must be redeemed through the Domain Redemption tool).
  • Transfers require an authorization code obtained from the current registrar.
IT DNS Requirements
  • - The servers IP addresses must be static and correspond to those actually associated with them
  • - The first server must be the same as indicated in the Server of Authority (SOA) record of the domain name. 
  • - A CNAME must not be associated with the domain name.
  • - The name of the server specified in the SOA cannot be a CNAME. 
  • - At least one MX or A record must exist for the domain name. 
  • - Where an MX record is listed, it must not have an associated CNAME.
  • - Whenever interrogated, the servers must not give the following responses: not responding, not reachable, not running, non-existent domain, host not found, server failure, query failed. 
  • - Indicated servers must be authoritative for the domain name.
 

.LI

.it is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Liechtenstein. The TLD is administered by the Hochschule Liechtenstein (University of Applied Sciences of Liechtenstein) in Vaduz, but domain names with the extension can also be registered with SWITCH, administrator of Switzerland's .ch ccTLD.

Policies:

  • Available to anyone.
  • .li (Liechtenstein) domains are registered/renewed for 1 year.
  • Registrar, registrant transfers and ALL modifications (DNS, contact changes, etc) require confirmation from the registrant, either by replying to a confirmation email from the registry, or with a fax confirmation on their company letterhead.
  • There is no charge for registrant transfers, and the registration term does not change.
  • Completed registrar transfers add one year to the registration term.
  • At least two servers must be provided, but there are no specific zone requirements.
 

.ME

.me is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Montenegro. The TLD is administered by domain.me (doMEn).

Policies:

  • Personal (ME) domain names can be registered/renewed for 1-10 years.
  • No special requirements.
 

.MOBI

.mobi is a top-level domain (TLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Its name is derived from the adjective mobile, indicating it's used by mobile devices for accessing Internet resources via the Mobile Web.

The domain was approved by ICANN on 11 July 2005, and is managed by the mTLD global registry.

Policies:

  • Mobile phone domain names can be registered/renewed for 1-10 years.
  • There are no special requirements for applicants, however the web site must conform to style rules in regard to using XHTML Mobile Profile 1.0 as the default for the landing page, and without frames.
 

.COM.MX

Policies:

  • .MX is an open registry; you do not have to be a resident or business operator to register a .COM.MX domain.
  • Registrar-transfers require auth code.
  • COM.MX names are deleted outright the day they expire. There is no redemption period.
 

.NAME

.name is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is intended for use by individuals for representation of their personal names, nicknames, screen names, pseudonyms, or other types of identification labels.

The top-level domain was initially delegated to Global Name Registry in 2001, and become fully operational in January 2002. Verisign began operating it in February 2009.

Policies:

  • .NAME domain names can be registered/renewed for 1,2 or 10 years.
  • Can only be registered in the 3rd level, for example: john.smith.name or smith.john.name
 

.NL

.nl is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Netherlands. The TLD is administered by SIDN. It is one of the more popular ccTLDs, ranked 3rd in the quarterly VeriSign Domain Name Industry Brief of May 2011 for the first quarter of 2011, after .de and .uk.

Policies:

  • .NL domains are available to anyone. Requests submitted without a Netherlands address will automatically have a "SIDN-specified domicile address" provided as the local presence.
  • A charge is applied for registrant-transfers.
  • Registrar transfers may require signed documentation if denied by current registrar.
  • Registration terms begin anew at the completion of registrar and registrant transfers.
  • Domains that are not renewed are deleted the day they expire. They remain in quarantine at the registry for 30 days. During this time, these names can be recovered by submitting through the same Domain Redemption tool in RWI used to redeem gTLD's.
  • Registrar-transfers require an auth code.

Documentation:

 

.TEL

.tel is a top-level domain (TLD) in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. It was approved by ICANN as a sponsored top-level domain, and is operated by Telnic.

Policies:

  • .TEL domain names can be registered/renewed for 1 - 10 years.
  • No special requirements.
  • The .tel is a service that allows individuals and businesses alike to store and manage all their contact information and keywords directly in the DNS without the need to build, host or manage a website.
 

.TV

.tv is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the islands of Tuvalu.

Except for reserved names like com.tv, net.tv, org.tv and others, any person may register second-level domains in tv. The domain name is popular, and thus economically valuable, because it is an abbreviation of the word 'television'.

Policies:

  • .TV domain names can be registered/renewed for 1 - 10 years.
  • The .tv registry is open to all individuals, small businesses and large corporations.

Documentation:

 

.UK

.uk is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United Kingdom. As of March 2012, it is the fourth most popular top-level domain worldwide (after .com, .de and .net), with over 10 million registrations. It is administered by Nominet.

New registrations directly under .uk are generally not permitted. Instead, registrations are made under a selection of second-level domains.

Policies:

.UK domain names can be registered/renewed for 2 years. The .me.uk domain name is intended to provide a personal namespace. Domain Names registered for .co.uk must be used for commercial purposes. Registrants for .org.uk must be not-for-profit or public service enterprises. All registrants for .ltd.uk and .plc.uk must be incorporated companies listed on the Register of Companies at Companies House in Great Britain, and registrants for .net.uk are required to be Internet Service Providers and a company listed on the Register of Companies at Companies House in Great Britain.
 

.US

.us is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United States. The TLD is operated by NeuStar.

NEXUS Requirements

Prospective registrants in the usTLD must fall in one of three U.S. Nexus categories and must certify that they have a "bona fide presence in the United States." Prospective registrants must indicate their use of the domain by selecting one of the following categories: Note: By agreeing to the policies of the registry, registrants agree to having one of the requirements below. Nothing further is required from the reseller to prove the registrant has a legitimate registration.

Nexus Category 1

A natural person (i) who is a United States citizen, (ii) a permanent resident of the United States of America or any of its possessions or territories, or (iii) whose primary place of domicile is in the United States of America or any of its possessions.

Nexus Category 2

An United States entity or organization that is (i) incorporated within one of the fifty (50) U.S. states, the District of Columbia, or any of the United States possessions or territories or organized, or otherwise constituted under the laws of a state of the United States of America, the District of Columbia or any of its possessions or (including a federal, state, or local government of the United States, or a political subdivision thereof, and unincorporated organizations based in the United States).

Nexus Category 3

An entity or organization (including a federal, state, or local government of the United States, or a political subdivision thereof) that has a bona fide presence in the United States of America or any of its possessions or territories.
  • If foreign entity, Applicant must state country of citizenship.
  • Check from category list, basis for compliance with Nexus requirement - regularly sells goods in the United States; regularly provides services in the United States; regularly engages in business activities, trade or other business (commercial or non-commercial including not-for-profit) relations in the United States;
  • Maintains an office or other property within the United States.

The registry operator conducts weekly random checks for US nexus requirements. They select a small sample (approximately 0.5% of new registrations) and send the selected registrants a Nexus confirmation email.

Each selected registrant will have 30 days to respond to the registry operator. If the registrant fails to respond, the registry operator will attempt a second contact with the registrant. If there is no response to the second contact, the registry operator will delete the domain name. The registry operator is not refunding registration fees for deleted names.

Documentation:

 

.WS

.ws is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Samoa. The TLD is administered by SamoaNIC.

Policies:

  • .WS domain names can be registered/renewed for 1 - 10 years.
  • Originally intended for use as a country-code for Western Samoa, .ws domains have been made available for purchase by anyone in the world, and are usually marketed as "dot website".
  • Unlike most other TLDs it comes with no meaning as to the nature or entity behind the site, and the only requirement is that it must be used for a website.
  • 37 Users Found This Useful
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