• IE Domain Registry gets the go-ahead for .ie domain liberalisation process following successful public consultation;
• Change will make it easier and faster for individuals and businesses to register a .ie domain name;
• All .ie registrants will still need to prove a tangible connection to the island of Ireland;
• The change expected to come into force in March 2018.

IE Domain Registry (IEDR), the company responsible for managing and maintaining Ireland’s national domain, is to begin the process of .ie liberalisation following the conclusion of the policy development process, which included a successful public consultation, it announced today.

Currently, to register a .ie domain name, an individual or business must prove that they have a valid claim to the desired name and a real, tangible connection to the island of Ireland.

IEDR’s change to the registration process retains the requirement for registrants to prove their connection to Ireland, but drops the need to prove a valid claim to the name. Going forward, any individual or business with a provable connection to Ireland will be able to register any available .ie domain name on a first-come, first-served basis.

For example, for Irish businesses, particularly new start-ups, the claim to a name requirement has proven a difficult administrative obstacle. Many new businesses are not registered with the CRO, may be VAT-exempt, and have no physical premises, meaning they also have no official documentation proving their business’s existence nor their claim to the business name.

By removing this claim requirement, IEDR says that registering a .ie address will be easier and faster, and will further open up the .ie domain namespace to enable citizens, clubs, communities, and businesses to build their online identity.

Last year, in a similar policy development process, there was consensus to remove the exclusive right of local authorities to Irish place names/geographic names, allowing local clubs, residents associations and other community organisations to register a .ie address with their local place name. More than one hundred geographic names have been registered since that policy change was introduced.

Commenting, David Curtin, Chief Executive of IEDR, said: “IEDR is pleased with the multi-stakeholder approach in achieving consensus for this change. Judging by the quality of the responses received during the public consultation phase, the policy change has received careful consideration.

“By simplifying the .ie registration process, it will be easier to get a preferred website address or email address which will have a clear, identifiably Irish connection. More people, organisations, communities and businesses across Ireland, and those around the world with Irish heritage or Irish operations, will be able to reach out to the wider internet community, communicate with their customers, and buy and sell online with e-commerce.”

IEDR’s PAC (Policy Advisory Committee) Working Group has carefully considered the comments received during the public consultation process, in particular those regarding concerns around the potential for ‘cybersquatting’, and the need for efficient dispute resolution.

Mr Curtin said: “It is important to distinguish between a cybersquatter, who intentionally registers a domain in bad faith, and a party that is simply the first to validly register a particular domain.

“In the latter case, .ie domains are registered on a first-come, first-served basis. All registrants must still meet IEDR’s terms and conditions for registration, and prove their link to Ireland. For individuals, this may include photo identification, like a passport, and proof of address. This information is then checked manually by IEDR. Ultimately, the only way to completely ensure that no one registers a domain name that is another party's protected right is for that party to register their .ie domain, thereby making it unavailable for others.

“In instances where .ie domain applicants believe another party has improperly registered a .ie address, or is using it for criminal or other illegal purposes, there are a number of mechanisms available for dispute resolution. These include the formal Dispute Resolution Process independently operated by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), and supported by the legal registrant Terms of Service and the registration policies.

“These matters have been considered at great length by the PAC, and as such, it is currently considering an additional mechanism for a new ‘alternative dispute resolution process’ to handle disputes in a simpler, speedier manner.”

With approval from the PAC, key .ie stakeholders, the Board and now the public, the new policy change is expected to come into force within four months, by March 2018. Once live, parties registering a .ie address will no longer need to prove ‘a claim to the name’.

ENDS

For more information, contact:

Nuala Ryan | nuala@pr360.ie | 01 637 1777| 083 421 2733 

Note to editors

Summary of public consultation responses

There were 117 responses to the public consultation. Opinions were requested on nine separate matters, and respondents were invited to provide additional comments. An analysis of the public consultation responses is available online at https://www.iedr.ie/liberalisation/ . The summary is as follows:

About IE Domain Registry

The IE Domain Registry (IEDR) is the official registry for .ie domain names, and it maintains the database of registered .ie domain names. The IEDR originated as a spinout from University College Dublin, becoming an independent, separate limited company in July 2000.

The IEDR is responsible for the management and administration of Ireland’s official internet domain, .ie, in the interest of the Irish and global internet communities. It operates the domain name system (DNS) for the .ie namespace, facilitates an independent dispute resolution service with WIPO and operates a public Whois lookup service for .ie domains.

IEDR’s mission is to provide unique, identifiably Irish domain names, along with registry and related services to the local and international internet community.

Policy development

Policy development for the .ie namespace follows a bottom-up, consensus driven and consultative approach, set out in IEDR’s 10-step Policy Development Process (PDP).

IEDR established the Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) in July 2014 to consider and provide advice to the IEDR Board of Directors on policy change requests. The PAC operates under specific Terms of Reference and follows the PDP.

The PAC considers all proposed policy change requests submitted for review, and where consensus exists, advises on the implementation of such policy change requests. The members of the PAC are stakeholders with an interest in the .ie namespace and its policies. The membership includes representatives from eligible organisations, including the .ie accredited Registrars, the Department of Communications, Enterprise Ireland, the Irish Internet Association, the Small Firms Association, the Law Society, the Internet Service Providers Association of Ireland, the Department of Enterprise, the Irish Computer Society and the Association of Patent and Trademark Attorneys.

Seven policy change requests were concluded during 2016, which involved two public consultations and a public auction of contested two-letter domains. In particular, IEDR successfully managed and completed release processes:

• to allow one- and two-letter      domain names (previously blocked due to historic technical reasons that      are no longer valid);
• to allow domain names with      fadas on the vowels (previously restricted because email systems and      internet browsers could not cope with non-Latin characters, again no      longer an issue);
• to allow a secondary market in      .ie domain names (originally prohibited to deter cyber squatters and      large-scale foreign domainers). The latter policy change will help to      unlock the intrinsic value of a registrant’s .ie domain name by permitting      an aftermarket to allow domain holders to sell the right to use their .ie      domain.

On an ongoing basis, other policy initiatives will be undertaken, with the objective of expanding the .ie namespace and developing Ireland’s digital national resource.