1. The registry-registrar-registrant relationships in the ccTLDs Giovanni Seppia CENTR General Manager giovanni@centr.org ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005

2. Introducing CENTR

3. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 What is CENTR? Council of European National Top Level Domain Registries Forum for TLD managers – Primarily ccTLDs Also includes gTLDs – Mainly European Membership from 5 continents Developed and emerging TLD markets, like.AF,.IR Open to all Top Level Domain Registries in the world

4. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 CENTR’s Membership 3 Members categories – Full Members – Associate Members – Observers Members vote on admission of new members

5. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 CENTR’s Membership AFGNIC Afghanistan (.af) STA Andorra (.ad) ISOC.AM Armenia (.am) NIC.AC Ascension Is. (.ac), Diego Garcia (.io), St Helena (.sh) NIC.AT Austria (.at) DNS Belgium Belgium (.be) Digital Systems Bulgaria (.bg) CIRA Canada (.ca) CARNet Croatia (.hr) UCY-DNS Cyprus (.cy) CZ.NIC Czech Republic (.cz) DENIC Germany (.de) Dansk Internet Forum (.dk) FICORA Finland (.fi) AFNIC France (.fr), Mayotte (.yt), Reunion (.re), St. Pierre & Miquelon (.pm), Wallis & Futuna Is. (.wf ) GibNet Gibraltar (.gi) GR-Hostmaster Greece (.gr) Island Networks Guernsey (.gg), Jersey (.je) CHIP Hungary (.hu) IEDR Ireland (.ie) IPM Iran (.ir) ISNIC Iceland (.is) ISOC-IL Israel (.il) IT-NIC Italy (.it) JPRS Japan (.jp) LITNET NOC Lithuania (.lt) RESTENA DNS-LU Luxembourg (.lu) NIC Malta Malta (.mt) NIC-Mexico Mexico (.mx) MoldData Moldova (.md) SIDN Netherlands (.nl) ISOCNZ New Zealand (.nz) NORID Norway (.no), Bouvet Is. (.bv), Svalbard & Jan Mayen Is. (.sj) Palestinian Registry Palestine (.ps) NASK Poland (.pl) FCCN Portugal (.pt) RNC Romania (.ro) Ros-NIIROS Russia (.ru) RED.ES Spain (.es) ARNES Slovenia (.si) IIS Sweden (.se) SWITCH Switzerland (.ch), Lichtenstein (.li) SITA (.aero) Vatican – Holy See (.va) Nominet UK United Kingdom (.uk) NeuStar United States of America (.us) VeriSign (.com,.net) Afilias (.info) Public Interest Registry (.org)

6. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 CENTR’s structure Executive Committee – 5 members, inclusive of Chairman and Treasurer – 2 year appointments – It steers the organisation in accordance with CENTR members’ wishes Secretariat – General Manager – Communication Officer – Technical Officer – Administrative Officer

7. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 CENTR’s output Newsletter, “Domain Wire”, 2 issues a year Surveys – A-level survey, covering the registries management main aspects – B-survey, covering legal issues related to registries – Other surveys upon request of our members Comments and positions on several topics that may have an impact on our members Outreach programme, providing registries of developing countries with financial and technical support

8. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 CENTR’s in the international arena The European Commission participates in CENTR as an observer Regular contacts with ICANN-IANA staff Associate member of the European Internet Foundation Participation within the WGIG-WSIS process Regular attendance of all the international Internet fora and meetings

9. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 Benefits of diverse participation CENTR values participation from many different registries – Western and Eastern Europe, Americas, Asia, Oceania – Different regulatory regimes, Internet community expectations, use of domain names etc. – Different challenges in ensuring stable DNS/Internet Provides added value – Brings different perspectives to discussion – Helps to define guidelines and best practices that benefit everyone – Comes to agreed opinions on certain aspects of the international arena

10. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 CENTR’s long term vision Expanding the dialogue among registries, governments and international bodies Developing best practice by encouraging exchange amongst registries Improving the reliability and stability of Internet through improved DNS practices Working closely with other Internet organisations

11. Some basic concepts

12. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 Registry “The wholesaler” Database of – who owns what name – pointing names to the servers responsible for them Responsible for policy and procedures – who is entitled to names, etc. A registry is like the “bank vault” of the domain names registered under that top level domain

13. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 Registrar and registrant Registrar (the retailer) – Agent of customers in dealing with registry Like a retailer which then contacts a wholesale supplier – Usually an ISP that is providing others services to customer Registrant (the customer) – The entity, organisation or individual that uses the domain name

14. Registries: policies and figures

15. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 Registry status* Registry set up depends on various reasons, even though almost every registry was historically part of an academic network – today TLDs are highly competitive and there is a very dynamic market. The legal status can be classified as: – Private company – Part of academic network – Foundation – Association – Government agency – Telecom operator – Miscellaneous *CENTR surveys data

16. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 Categorising the policies of the ccTLDs* *courtesy of UNINETT Norid Two central aspects shapes the domain name policy: – Requirements for the applicant Provide documentation that he has a right to the name Have a local presence in the area of the ccTLD Be an organization – Number of domain names allowed per applicant Limited/Unlimited

17. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 A mapping of the policies of some ccTLDs* *courtesy of UNINETT Norid

18. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 A summary of the mapping* Few of the respondents are currently in the strictly regulated category. This reflects the general move towards more liberalized domain name policies that has taken place Most respondents prefer a domain name policy with no limits on the number of names an applicant may hold While the majority of the respondents allows an unlimited number of domains per applicant, the degree of requirements for the applicant varies. Some requires the applicant to document rights to the domain name (bureaucracy category) Majority in the unregulated category – does not require any documentation of rights. Some require either a local presence, or that the applicant is an organization (or both), hence the spreading within the category. *courtesy of UNINETT Norid

19. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 Number of employees within the registries* *CENTR surveys data Essential to adjust to a dynamic market quickly and to satisfy customer needs efficiently. Most Registries have just technical staff as a Registry is a technical function/service.

20. Registry-registrar relationship

21. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 Registry-registrar relationship: the accreditation Usually, the relationship between a registry and a registrar is based on a contract. Some registries require those company that like to become a registrar to follow an accreditation procedure. Criteria to be accredited: – Technical stability – Corporate status – Financial stability – Organisational stability – Other Less than 25% of registries reviews these criteria regularly

22. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 Number of registrars* *CENTR surveys data

23. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 Registry-registrar relationship: some contractual aspects When the relationship between the registry and the registrars is based on a contract, the registry should take into account some aspects: – Contract transfer and related domain names transfer – Rescue procedures for those registrants (and domain names) whose registrars “disappeared” or went bankrupted – Penalties in case the registrar is not up-to-date with the payments to the registry

24. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 Registry-registrar relationship: the code of conduct Code of conduct: In order to ensure that the domain name holder can count on reliable information and a quality service, some registries have proposed a code of conduct to registrars Eg. DNS.BE Most code of conducts are based on voluntary principles, but help the users to trust the all process

25. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 Registry-registrar relationship: the code of conduct The new “eu” domain registrar are invited to participate in building a code of practice. Those registrars who sign up to the code will be able to display the code of conduct logo and the list of accredited registrars published on EURid's web site will indicate which registrars have the code of conduct label. EURid will facilitate elections from amongst the participating registrars to select a panel to assess complaints against participating registrars for alleged breaches in the code of conduct. The panel will be empowered to remove the code of conduct label from a registrar for a fixed period or a permanent basis if they are found to be operating in contradiction with the code.

26. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 Registry-registrar relationship: training activities Training activities: Most of the registries offer their registrars training activities on: – Technical aspects – Administrative issues – Legal matters Usually these activities are free of charges Moreover, certain regional organisations, like CENTR, provide training activities and workshops for registries on many topics such as IDNs, registry-registrars relationship,…

27. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 Registry-registrar relationship: communication methods Communication tools: E-mail lists Regular meetings Help-desks Newsletter Dedicated web interfaces

28. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 Registry-registrar relationship: the help-desk Help-desk significant aspects: Working hours Languages Time for processing requests Appropriate archiving procedures Customer satisfaction follow-up Different expertise of the operators

29. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 Registry-registrar relationship: the web interfaces Web interfaces: Wide accessibility highly desirable – EU communication on web accessibility standards Usually, divided in two sections: – Public information – Restricted information for registrars or ISP

30. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 Registry-registrar relationship: shared secondary servers Most large registries informally offer free secondarying services for smaller registries Similar, some "well known hosts", RIPE etc, offer free secondaries also Some - usually equally sized registries - do secondary swapping arrangements, where each will host each others servers. This principle relies on registries having similar requirements and having similar facilities to share CENTR examines opportunities to locate secondaries via different agreements (at IXs, via Anycast networks) and presents these opportunities to its members

31. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 Registry-registrar relationship: information sharing Taking advantage of other registries experiences (the grass is greener…) via: – Discussion lists – Regional organisations – International meetings – Best practices doc

32. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 Registry-registrar relationship: key complaints* Price Would like to have more influence on policy/contractual terms Bureaucracy (in case of paper based models) Liberalisation of policies *CENTR surveys data

33. Registry-registrar-registrant relationship

34. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 Registry-registrar-registrant relationship: some aspects Some issues in this relationship should be considered from the beginning and carefully planned: – Privacy aspects (WHOIS) – Services among parties – Interaction with the Local Internet Community – Prices of domain names and of the operations on them – Level of bureaucracy

35. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 Registry-registrar-registrant relationship: the main problems in dealing directly with customers* Lack of knowledge (more support needed) Make mistakes, then blame the registry Inaccurate information in the application forms Delayed payments Web browsers not compatible with registry system *CENTR surveys data

36. ccTLD workshop Nairobi, 14 September 2005 Questions? Thanks for your attention Giovanni Seppia giovanni@centr.org www.centr.org