Change of regulations February 9th 2004

Introduction of domain names with national characters

The introduction of domain names with national characters involves several changes to the .no regulations. The changes are described below. The entire regulations as they will look on February 9th, can be found on http://www.norid.no/regelverk/forslag/idn-2003/navnepolitikk.html.

Changes in the definition of a domain name

The introduction of domain names with national characters means that some domain names will exist in 'two versions'. One version, which by the domain subscriber is regarded as the domain name and one version which will be the actual string of text registered in DNS. To achieve the best possible interpretation of the concept domain name in the regulations, the following definition will be used in the definition document:

Domain name:
All computers connected to the Internet have their own IP-address, which consists of numbers. The domain name system (DNS) connects unique domain names to the IP-addresses, so users don't have to remember a long string of numbers. Domain names consist of a varying number of parts, but the most common type in Norway is companyname.no. They are for instance used in web addresses (http://www.companyname.no) and email addresses (firstname.lastname@companyname.no).

Only names which consists of the letters a-z, the numbers 0-9 and hyphen can be registered in DNS. IDN is a technique which makes it possible to use national characters (for instance æøå) in domain names by translating them into a version called ACE-form which only uses the original characters. This is the version registered in DNS. Domain names with standard characters also have an ACE-form, but it is identical to the domain name.

For instance: the domain name blåbærsyltetøy.no will be registered in DNS in the following ACE-form xn--blbrsyltety-y8ao3x.no.

When the concept domain name is used in the .no regulations, we are referring to both the version with national characters and the ACE-form. Both versions have to fulfill all requirements stated in the regulations. The conversion to the ACE-form is done in accordance with RFC 3490, RFC 3491 og RFC 3492.

The ACE-format can be used by programs which supports IDN as well as by older programs that don't. Programs which support IDN can translate between the two versions. The user can therefore see and write domain names with national characters in addition to the ACE-format. As mentioned before, it is the ACE-format which will be registered in DNS. Norid can not control whether programs on computers belonging to individual users can handle the translation to national characters correctly.

Amendment of 3.2 and 3.6

Old wording:
3.2 The characters permitted in the domain name are:

• lower-case letters from a-z (not Norwegian characters)
• digits (0-9)
• hyphens

New wording:
3.2 The characters permitted in the domain name are a-z, digits (0-9), as well as national characters described in the table below.

Old wording:
3.6 The requirements according to this provision are in line with the international standards in RFC 1034, RFC 1035, RFC 1123 and RFC 1912.

New wording:
3.6 The requirements according to this provision are in line with the international standards in RFC 1034, RFC 1035, RFC 1123, RFC 1912, RFC 3490, RFC 3491 and RFC 3492.

The number of domains which can be registered by one organisation has been changed

Old wording:
5.2 At any time, each organization may have up to 15 domain names, directly under .no. An organization may also have up to 5 domain names under each geographical domain to which the organization belongs, as well as 5 domain names under each generic domain to which the organization belongs.

New wording:
5.2 At any time, each organization may have up to 20 domain names, directly under .no. An organization may also have up to 5 domain names under each geographical domain to which the organization belongs, as well as 5 domain names under each generic domain to which the organization belongs.

Amendment of appendix A

Due to the introduction of national characters, the list of forbidden domain names will be updated with the correctly spelled version of the concepts already forbidden/reserved (for instance evenássi.no, evenassi.no and evenes.no will all be reserved)

Amendment of appendix B

The geographical places which use national characters in their spelling and already are a part of the geographical name tree will be registered in two versions in the name tree, one translated and one correctly spelled version (for instance gjøvik.no and gjovik.no)

Amendment of appendix F

An extra paragraph has been added:

8. No IDN domain names in the host address

Host addresses which includes national characters (IDN-names) or their corresponding ACE-version may not be registered in Norid's database.

Amendment of appendix G and other forms

The Applicant's Statement, as well as the application forms for registration, removal and transfer of domains, and the form for domain name complaints will be changed. In cases were they are not identical, both versions of the domain name (IDN and ACE-format) have to be supplied on the form.

Other amendments

Clarification of paragraph 6.1

Old wording:
6.1 A condition for registration is that at least two name servers must be specified. All specified name servers must be correctly set up for the domain applied for, and must function at the time that the application comes to Norid. Domains that handle mail only are not registered.

New wording:
6.1 A condition for registration is that at least two name servers must be specified. All specified name servers must be correctly set up for the domain applied for, and must function at the time that the application comes to Norid. Only delegated domains can be registered.

Amendment of appendix A

The following names will be removed from the forbidden/reserved list and made available for registration:

Communities (Municipal Sector) which have been joined together or have changed name:
ramnes.no
vale.no
vaale.no
borre.no

Alternative names on cities:
beitostolen.no
beitostoelen.no
bjoergvin.no
bjorgvin.no
christiania.no
kristiania.no
nidaros.no
porsgrund.no
trondhjem.no
tunsberg.no

Regions:
hallingdal.no
hardanger.no
ofoten.no
lofoten.no
vesteralen.no
vesteraalen.no

Other areas:
hardangervidda.no
rondane.no
sylane.no
jotunheimen.no
trollheimen.no
haalogaland.no
halogaland.no

Parts of a name which are reserved in addition to the complete geographical name:
aurdal.no
mo.no
midtre.no
nedre.no
nordre.no
nore.no
sondre.no
soendre.no
vestre.no
toten.no
ostre.no
oestre.no
ovre.no
oevre.no
oystre.no
oeystre.no
agder.no
sogn.no
fjordane.no
more.no
moere.no
romsdal.no

The chances are small that these names will be used in the geographical name tree, and they are therefore removed in understanding with Norid's advisory body. The names are removed by the same transition mechanism, a draw, which is being used in the introduction of national characters. They will be removed during the same time period in which the transition to domain name with national characters is taking place.

NB! The domain names jotunheimen.no and rondane.no were registered before the forbidden list was established in its current form. After the change they can be transferred or registered again if they are deleted. The existing registrations will not be cancelled.

Amendment of appendix B

The domain name lund.no has been deleted by the person who registered it and will now be used in the geographical name tree. The domains aurdal.no and borre.no are no longer municipal communities and will therefore be removed from the geographical name tree. The cities called Borre and Aurdal are too small to be used in the geographical name tree. At the same time the names will be made available for registration (see above information). The domains bronnoysund.no/brønnøysund.no will be added to the geographical name tree after a recommendation from Norid's advisory body. This is due to their significance as cities in their part of the country.

Amendment of appendix E

Parishes and "eierseksjonssameier" are allowed to register domain names under .no

The following paragraph is added at the bottom of appendix E: Parishes are considered independent organizations who may register domain names under .no, although they do not belong to the organisation types listed above. The organization is still required to provide an organization number and a written approval from the relevant parish council stating that this organization has status as a parish.

"Eierseksjonssameier" is added to the list of organisation types allowed to apply for .no domain names.

Amendment of appendix G

The applicant is, and always has, been confined by the regulations as a whole. In order to make the applicant's statement easier to read while still following the requirements stated in the domain regulations the text has been modified. It now refers to the regulations and only the most important paragraphs are named explicitly.

Other amendments

To better show that it is a right of use and not a right of ownership connected with registering a .no domain name, the concept owner has been exchanged with domainsubscriber/subscriber in the regulations. The following definition is added to the attached definition document:

Domain name holder/Holder
An organisation which has registered one or more domain names administered by Norid, within the requirements listed in the .no domain name policy.