Published at 13 December 2012

The Domain Name Commission is proposing to extend the .nz domain name space by allowing anybody to register domain names at the ‘second level’.  This has the potential to significantly alter New Zealand’s domain name space so it’s important we get your views.  A consultation on this proposal has recently closed. 

Key features of the .nz proposals include:

Registration of .nz domain names could be at the second or third levels on an ongoing basis.
Existing second level domains (such as .co.nz) will remain and continue to be supported.
There will be no impact on any currently registered .nz domain names.
Registrations at the second level will be on a “first come, first served” basis, except during the Sunrise Period and where there are currently multiple registrations of the same name in different second level domains.
The Sunrise Period will be a designated window, where existing .nz domain name holders (registrants) can register their domain name/s at the second level if they are the only one that has that name at the third level.
If two or more domain name holders have the same name at the third level, no-one  will be able to register that name at the second level unless they obtain the consent of the other third level name holders. Alternatively, if all agree, it could become a second level domain instead.
A temporary amendment to the Dispute Resolution Service Policy to cover sub-domains of generic domain names registered at the second level.
The above list is a very brief overview of the proposals.  The Consultation Paper at http://dnc.org.nz/content/Second_Level_Consultation_Paper.pdf and http://dnc.org.nz/content/Second_Level_Consultation_Paper.html provides more detail about what is proposed.  It also includes marked up versions of the main policies affected so that people can get an indication of how it may be implemented.

Submissions closed at midday on Thursday 27 September 2012.

An update on the consultation process is published at http://dnc.org.nz/second_level_proposal_c1_update

Submissions have been published on this page.

Related documents:

Consultation notice and published submissions http://dnc.org.nz/second_level_proposal_c1
Consultation paper, with appendices http://dnc.org.nz/content/Second_Level_Consultation_Paper.pdf
http://dnc.org.nz/content/Second_Level_Consultation_Paper.html
FAQs http://dnc.org.nz/content/second_level_proposal_faq.pdf
http://dnc.org.nz/content/second_level_proposal_faq.html
Overview of proposals http://dnc.org.nz/content/second_level_overview.pdf
http://dnc.org.nz/content/second_level_overview.html

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