Disclaimer: I am now an auDA Demand Class Director. The article below is my personal opinion, and does not purport to be the views of auDA.
It’s always interesting to me to see how other ccTLD (Country Code Top Level Domains) operate.
Ireland has been in the domain news recently because they have decided to slightly liberalise their eligibility requirements. More on that shortly. First, here’s a brief overview of .ie in a lovely Irish accent. 🙂
Some Key Points
- The IEDR is to Ireland as auDA is to Australia – with some significant differences.
- They act as the Registry, and quasi regulator.
- They have been managing the .ie country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) namespace since July 2000. Their work includes protecting, supporting and promoting the online presence of all .ie domain names.
- Total .ie domains registered so far = 237,672.
- Domains aren’t cheap – a 1 year registration is around € 20 (approximately $31).
- Registrants are offered the choice of terms from 1 year through to 10 years. Nice!
- Ireland had “direct registration” from the start – there was never a com.ie. How easy does that make life!
- Just like Australia, Ireland has built-in protections for their namespace. In order to register an .ie domain, there must be a legitimate Irish connection. Registrants have to provide proof of entitlement, and every application is vetted manually.
- The IEDR’s website seems to be very user friendly – and similar to CIRA (Canada) in this regard. I’m very impressed with their level of information for registrants – including many short videos.
- They also encourage new business. When anyone clicks on “Register a Domain”, they can enter the domain name they want. If it’s available, this is what you get (below). How good is that!
Cutting The Red Tape
With Australian domains, all registrants have to warrant that they have a “close and substantial connection” to a domain name. In Ireland, they have something very similar. It’s called a “claim to the name”.
However, as from March 2018, the “claim to the name” provision is being abolished in Ireland. They want to make it easier for legitimate registrants; and they want to grow the market. You can read about the changes here. Michele Neylon of Blacknight Solutions has a good article explaining what’s happening.
For Australian internet users, auDA has recently established the Policy Review Panel to also make recommendations on policy reform of existing auDA policies. The wider internet community is definitely looking forward to this!
Ned O’Meara – 8th December 2017
Disclaimer
I have owned some Ireland .ie names for many years as part of global brand protection.
The .ie management has been an expensive mess for years.. Definitely NOT a good model to look at following in any areas I can see… previously lots of manual paperwork, regulations etc which all could have been automated to speed things up and reduce costs.
It is not too different to how auDA was run initially with red tape for registrations, change of registrant etc.
Registration numbers are low due to
1. Price
2. Red tape
3. Small population
4. Competing extension options at lower prices with less red tape and greater market coverage.
5. Some Ireland businesses etc would look at .eu as an option and of course if they can afford it most people had tried or still try for the .com.
Just like many other Domain name admin bodies they also handle the Registry role securely to date. I think auDA could and should run the wholesale registry also. ( with back up from Government perhaps).
This is the way AUDA should be “growing the market”. Open it up so those want to use a .com.au can rather than than “duplicating the market” with direct registrations.