.overheidnl Pre-Register Domain - .overheidnl Domain Information

The mission/purpose of the gTLD ʺ.overheidnlʺ is to improve the quality of the internet where the Dutch Government is visible. The name of the TLD consist of the elements "overheid" (Government in Dutch) and "nl" (standard abbreviation of the Netherlands) and the applicant is the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations as representative of the Dutch Government on this subject.

The improvement of the quality of the internet where the Dutch Government is visible will amongst other be ensured by the usage of the .overheidnl TLD in three ways:
- registration of domain names in the .overheidnl TLD will be limited to organizations that are considered to be part of the Dutch Government;
- the implementation of a variety of security technologies, including for example DNSSEC and DANE, will be obligatory for all .overheidnl domain names;
- the implementation of the Dutch Government accessibility guidelines, will be obligatory for all websites under .overheidnldomain names.

The .overheidnl TLD will thus be a closed authorized registrants only TLD in which all domain names will be reserved and only assigned to organizations which are considered to be part of the Dutch Government upon their request and upon specific authorization from the registry. The registrants will not be allowed to transfer the domain names in the TLD to any other party except for other organizations that are considered to be part of the Dutch Government and again only after having obtained the specific authorization thereto from the registry.

Benefits for the registrants of having .overheidnl domain names are in the fact domain names can not be claimed by others than organizations that are considered to be part of the Dutch Government. The Dutch Government currently communicates in general via domain names registered under the .nl ccTLD. One of the challenges for the Dutch Government thereby is that the .nl domain, as many traditional TLD's, is an ‘open' TLD where domain names are issued on a strictly first come first served bases. Where this clearly is beneficial in many ways, the downside for the Dutch Government is that other parties may register or have registered domainnames that are of interest to governmental organizations or create false expectations for Internet users by registering and using domain names that are regarded by the public as being governmental domain names or typo's of such names. By having a strictly Government only gTLD the Government makes sure that governmental organizations can register that domain names that they choose and that these names are available. It further provides a warranty to Internet users that they actually communicate with a governmental organization which enhances further trust in governmental Internet communication for Internet users.

As already mentioned before the .overheidnl TLD will be a closed authorized registrants only TLD in which all domain names will be reserved and only assigned to organizations which are considered to be part of the Dutch Government upon their request and upon specific authorization from the registry. The registrants will not be allowed to transfer the domain names in the TLD to any other party except for other organizations that are considered to be part of the Dutch Government and again only after having obtained the specific authorization thereto from the registry. As a result there will no ‘social costs' whatsoever involved in the operation of the .overheidnl TLD.

To be complete:
- There will not be an open or first come first served registration process for domain names under the .overheidnl TLD. All domain names will be assigned by the registry who will handle multiple applications for any particular domain name through an internal governmental procedure;
- Given the purpose of the .overheidnl domain and the fact that its existence is not at all financed by the sale of domain names there will not be any cost benefits for registrants in the sense specified in the question;
- The .overheidnl domain will, as it is obliged to, work with an ICANN accredited registrar and also allow all ICANN registrars to sign its standard Registry Registrar Agreement. It is expected however that the Dutch Governmental Organizations may decide to register all domains through a single or a few registrars. The registry will not charge the registrars for registrations under the .overheidnl domain but will be entirely funded by the Dutch Government. Given this situation there are no price in- or decreases foreseen.

22 Protection of Geographic Names

Measures for protection of geographic names in the .overheidnl top-level are being taken for Country and territory names (conform Specification 5 in the Base Agreement).

Registry Operator will exclude all country and territory names from registration on the second level, the only level in which registrations will be offered by Registry Operator, specified in Specification 5 of the Base Agreement:

5.1. the short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166- 1 list, as updated from time to time, including the European Union, which is exceptionally reserved on the ISO 3166-1 list, and its scope extended in August 1999 to any application needing to represent the name European Union 〈http://www.iso.org/iso/support/country_codes/iso_3166_code_lists/iso-3166- 1_decoding_table.htm#EU〉;
5.2. the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardization of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of the World; and
5.3. the list of United Nations member states in 6 official United Nations languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names;.

The names on these lists will be shown in the registries' Whois with status ‘excluded'.

Registration of these names will be limited during the entire lifetime of the .overheidnl top level domain to registrants who are designated by the government or public authority of the concerned country or territory. Authentication of representation is based on the existing methodology developed for release of country names in the .INFO top-level domain.
A government or public authority wanting to register their country or territory name under .overheidnl has to get an authentication by GAC Secretariat. This authentication and the name of the designated beneficiary need to be transferred to Registry Operator, who will issue an authorisation number to the designated beneficiary in the country concerned. The domain name can be registered through an accredited registrar with the designated beneficiary as the registrant, using the authorisation number.
The registrant of these domain names can only be changed after registration if the new designated registrant also has been authenticated by GAC Secretariat.