Some countries have put in place new validation procedures or have accepted for registration names composed of accented characters (or Internationalised Domain Name – IDN).
ARGENTINA: The Argentinean registry Nic.ar has set up a validation procedure for previously registered domain names that will be effective on October 28, 2013. Domain name owners will have to submit authenticated documents proving their identity.
If the registered data is not validated, domain names could be blocked or cancelled. These domain names won’t be able to be renewed, transferred or updated!
COSTA RICA: Nic Costa Rica will update contact information for domain names in .CR between October 7 and November 29, 2013. This update will be carried out by email or phone.
COLOMBIA: From October 15, French accented characters will be accepted for .CO domain name registration. There will be no particular registration period but a “first come, first served” basis will be put in place for domain name allocation.
Besides French IDN, the registry will accept German, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese and Russian characters. Since the beginning of 2013, Scandinavian characters (Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish) have been already accepted.
TUNISIA: The Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI) approved two characters’ domain name registration and new IDN: á, â, ã, ä, å, æ, ç, è, é, ê, ë, ì, í, î ï, ñ, ò, ó, ô, õ, ö œ, ù, ú, û, ü, ý, ÿ, ß.
Contrary to Colombia, Tunisia is already organising registration periods:
- from August 1, 2013 until January 31, 2014 for local governmental organisations,
- from October 1, 2013 until January 31, 2014 for applicants holding registered trademark in Tunisia,
- from December 2, 2013 until January 31, 2014 for applicants holding a .TN registration and
- after January 31, 2014 registrations will be opened without any condition.
SEYCHELLES: .SC registry will accept from now on one and two characters’ domain name registration (except country codes from ISO3166 list). The registry wants to identify applicants with the best potential in order to maximise the development of high-quality names and increase the use of .SC domain names. This program won’t be opened to marketing on Internet but aims to find applicants who have a legitimate right to promote the .SC trademark as a strong one.