Tiny domain names to be released in UK

 

Gallery

By Hani Megerisi

Posted on 15 Mar 2010 at 12:12

Organisations in the UK will be allowed to register one- or two-character domain names from June.

The move will see domains such as be.co.uk or IT.org.uk opened up. Registered trademarks will be able to apply for abbreviated domains that are identical to their registered name, before the names are put on general release. All names that are not taken by pre-registered trademarks will then be opened up to other organisations in a second-phase of the roll-out.

There is a small number of companies, such as BT, which have already registered two-letter domain names. These domains were registered before the 1996 introduction of Nominet, when the rules were introduced.

One-character domain names are currently not permitted under Nominet rules, and two-character domains are only allowed in a number/letter combination.

A consultation period has been set up by Nominet’s Policy Advisory Body (PAB), running until 8 June, to hear thoughts from interested parties on how to release the domains. This is being carried out through an online survey or through direct feedback to Nominet.

“Nominet’s PAB has recommended that two-letter domain names should be available for registration,” reads a statement from the registry body.

“These recommendations and suggestions have been reviewed internally and we consider that in general where there is no longer a technical or policy reason for a restriction in our rules, then those rules should be removed.”

Rules that forbid the use of existing 'second level' names as domains (e.g. ac.co.uk, edu.co.uk) could also be removed.