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Anyone have some insights on what a registrar usually needs to do to add a country's TLD? Sounds like it might be the kind of problem that's simple on paper but

Anyone have some insights on what a registrar usually needs to do to add a country's TLD? Sounds like it might be the kind of problem that's simple on paper but in practice requires jumping through all kinds of regulatory hoops for each new country. It does seem to be pretty common for registrars to be missing ccTLDs - .ai (for Anguilla), for example, is not supported by some registrars even though it's popular and at a glance it's just another ccTLD like the more widely supported .de or .ca.

ponker 6y ago
Each country has its own regulatory requirements. When I tried to register a dot-ai ~15 years ago it seemed like one guy who did it once a week would take paper checks only. If Austria demands a valid Austrian ID number, Amazon would have to build an app to request this, validate it against the Austrian database, provide data security guarantees to the Austrian government for using this information, etc. If the barriers are higher than the demand Amazon will just say fuck it.
- phillc73 6y ago
  I've registered .at domains on gandi.net and there's no ID requirements. It's no more difficult than registering a .com or .co.uk domain name. On the other hand, .com.au for example requires a valid Australian business registration number for domain registration.
fanf2 6y ago
OpenSRS has a list of TLD policies https://help.opensrs.com/hc/en-us/sections/115001583368-TLD-Policies https://help.opensrs.com/hc/en-us/sections/115001583368-TLD-... and on that page there is a link (via a documentation page) to their TLD reference chart. It's amazing in a fairly horrible way, like a "Falshoods Domain Registrants Believe About TLDs"
CydeWeys 6y ago
I'm in the industry, and there's no regulation or standardization on ccTLDs. Some of them have customized one-off web portals that an employee of the registrar has to log in to to manually register a domain. It's totally understandable why many registrars don't (yet?) support all ccTLDs. Contrast with gTLDs, which ICANN requires the use of standardized protocols for (see RFCs 5730-5734). Offering gTLDs is much easier; more work can be involved in signing the contracts with the registry operator than in configuring your system to point to an additional standardized API endpoint.
duskwuff 6y ago
> Anyone have some insights on what a registrar usually needs to do to add a country's TLD? ccTLDs are the Wild West. It's hard to generalize -- practically every ccTLD does something weird that makes it difficult to support, though. A few examples of areas where ccTLDs behave significantly differently from gTLDs are: • Many ccTLDs require registrants to have some form of personal or business presence in the country. The requirements for how the registrant must prove that presence can vary. • Some ccTLDs have unusual processes surrounding domain expirations and renewals. For example, under some ccTLDs, domains always expire at the end of a month, rather than exactly a year after registration. Additionally, some ccTLDs restrict when domains can be renewed -- for example, .au domains can only be renewed within 90 days of their expiration, and .eu domains cannot be renewed within 5 days of expiration. • Domain transfers can get weird as well. gTLDs have a standardized process for domain transfer authorization; ccTLDs often modify this system or replace it entirely.

ponker 6y ago

Each country has its own regulatory requirements. When I tried to register a dot-ai ~15 years ago it seemed like one guy who did it once a week would take paper checks only. If Austria demands a valid Austrian ID number, Amazon would have to build an app to request this, validate it against the Austrian database, provide data security guarantees to the Austrian government for using this information, etc. If the barriers are higher than the demand Amazon will just say fuck it.

phillc73 6y ago
I've registered .at domains on gandi.net and there's no ID requirements. It's no more difficult than registering a .com or .co.uk domain name. On the other hand, .com.au for example requires a valid Australian business registration number for domain registration.

fanf2 6y ago

OpenSRS has a list of TLD policies https://help.opensrs.com/hc/en-us/sections/115001583368-TLD-Policies https://help.opensrs.com/hc/en-us/sections/115001583368-TLD-... and on that page there is a link (via a documentation page) to their TLD reference chart. It's amazing in a fairly horrible way, like a "Falshoods Domain Registrants Believe About TLDs"

CydeWeys 6y ago

I'm in the industry, and there's no regulation or standardization on ccTLDs. Some of them have customized one-off web portals that an employee of the registrar has to log in to to manually register a domain. It's totally understandable why many registrars don't (yet?) support all ccTLDs. Contrast with gTLDs, which ICANN requires the use of standardized protocols for (see RFCs 5730-5734). Offering gTLDs is much easier; more work can be involved in signing the contracts with the registry operator than in configuring your system to point to an additional standardized API endpoint.

duskwuff 6y ago

> Anyone have some insights on what a registrar usually needs to do to add a country's TLD? ccTLDs are the Wild West. It's hard to generalize -- practically every ccTLD does something weird that makes it difficult to support, though. A few examples of areas where ccTLDs behave significantly differently from gTLDs are: • Many ccTLDs require registrants to have some form of personal or business presence in the country. The requirements for how the registrant must prove that presence can vary. • Some ccTLDs have unusual processes surrounding domain expirations and renewals. For example, under some ccTLDs, domains always expire at the end of a month, rather than exactly a year after registration. Additionally, some ccTLDs restrict when domains can be renewed -- for example, .au domains can only be renewed within 90 days of their expiration, and .eu domains cannot be renewed within 5 days of expiration. • Domain transfers can get weird as well. gTLDs have a standardized process for domain transfer authorization; ccTLDs often modify this system or replace it entirely.