Country code top-level domain

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country or a dependent territory.

ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all two-letter top-level domains are ccTLDs. Creation and delegation of ccTLDs is performed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), and with certain exceptions noted below corresponds to the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes maintained by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency.

Contents 1 Delegation and management 2 ISO 3166-1 and ccTLDs 2.1 ISO 3166-1 codes not used as ccTLDs 2.2 ccTLDs not in ISO 3166-1 2.3 Historical ccTLDs 3 Internationalized ccTLDs 4 Unconventional ccTLD usage 5 Vanity ccTLDs 6 List of ccTLDs 6.1 A 6.2 B 6.3 C 6.4 D 6.5 E 6.6 F 6.7 G 6.8 H 6.9 I 6.10 J 6.11 K 6.12 L 6.13 M 6.14 N 6.15 O 6.16 P 6.17 Q 6.18 R 6.19 S 6.20 T 6.21 U 6.22 V 6.23 W 6.24 Y 6.25 Z 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Delegation and management

The IANA (currently contracted to ICANN) is responsible for determining an appropriate trustee for each ccTLD. Administration and control is then delegated to that entity, which is responsible for the policies and operation of the domain; the current delegation can be determined from IANA's list of ccTLDs. Individual ccTLDs may thus have varying requirements and fees for registering subdomains. There may be a local presence requirement (for instance, citizenship or other connection to the ccTLD), as for example the Canadian (ca) and German (de) domains, or registration may be open.

[edit] ISO 3166-1 and ccTLDs

[edit] ISO 3166-1 codes not used as ccTLDs

The code EH, although theoretically available as ccTLDs for Western Sahara has never been assigned and does not exist in DNS. Similarly, the code CS (Serbia and Montenegro) was never assigned an operator (cs was previously assigned to Czechoslovakia). TL (post-independence East Timor), is now being introduced to replace TP.

All other current ISO 3166-1 codes have been assigned and do exist in DNS. However, some of these are effectively unused. In particular, the ccTLDs for the Norwegian dependency Bouvet Island (bv) and the designation Svalbard and Jan Mayen (sj) do exist in DNS, but no subdomains have been assigned, and it is Norid policy not to assign any at present. Some French territories, including Saint Pierre and Miquelon (.pm), still await local assignment by France's AFNIC registry.

Only one subdomain is still registered in gb (ISO 3166-1 for United Kingdom) and no new registrations are being accepted for it. Sites in the UK generally use uk (see below).

[edit] ccTLDs not in ISO 3166-1

Six ccTLDs are currently in use despite not being ISO 3166-1 two-letter codes. Some of these codes were in older ISO 3166-1 two-letter codes (now listed in ISO 3166-3).

• uk (United Kingdom): The ISO 3166-1 code for the United Kingdom is GB, however the JANET network had already selected uk as a top-level identifier for its pre-existing Name Registration Scheme, and this was incorporated into the top-level domains. gb was assigned with the intention of a transition, but this never occurred and the use of uk is now entrenched.
• su (the obsolete ISO 3166 code for Soviet Union): Assigned when the Soviet Union was still extant and SU was its assigned ISO 3166 code. The su managers stated in 2001 they will commence accepting new su registrations, but it is unclear whether this action is compatible with ICANN policy.
• ac (Ascension Island): This code is a vestige of IANA's decision in 1996 to allow the use of codes reserved in the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 reserve list for use by the Universal Postal Union. The decision was later reversed, with Ascension Island now the sole outlier. (Three other ccTLDs, gg (Guernsey), im (Isle of Man) and je (Jersey) also fell under this category from 1996 until they received corresponding ISO 3166 codes in March 2006.)
• eu (European Union): On September 25, 2000, ICANN decided to allow the use of any two-letter code in the ISO 3166-1 reserve list that is reserved for all purposes. Only EU currently meets this criterion. Following a decision by the EU's Council of Telecommunications Ministers in March 2002, progress was slow, but a registry (named EURid) was chosen by the European Commission, and criteria for allocation set: ICANN approved eu as a ccTLD, and it opened for registration on 7 December 2005 for the holders of prior rights. Since 7 April 2006, registration is open to all.
• tp (the previous ISO 3166-1 code for East Timor): To be phased out in favour of tl during 2005.
• yu (the previous ISO 3166-1 code for Serbia and Montenegro, when it was still known as Yugoslavia): To be phased out in favour of rs and me before the end of 2009.

[edit] Historical ccTLDs

There are two ccTLDs that have been deleted after the corresponding 2-letter code was withdrawn from ISO 3166-1: cs (for Czechoslovakia) and zr (for Zaire). There had also been a ccTLD for the German Democratic Republic, dd, which was never used at all. There may be a significant delay between withdrawal from ISO 3166-1 and deletion from the DNS; for example, ZR ceased to be an ISO 3166-1 code in 1997, but the zr ccTLD was not deleted until 2001. Other ccTLDs corresponding to obsolete ISO 3166-1 have not yet been deleted; in some cases they may never be deleted due to the amount of disruption this would cause for a heavily used ccTLD. In particular, the Soviet Union's ccTLD su remains in use more than a decade after SU was removed from ISO 3166-1.

[edit] Internationalized ccTLDs

There is a process to introduce Internationalized ccTLDs using non-Latin letters. Already a technical solution has been implemented that allows domain names (the level under the top level) to have non-Latin letters. They are called IDN (Internationalized domain names).

Now also top-level domains will have such letters. The first one is likely to be .рф, for Russia. It will work during 2008. Chinese and Arabic top-level domains will follow. About 53 different country codes seem to be involved^[1]. There seems to be a hurry regarding this, since some countries threaten to introduce their own ccTLDs, without the support of ICANN, which would be supported inside their countries at least.

• Google Search on the issue
• Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO), part of ICANN
• Discussion by GNSO about which IDN ccTLD to use for each country

[edit] Unconventional ccTLD usage

Lenient registration restrictions on certain ccTLDs have resulted in domain names like I.am, tip.it, start.at and go.to. Other variations of ccTLD usage have been called domain hacks, where the Second-level domain and ccTLD are used together to form one word or one title. This has resulted in domains like blo.gs of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (gs), del.icio.us of United States of America (us), and cr.yp.to of Tonga (to). (Non country code TLDs have also been used, like inter.net which uses the .net gTLD, probably the first domain hack ever.)

Another form of hacks on ccTLDs results from speculation over typos. The .co domain of Colombia has generated interest ever since it was realized that people might miss typing the "m" for sites in the .com domain, or similarly reach the domain .cm for Cameroon due to a missed "o".

[edit] Vanity ccTLDs

This section does not cite any references or sources. (February 2008) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Vanity ccTLDs are TLDs which are used for various purposes outside their home countries, because of their name. For example,

• .ad is a ccTLD for Andorra, but has recently been increasingly used by advertising agencies.
• .ag is a ccTLD for Antigua and Barbuda and is sometimes used for agricultural sites. In Germany, AG (short for Aktiengesellschaft) is appended to the name of a stock-based company, similar to Inc. in USA.
• .am is a ccTLD for Armenia, but is often used for AM radio stations, or for domain hacks (such as .i.am).
• .as is a ccTLD for American Samoa. In Denmark and Norway, AS is appended to the name of a stock-based company, similar to Inc. in USA.
• .cc is a ccTLD for Cocos (Keeling) Islands but is used for a wide variety of sites.
• .cd is a ccTLD for Democratic Republic of Congo but is used for CD merchants and file sharing sites.
• .dj is a ccTLD for Djibouti but is used for CD merchants and disc jockeys.
• .fm is a ccTLD for the Federated States of Micronesia but it is often used for FM radio stations.
• .gg is a ccTLD for Guernsey but it is often used by the gaming and gambling industry (with "gg" being the abbreviation for "good game"), particularly in relation to horse racing and online poker ('gg' is used as a courtesy in online chat).
• .im is a ccTLD for the Isle of Man but is often used by instant messaging programs and services.
• .in is a ccTLD for India but is widely used in the internet industry.
• .it is a ccTLD for Italy but is used in domain hacks (e.g. .has.it).
• .je is a ccTLD for Jersey but is often used as a diminutive in Dutch (e.g. "huis.je"), as "you" ("zoek.je" = "search ye!"), or as "I" in French (e.g. "moi.je")
• .la is a ccTLD for Laos but is marketed as the TLD for Los Angeles.
• .li is a ccTLD for Liechtenstein but is marketed as the TLD for Long Island.
• .md is a ccTLD for Moldova, but is marketed exclusively to the medical industry (as in "medical domain" or "medical doctor").
• .me is a ccTLD for Montenegro, and is recently opened to individuals.
• .mu is a ccTLD for Mauritius, but is used within the music industry.
• .nu is a ccTLD for Niue but marketed as resembling "new" in English and "now" in Nordic/Dutch. Also meaning "nude" in French/Portuguese.
• .sc is a ccTLD for Seychelles but is often used as .Source
• .to is a ccTLD for Tonga but is often used as the English word "to", like "go.to"
• .tv is a ccTLD for Tuvalu but it is used for the television ("tv")/entertainment industry purposes.
• .ws is a ccTLD for Samoa (earlier Western Samoa), but is marketed as .Website
• .vu is a ccTLD for Vanuatu but means "seen" in French as well as an abbreviation for the English language word "view".

[edit] List of ccTLDs

^*=Foreign registration permitted

[edit] A

• .ac – Ascension Island ^*
• .ad – Andorra
• .ae – United Arab Emirates
• .af – Afghanistan
• .ag – Antigua and Barbuda ^*
• .ai – Anguilla
• .al – Albania
• .am – Armenia ^*
• .an – Netherlands Antilles
• .ao – Angola
• .aq – Antarctica
• .ar – Argentina
• .as – American Samoa ^*
• .at – Austria ^*
• .au – Australia
• .aw – Aruba
• .ax – Åland Islands
• .az – Azerbaijan

[edit] B

• .ba – Bosnia and Herzegovina
• .bb – Barbados
• .bd – Bangladesh
• .be – Belgium ^*
• .bf – Burkina Faso
• .bg – Bulgaria
• .bh – Bahrain
• .bi – Burundi ^*
• .bj – Benin
• .bm – Bermuda
• .bn – Brunei
• .bo – Bolivia ^*
• .br – Brazil ^*
• .bs – Bahamas ^*
• .bt – Bhutan
• .bv – Bouvet Island (not in use; no registrations)
• .bw – Botswana
• .by – Belarus
• .bz – Belize ^*

[edit] C

• .ca – Canada
• .cc – Cocos (Keeling) Islands ^*
• .cd – Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly .zr – Zaire) ^*
• .cf – Central African Republic
• .cg – Republic of the Congo ^*
• .ch – Switzerland ^*
• .ci – Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)^*
• .ck – Cook Islands ^*
• .cl – Chile
• .cm – Cameroon
• .cn – People's Republic of China ^*
• .co – Colombia
• .cr – Costa Rica
• .cu – Cuba
• .cv – Cape Verde
• .cx – Christmas Island ^*
• .cy – Cyprus
• .cz – Czech Republic

[edit] D

• .de – Germany
• .dj – Djibouti ^*
• .dk – Denmark ^*
• .dm – Dominica
• .do – Dominican Republic
• .dz – Algeria

[edit] E

• .ec – Ecuador
• .ee – Estonia
• .eg – Egypt
• .eh – Western Sahara (not assigned; no DNS)
• .er – Eritrea
• .es – Spain ^*
• .et – Ethiopia
• .eu – European Union (code "exceptionally reserved" by ISO 3166-1)

[edit] F

• .fi – Finland
• .fj – Fiji ^*
• .fk – Falkland Islands
• .fm – Federated States of Micronesia ^*
• .fo – Faroe Islands
• .fr – France

[edit] G

• .gp – Gabon
• .gb – United Kingdom (Reserved domain by IANA; deprecated – see .uk)
• .gd – Grenada
• .ge – Georgia
• .gf – French Guiana
• .gg – Guernsey
• .gh – Ghana
• .gi – Gibraltar
• .gl – Greenland ^*
• .gm – Gambia
• .gn – Guinea
• .gp – Guadeloupe
• .gq – Equatorial Guinea
• .gr – Greece ^*
• .gs – South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands ^*
• .gt – Guatemala
• .gu – Guam
• .gw – Guinea-Bissau
• .gy – Guyana

[edit] H

• .hk – Hong Kong ^*
• .hm – Heard Island and McDonald Islands ^*
• .hn – Honduras ^*
• .hr – Croatia
• .ht – Haiti
• .hu – Hungary ^*

[edit] I

• .id – Indonesia
• .ie – Ireland
• .il – Israel ^*
• .im – Isle of Man ^*
• .in – India ^*
• .io – British Indian Ocean Territory ^*
• .iq – Iraq
• .ir – Iran ^*
• .is – Iceland ^*
• .it – Italy

[edit] J

• .je – Jersey
• .jm – Jamaica
• .jo – Jordan
• .jp – Japan

[edit] K

• .ke – Kenya
• .kg – Kyrgyzstan
• .kh – Cambodia
• .ki – Kiribati
• .km – Comoros
• .kn – Saint Kitts and Nevis
• .kp – North Korea
• .kr – South Korea
• .kw – Kuwait
• .ky – Cayman Islands
• .kz – Kazakhstan ^*

[edit] L

• .la – Laos ^*
• .lb – Lebanon
• .lc – Saint Lucia
• .li – Liechtenstein ^*
• .lk – Sri Lanka
• .lr – Liberia
• .ls – Lesotho ^*
• .lt – Lithuania
• .lu – Luxembourg
• .lv – Latvia ^*
• .ly – Libya ^*

[edit] M

• .ma – Morocco
• .mc – Monaco
• .md – Moldova ^*
• .me – Montenegro
• .mg – Madagascar
• .mh – Marshall Islands
• .mk – Republic of Macedonia
• .ml – Mali
• .mm – Myanmar
• .mn – Mongolia ^*
• .mo – Macau
• .mp – Northern Mariana Islands ^*
• .mq – Martinique
• .mr – Mauritania
• .ms – Montserrat ^*
• .mt – Malta
• .mu – Mauritius ^*
• .mv – Maldives
• .mw – Malawi ^*
• .mx – Mexico ^*
• .my – Malaysia
• .mz – Mozambique

[edit] N

• .na – Namibia ^*
• .nc – New Caledonia
• .ne – Niger
• .nf – Norfolk Island ^*
• .ng – Nigeria
• .ni – Nicaragua
• .nl – Netherlands ^*
• .no – Norway
• .np – Nepal
• .nr – Nauru ^*
• .nu – Niue ^*
• .nz – New Zealand ^*

[edit] O

• .om – Oman

[edit] P

• .pa – Panama
• .pe – Peru
• .pf – French Polynesia
• .pg – Papua New Guinea
• .ph – Philippines ^*
• .pk – Pakistan ^*
• .pl – Poland ^*
• .pm – Saint Pierre and Miquelon
• .pn – Pitcairn Islands ^*
• .pr – Puerto Rico ^*
• .ps – Palestine ^*
• .pt – Portugal ^*
• .pw – Palau
• .py – Paraguay

[edit] Q

• .qa – Qatar

[edit] R

• .re – Réunion
• .ro – Romania ^*
• .rs – Serbia ^*
• .ru – Russia ^*
• .rw – Rwanda

[edit] S

• .sa – Saudi Arabia
• .sb – Solomon Islands ^*
• .sc – Seychelles ^*
• .sd – Sudan
• .se – Sweden ^*
• .sg – Singapore
• .sh – Saint Helena ^*
• .si – Slovenia
• .sj – Svalbard and Jan Mayen islands (not in use; no registrations)
• .sk – Slovakia
• .sl – Sierra Leone
• .sm – San Marino ^*
• .sn – Senegal
• .so – Somalia ^* (down, still is delegated to Monolith [ml.org] Philadelphia, an entity defunct since end-1998)
• .sr – Suriname ^*
• .st – São Tomé and Príncipe ^*
• .su – Soviet Union (deprecated; being phased out; code "transitionally reserved" by ISO 3166-1)
• .sv – El Salvador
• .sy – Syria ^*
• .sz – Swaziland ^*

[edit] T

• .tc – Turks and Caicos Islands
• .td – Chad
• .tf – French Southern Territories
• .tg – Togo ^*
• .th – Thailand ^*
• .tj – Tajikistan ^*
• .tk – Tokelau ^*
• .tl – East Timor (formerly .tp) ^*
• .tm – Turkmenistan ^*
• .tn – Tunisia
• .to – Tonga ^*
• .tp – East Timor (deprecated – use .tl; code "transitionally reserved" by ISO 3166-1)
• .tr – Turkey
• .tt – Trinidad and Tobago ^*
• .tv – Tuvalu ^*
• .tw – Taiwan ^*
• .tz – Tanzania

[edit] U

• .ua – Ukraine
• .ug – Uganda ^*
• .uk – United Kingdom (code "exceptionally reserved" by ISO 3166-1) (see also .gb)
• .us – United States ^*
• .uy – Uruguay
• .uz – Uzbekistan

[edit] V

• .va – Vatican City
• .vc – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ^*
• .ve – Venezuela
• .vg – British Virgin Islands ^*
• .vi – United States Virgin Islands
• .vn – Vietnam
• .vu – Vanuatu ^*

[edit] W

• .wf – Wallis and Futuna
• .ws – Samoa (formerly Western Samoa) ^*

[edit] Y

• .ye – Yemen
• .yt – Mayotte

[edit] Z

• .za – South Africa ^*
• .zm – Zambia
• .zw – Zimbabwe

[edit] References

1. ^ http://idn.wat.ch/wiki/index.php?title=IDN_ccTLD_Discussion Discussion by GNSO about which IDN ccTLD to use for each country

[edit] External links

• IANA's list of ccTLDs – official site
• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Domain name dispute resolution]
• World-Wide Alliance of Top Level Domain-names
• Norid: Domain name registries around the world
• ccTLD and TLD analysis of several Zone files
• The ICANN Country Code Names Supporting Organisation (ccNSO)

v • d • e Country code top-level domains Active:  .ac  .ad  .ae  .af  .ag  .ai  .al  .am  .an  .ao  .aq  .ar  .as  .at  .au  .aw  .ax  .az  .ba  .bb  .bd  .be  .bf  .bg  .bh  .bi  .bj  .bm  .bn  .bo  .br  .bs  .bt  .bw  .by  .bz  .ca  .cc  .cd  .cf  .cg  .ch  .ci  .ck  .cl  .cm  .cn  .co  .cr  .cu  .cv  .cx  .cy  .cz  .de  .dj  .dk  .dm  .do  .dz  .ec  .ee  .eg  .er  .es  .et  .eu  .fi  .fj  .fk  .fm  .fo  .fr  .ga  .gd  .ge  .gf  .gg  .gh  .gi  .gl  .gm  .gn  .gp  .gq  .gr  .gs  .gt  .gu  .gw  .gy  .hk  .hm  .hn  .hr  .ht  .hu  .id  .ie  .il  .im  .in  .io  .iq  .ir  .is  .it  .je  .jm  .jo  .jp  .ke  .kg  .kh  .ki  .km  .kn  .kp  .kr  .kw  .ky  .kz  .la  .lb  .lc  .li  .lk  .lr  .ls  .lt  .lu  .lv  .ly  .ma  .mc  .md  .me  .mg  .mh  .mk  .ml  .mm  .mn  .mo  .mp  .mq  .mr  .ms  .mt  .mu  .mv  .mw  .mx  .my  .mz  .na  .nc  .ne  .nf  .ng  .ni  .nl  .no  .np  .nr  .nu  .nz  .om  .pa  .pe  .pf  .pg  .ph  .pk  .pl  .pn  .pr  .ps  .pt  .pw  .py  .qa  .re  .ro  .rs  .ru  .rw  .sa  .sb  .sc  .sd  .se  .sg  .sh  .si  .sk  .sl  .sm  .sn  .sr  .st  .su  .sv  .sy  .sz  .tc  .td  .tf  .tg  .th  .tj  .tk  .tl  .tm  .tn  .to  .tr  .tt  .tv  .tw  .tz  .ua  .ug  .uk  .us  .uy  .uz  .va  .vc  .ve  .vg  .vi  .vn  .vu  .wf  .ws  .ye  .za  .zm  .zw Reserved/unassigned:  .um  .bl  .eh  .mf       Allocated/unused:  .bv  .gb  .pm  .sj  .so  .yt       Phaseout:  .tp  .yu       Deleted/retired:  .cs .dd  .zr See also: Generic top-level domains