Name: Computer and Network Department of the Argentinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores Comercio Internacional y Culto Reconquista - MRECIC)
Type:Government Agency
Relationship with Government: Formal
The .AR ccTLD was established in September 1987. Its administration was originally delegated to the UNDP Project AR-86/026 which was developed at the Ministry.
Some years later, when the old Project's personnel went to work under direct contract with the Ministry, the ccTLD manager data at the IANA database was amended to reflect the updated Ministry's name and address as 'Sponsoring Organization'. In 1994/1995 the name 'NIC-Argentina' was adopted for the function, and shortly afterwards a website for automated registration was established at the Ministry's HQ, in addition to the already existent primary and secondary DNS.
Endorsed by the Australian government December 2000. Endorsement was contingent upon auDA demonstrating to Government its ability to meet several criteria.
Subject to the ultimate authority of NOIE (National Office for Information Economy) for national policy interests and ICANN for global technical-coordination interests.
Government has observer status on auDA board.
Signed sponsorship agreement with ICANN on October 25, 2001
Legislation: The Telecommunication Legislation Amendment Bill of December 2000 amends the Telecommunication Act 1997 (Subsection 474 (1) and 475 (3) ) and Australian Communications Authority Act 1997 (Section 4) clarify the Australian government's ability to "declare" and "direct" a manager of electronic addressing and assume responsibility if self-regulation prove inappropriate.
Civil servants of the Ministry of Public and Traffic and the regulator are members of the Domain Council (which decides fundamental issues of registration policy) and actively participate in setting the guiding principles of the .at domain name policy.
The civil servants participate in "a professional, personal role" and not as delegates of the ministry.
Internet Foundation Austria (IPA) was created and is managed by ISPA (Internet Service Provider Austria). The purpose of the trust is to foster and advance the Internet in Austria, in particular to fulfill the administration of the .at top level domain as a trustee of the local Internet community and in the public interest.
Before the foundation of nic.at, domain registrations were handled by the University of Vienna.
Legislation: The government has a supervisory role according to the Telecommunications Act (100/97 s.61 TKG), which highlights the public interest in a functioning domain administration as far as unfettered provision and access to public networks and services is concerned.
Advisory members of DNS.be include the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Belgian Institute of Postal and Telecommunications Services (the regulating entity of the postal and telecommunication sector in Belgium).
In 2001, IANA received a request to change the technical contact and sponsoring organization from an informal, out-of-country operation of the .bi ccTLD to the local Centre National de l'Informatique (CNI). According to the request, the technical management of .bi was to be performed by CBINET, a subsidiary of CNI providing Internet services in Burundi.
CNI signed an ICANN-ccTLD Manager Memorandum of Understanding in May 2002, and a redelegation agreement with ICANN July 16, 2002.
The Ministry of Communication of the Republic of Burundi endorsed the redelegation to CNI and the MOU in March 2002.
CBINET, the technical contact, has been regulated by Burundi legislation since August 1998.
The .ca was delegated to John Demco of University of British Columbia in 1987.
In 1997, the Canadian Internet community set up a public consultation about .ca (through the Canadian Domain Name Consultative Committee - CDNCC). They recommended that a private-sector, not-for-profit corporation be set up to take over the administration of .ca. A framework for for the administration of the .ca domain name system was outlined by the committee in a 1998 report.
In 1998, CIRA, the Canadian Internet Registration Agency, was incorporated.
In a 1999 letter the Canadian Government recognized CIRA as the new administrator of the .ca domain. In this letter general principles were set out that it expected CIRA to adhere to in its management of .ca.
In May 2000, an Umbrella Agreement was signed between the government, CIRA and UBC which provided for an orderly transition for the management of the domain space as well as highlighted mechanisms that facilitate input from the Government. The agreement was structured so that the redelegation came from ICANN and not the Canadian government.
The agreement lays the base for a legal relationship between CIRA and the Government of Canada that ensures that those two entities and ICANN can perform their respective responsibilities for stable operation. Governmental guidance is stated in broad, public-interest terms, and requires that any governmental action to replace CIRA be justified by substantial reasons.
1 out of 13 directors of CIRA represents the government of Canada in an ex-officio capacity.
In October 2000, a letter was sent to ICANN on behalf of the government of Canada to formally designate CIRA as the .ca delegee.
Name: China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC)
Type:Public Institution
Relationship with Government: Formal
Business management of CNNIC is by the Ministry of Information Industry. Administrative management of CNNIC is by the Chinese Academy of Science. CNNIC Work Committee supervises and evaluates the construction and administration of CNNIC.
Dot CX Limited is a community owned, non profit entity.
The formal redelegation of .cx to Dot CX was endorsed by the territorial government (Shire) on 09.07.00 and by the Commonwealth of Australia on 19.02.02. According to Australia' endorsement agreement, the administration of the .cx ccTLD is subject to the ultimate authority of Australia and redelegation may occur in circumstances such as insolvency of Dot CX, technical incompetence and loss of community support.
A final MOU between the Commonwealth and Dot CX based on the Australian endorsement was executed on March 26, 2003.
A Sponsorship agreement with ICANN is under discussion, awaiting clarification on key points in the Commonwealth-CX MOU
NIC-Mexico is based at the University of Monterrey, Technology Center (ITESM), but is independently administrated.
A committee from the The Trade and Industrial Promotion Commission has been looking at the development of NIC. A working group at the 2001 meeting proposed regulation of the ccTLD in its conclusion. The committee also considered whether the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) should run the ccTLD.
Working sessions on domain names held in Fall 2002 concluded that domain names should not be treated as trademarks, and therefore the IMPI would not be the proper organization to run the ccTLD. Instead, it was recognized that ITESM has been performing effectively and thus, it would be advisable for the government of Mexico to conduct the appropriate formalities in order to grant NIC-México an official acknowledgment. However, it was agreed that IMPI and ITESM should have a closer relationship in order to exchange record information efficiently.
Malawi SDNP (Sustainable Development Network Programme) is a UNDP funded government programme that assists with the development of the Internet in Malawi.
Malawi has recently signed (June 28, 02) a ccTLD-ICANN MOU which confirms the ccTLD management
Name: MYNIC (Malaysian Network Information Centre)
Type:Government Agency
Relationship with Government: Formal
MYNIC is a division of MIMOS Berhad, a mission-oriented research and development (R&D) government agency. It acts as registry and registrar for the .my domain, and decides Internet policy issues.
The IANA listed ccTLD for .ly is Alshaeen for Information Technology, a Tripoli based company. According to ICANN the registry does not exist.
Al Foursan International Co is calling itself the ".LY cc TLD Manager", led by a Dr. Tayeb. It is registering domain names under nic.ly on a website called www.lydomains.com which includes a whois service.
According to ICANN/IANA, neither Dr. Tayeb nor Al Foursan International Co. has been appointed as a ccTLD manager, but are called "caretakers". Libya has a redelegation pending, but in the meanwhile ICANN is letting Dr. Tayeb run the .ly registrations.
Libya is a member of the GAC, which suggests that it is concerned with ccTLD issues.
The ccTLD was originally held by a foundation, the Japan Network Information Center, which transformed in 1997 to a non-profit corporation. A new company was established in 2000 to manage the ccTLD more profitably.
JPNIC transferred its management responsibility to JPRS based on the Memorandum of Understanding signed by and between JPRS and JPNIC on 9 November 2001. After being informed in writing of the execution of this Memorandum, the Japanese governmental authority endorsed it on January 30 2002.
A January 2002 letter from the Minister of Public Management, Home Affairs, Post and Telecommunications to Stewart Lynn ensures the public interest in the .jp top level domain and emphasizes the most important parts of the MOU:
Article 6 sets out the responsibilities for JPRS.
Article 7, the "Securement of Public Interest" stipulates that the Japanese Governmental Authority and JPNIC will examine cooperatively whether JPRS complies with the responsibilities set out in Article 6.
If JPRS violates any Article 6 responsibility, necessary measures such as a correction directive and, in case of continuous breach, redelegation shall be taken by the Japanese Governmental Authority and JPNIC.
On 27 February 2002, ICANN and JPRS entered into a ccTLD Sponsorship Agreement under which JPRS is recognized as the manager of the .jp ccTLD.
Although the activities of the Italian Naming Authority are under the auspices of MURST (Ministry of Scientific Research and Technology), it was decided that the ccTLD should be handled autonomously.
Recently there have been efforts to formalize the management of the Italian Internet and to involve government representatives in the ccTLD. To that extent, the Registration Authority, in charge of assigning '.it' domain names, and the Naming authority that regulates them, will be merging into a new entity by the name of 'Nick.it Antonio Meucci'. It will be managed by a board of five directors, three appointed by the Government, and by a technical committee of fifteen members that will manage the assignment and regulation of '.it' domain names in Italy.
A commission has been established to coordinate the participation of Italy in the GAC, and to start the debate on how to participate in the agreement with ICANN for the delegation of the TLD .it.
It is also anticipated that the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications will produce a complete set of rules on the running of the cctld.
The registry operates without legislation or government involvement (though with government's blessing). An analysis by the Ministry of Justice on the need for regulation or legislation was done, and the decision was that there is no such need.
The ccTLD was transferred from University College Dublin in 2001. The Irish government is content to let the existing administration continue operation.
Legislation: The Irish government has enacted legislation, Irish Electronic Commerce Act. 2000, Article 31, which allows it to take control of the .ie ccTLD. The legislation is a fall-back in case there is ever a crisis in the operation of the ccTLD.
Name: National Centre for Software Technology (NCST)
Type:Government Agency
Relationship with Government: Formal
NCST is a scientific R & D institution under the Ministry of Information Technology (MIT).
Policy is overseen by The Internet Management Group, a committee formed by the Government of India, whose members include representatives from the MIT, NCST and various business interests.
Name: Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation Limited (HKIRC)
Type:Non-profit corporation
Relationship with Government: Formal
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSARG) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the HKIRC in April 2002 to designate the corporation as the ".hk" domain name administrator. The MOU encompasses a tripartite relationship amongst ICANN, the Government and the HKIRC.
The government is represented on the board of directors to provide input pertaining to public policies. The Information Technology Services Department represents the HKSARG as an ex-officio director at the HKIRC Board to provide the necessary steer and assistance.
The HKIRC was established as a private, non-profit-making and non-statutory organization in order to be more flexible in responding to new situations.
