Country code top-level domain
Encyclopedia
A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet
top-level domain
generally used or reserved for a country
, a sovereign state, or a dependent territory
.
All ASCII
ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all two-letter top-level domains are ccTLDs. In 2010, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
(IANA) began implementing internationalized country code
TLDs, consisting of language-native characters when displayed in an end-user application. Creation and delegation of ccTLDs is described in RFC 1591, corresponding to ISO 3166-1
alpha-2
country codes.
(ca
) and German
(de
) domains, or registration may be open.
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. Two French
territories, bl
(Saint Barthélemy
) and mf
(Saint Martin
), await local assignment by France's government.
The code eh
, although eligible as ccTLD for Western Sahara
, has never been assigned and does not exist in DNS
. Only one subdomain is still registered in gb
(ISO 3166-1 for the United Kingdom
) and no new registrations are being accepted for it. Sites in the United Kingdom generally use uk
(see below).
The former .um
ccTLD for the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands
was removed in April 2008. Under RFC 1591 rules .um
is eligible as a ccTLD on request by the relevant governmental agency and local Internet user community.
(for Czechoslovakia
) and zr
(for Zaire
). 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.
The historical country codes dd
for the German Democratic Republic
and yd for South Yemen were eligible for a ccTLD, but not allocated; see also de
and ye
.
The temporary reassignment of country code cs (Serbia and Montenegro
) until its split into rs
and me
(Serbia
and Montenegro
, respectively) led to some controversies about the stability of ISO 3166-1 country codes, resulting in a second edition of ISO 3166-1 in 2007 with a guarantee that retired codes will not be reassigned for at least 50 years, and the replacement of RFC 3066 by RFC 4646 for country codes used in language tags in 2006.
The previous ISO 3166-1 code for Yugoslavia
, YU, was removed by ISO on 2003-07-23, but the yu
ccTLD remained in operation. Finally, after a two-year transition to Serbian rs
and Montenegrin me
, the .yu domain was phased out in March 2010.
Australia was originally assigned the oz country code, which was later changed to au
with the .oz domains moved to .oz.au.
, in its language-native script or alphabet
, such as the Arabic alphabet
, or a non-alphabetic writing system
, such as Chinese character
s. IDN ccTLDs are an application of the internationalized domain name
(IDN) system to top-level Internet domains assigned to countries, or independent geographic regions.
ICANN started to accept applications for IDN ccTLDs in November 2009, and installed the first set into the Domain Names System in May 2010. The first set was a group of Arabic names for the countries of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. By May 2010, 21 countries had submitted applications to ICANN, representing 11 languages.
s, 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 the United States
(us
), and cr.yp.to of Tonga
(to
). The .co domain of Colombia has generated significant interest as a potential competitor to generic TLDs for commercial use given its possible use as the abbreviation for the word "company". In June and July 2010 .co was opened for public registrations.
Unconventional ccTLDs (such as .cm) form speculation over typographical errors. The .cm domain of Cameroon
has generated interest due to the possibility that people might miss type the "o" for sites in the .com domain.
.
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
top-level domain
Top-level domain
A top-level domain is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. For all domains in lower levels, it is the last part of the domain name, that is, the last label of a...
generally used or reserved for a country
Country
A country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously...
, a sovereign state, or a dependent territory
Dependent territory
A dependent territory, dependent area or dependency is a territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a State, and remains politically outside of the controlling state's integral area....
.
All ASCII
ASCII
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text...
ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all two-letter top-level domains are ccTLDs. In 2010, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority is the entity that oversees global IP address allocation, autonomous system number allocation, root zone management in the Domain Name System , media types, and other Internet Protocol-related symbols and numbers...
(IANA) began implementing internationalized country code
Internationalized country code
An internationalized country code top-level domain is a top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet...
TLDs, consisting of language-native characters when displayed in an end-user application. Creation and delegation of ccTLDs is described in RFC 1591, corresponding to ISO 3166-1
ISO 3166-1
ISO 3166-1 is part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization , and defines codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. The official name of the standard is Codes for the representation of names...
alpha-2
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization , to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest...
country codes.
Delegation and management
IANA is responsible for determining an appropriate trustee for each ccTLD. Administration and control is then delegated to that trustee, 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 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 CanadianCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
(ca
.ca
.ca is the Internet country code top-level domain for Canada. The domain name registry that operates it is the Canadian Internet Registration Authority . Registrants of .ca domains must meet the Canadian Presence Requirements as defined by the registry...
) and German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(de
.de
.de is the country code top-level domain for the Federal Republic of Germany. DENIC does not require specific second-level domains, as it is the case with the .uk domain range which require .co.uk domain for example.The name is based on the first two letters of the German name for Germany...
) domains, or registration may be open.
Relation to ISO 3166-1
Unused ISO 3166-1 codes
Almost all 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
Bouvet Island
Bouvet Island is an uninhabited Antarctic volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean, 2,525 km south-southwest of South Africa. It is a dependent territory of Norway and, lying north of 60°S latitude, is not subject to the Antarctic Treaty. The centre of the island is an ice-filled crater of an...
(bv
.bv
.bv is the Internet country code top-level domain reserved for the uninhabited Norwegian dependent territory of Bouvet Island. The domain name registry and sponsor is Norid, but .bv is not open for registration. .bv was designated on 21 August 1997 and was placed under the .no registry Norid...
) and the designation Svalbard and Jan Mayen
Svalbard and Jan Mayen
Svalbard and Jan Mayen is a statistical designation defined by ISO 3166-1 of two parts of Norway under separate jurisdictions—Svalbard and Jan Mayen. While the two are combined for the purposes of the International Organization for Standardization category, they are not administratively related...
(sj
.sj
.sj is the Internet country code top-level domain reserved for the designation Svalbard and Jan Mayen. The domain name registry is Norid, but .sj is not open for registration...
) do exist in DNS, but no subdomains have been assigned, and it is Norid
Norid
Uninett Norid AS, trading as Norid, is the domain name registry for the three Norwegian country code top-level domains .no, .sj and .bv. The non-profit company is based in Trondheim, where it shares offices with its parent company Uninett; both companies being owned by the Norwegian Ministry of...
policy not to assign any at present. Two French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
territories, bl
.bl
.bl is an assigned Internet country code top-level domain that was to be created for Saint Barthélemy, following the decision on 21 September 2007 by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency to allocate BL as the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for Saint Barthélemy. This decision followed Saint Barthélemy's new...
(Saint Barthélemy
Saint Barthélemy
Saint Barthélemy , officially the Territorial collectivity of Saint Barthélemy , is an overseas collectivity of France. Often abbreviated to Saint-Barth in French, or St. Barts in English, the indigenous people called the island Ouanalao...
) and mf
.mf
.mf is an assigned Internet country code top-level domain that can be created for Saint Martin, following the decision on September 21, 2007 by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency to allocate MF as the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for Saint Martin. This decision followed Saint Martin's new status as an...
(Saint Martin
Saint Martin (France)
Saint Martin , officially the Collectivity of Saint Martin is an overseas collectivity of France located in the Caribbean. It came into being on 15 July 2007, encompassing the northern parts of Saint Martin island and neighbouring islets, the largest of which is Île Tintamarre...
), await local assignment by France's government.
The code eh
.eh
Western Sahara is a disputed territory, in turn it has no country code top-level domain , but .eh is reserved for that purpose. IANA has no sponsoring organizations assigned to this domain....
, although eligible as ccTLD for Western Sahara
Western Sahara
Western Sahara is a disputed territory in North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its surface area amounts to . It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly...
, has never been assigned and does not exist in DNS
Domain name system
The Domain Name System is a hierarchical distributed naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participating entities...
. Only one subdomain is still registered in gb
.gb
.gb is a reserved Internet country code top-level domain for the United Kingdom. Introduced at the same time as the UK's other top-level domain , it was never widely used...
(ISO 3166-1 for the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
) and no new registrations are being accepted for it. Sites in the United Kingdom generally use uk
.uk
.uk is the Internet country code top-level domain for the United Kingdom. , it is the fourth most popular top-level domain worldwide , with over 9.5 million registrations....
(see below).
The former .um
.um
.um is the Internet country code top-level domain for the United States Minor Outlying Islands. It was administered by the United States Minor Outlying Islands Registry...
ccTLD for the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands
United States Minor Outlying Islands
The United States Minor Outlying Islands, a statistical designation defined by the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 3166-1 code, consists of nine United States insular areas in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea: Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll,...
was removed in April 2008. Under RFC 1591 rules .um
.um
.um is the Internet country code top-level domain for the United States Minor Outlying Islands. It was administered by the United States Minor Outlying Islands Registry...
is eligible as a ccTLD on request by the relevant governmental agency and local Internet user community.
ASCII ccTLDs not in ISO 3166-1
Several ASCII ccTLDs are in use that are not ISO 3166-1 two-letter codes. Some of these codes were specified in older versions of the ISO list.- uk.uk.uk is the Internet country code top-level domain for the United Kingdom. , it is the fourth most popular top-level domain worldwide , with over 9.5 million registrations....
(United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
): The ISO 3166-1 code for the United Kingdom is GB. However, the JANETJANETJANET is a private British government-funded computer network dedicated to education and research. All further- and higher-education organisations in the UK are connected to JANET, as are all the Research Councils; the majority of these sites are connected via 20 metropolitan area networks JANET...
network had already selected uk as a top-level identifier for its pre-existing Name Registration SchemeJANET NRSThe JANET NRS was a pseudo-hierarchical naming scheme adopted for use on British academic and research networks before the superficially similar system used by the Internet DNS had been fully established....
, and this was incorporated into the DNS root. gb.gb.gb is a reserved Internet country code top-level domain for the United Kingdom. Introduced at the same time as the UK's other top-level domain , it was never widely used...
was assigned with the intention of a transition, but this never occurred and the use of uk is now entrenched. - su.su.su was assigned as the country code top-level domain for the Soviet Union on September 19, 1990. It remains in use today, even though the Soviet Union itself no longer exists, and is administered by the Russian Institute for Public Networks .In 2001, the managers of the domain stated that they...
This obsolete ISO 3166 code for the Soviet UnionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
was assigned when the Soviet Union was still extant; moreover, new su registrations are accepted. - ac.ac.ac is the Internet country code top-level domain for Ascension Island. It is administered by NIC.AC, a subsidiary of the Internet Computer Bureau based in the United Kingdom.Registration for this domain is open to anyone...
(Ascension IslandAscension IslandAscension Island is an isolated volcanic island in the equatorial waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, around from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America, which is roughly midway between the horn of South America and Africa...
): This code is a vestige of IANA'sInternet Assigned Numbers AuthorityThe Internet Assigned Numbers Authority is the entity that oversees global IP address allocation, autonomous system number allocation, root zone management in the Domain Name System , media types, and other Internet Protocol-related symbols and numbers...
decision in 1996 to allow the use of codes reserved in the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2ISO 3166-1 alpha-2ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization , to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest...
reserve list for use by the Universal Postal UnionUniversal Postal UnionThe Universal Postal Union is an international organization that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to the worldwide postal system. The UPU contains four bodies consisting of the Congress, the Council of Administration , the Postal Operations Council and the...
. The decision was later reversed, with Ascension Island now the sole outlier. (Three other ccTLDs, gg.gg.gg is the country code top-level domain for Guernsey. It is administered by Island Networks.-Second-level domains:Since 2000, names have been registered principally directly at second level....
(GuernseyGuernseyGuernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...
), im.im.im is the Internet country code top-level domain for the Isle of Man. It is administered by the Government of the Isle of Man and managed on a day to day basis by Domicilium, an offshore Internet Service Provider based on the Isle of Man....
(Isle of ManIsle of ManThe Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
) and je.je.je is the Internet country code top-level domain for Jersey. It is administered by Island Networks.-Second-level domains:Since 2000, names have been registered principally directly under the country code....
(JerseyJerseyJersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
) also fell under this category from 1996 until they received corresponding ISO 3166 codes in March 2006.) - eu.eu.eu is the country code top-level domain for the European Union . Launched 7 December 2005, the domain is available for organisations in and residents of EU member states. The TLD is administered by EURid, a consortium consisting of the national ccTLD registry operators of Belgium, Sweden, Italy...
(European UnionEuropean UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
): On September 25, 2000, ICANNICANNThe Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...
decided to allow the use of any two-letter code in the ISO 3166-1ISO 3166-1ISO 3166-1 is part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization , and defines codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. The official name of the standard is Codes for the representation of names...
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 registryDomain name registryA domain name registry is a database of all domain names registered in a top-level domain. A registry operator, also called a network information center , is the part of the Domain Name System of the Internet that keeps the database of domain names, and generates the zone files which convert...
(named EURidEURidEURid vzw/asbl is a non-profit organisation established on 8 April 2003 by the European Commission as the domain name registry to operate the new .eu top-level domain....
) was chosen by the European CommissionEuropean CommissionThe European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
, and criteria for allocation set: ICANNICANNThe Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...
approved eu.eu.eu is the country code top-level domain for the European Union . Launched 7 December 2005, the domain is available for organisations in and residents of EU member states. The TLD is administered by EURid, a consortium consisting of the national ccTLD registry operators of Belgium, Sweden, Italy...
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.tp.tp was the listed Internet country code top-level domain for East Timor. The letters used refer to Timor Português or Portuguese Timor a legacy from the nation's previous status as a Portuguese colony...
(the previous ISO 3166-1 code for East TimorEast TimorThe Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
): Being phased out in favor of tl.tl.tl is the current country code top-level domain for East Timor . It is administered through the Council of Country Code Administrators and second-level registration is available through resellers worldwide with no local presence requirement.The previous ccTLD for East Timor was .tp...
since 2005.
Historical ccTLDs
There are two ccTLDs that have been deleted after the corresponding 2-letter code was withdrawn from ISO 3166-1: cs.cs
.cs was for several years the country code top-level domain for Czechoslovakia. However, the country split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, and the two new countries were soon assigned their own ccTLDs: .cz and .sk respectively...
(for Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
) and zr
.zr
.zr is the former Internet country code top-level domain for Zaire. Because Zaire was renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1997, .zr was phased out and .cd took its place. In 2001, .zr was finally terminated.-External links:* , 20 June 2001...
(for Zaire
Zaire
The Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...
). 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
.su
.su was assigned as the country code top-level domain for the Soviet Union on September 19, 1990. It remains in use today, even though the Soviet Union itself no longer exists, and is administered by the Russian Institute for Public Networks .In 2001, the managers of the domain stated that they...
remains in use more than a decade after SU was removed from ISO 3166-1.
The historical country codes dd
.dd
.dd was the assigned country code top-level domain for the German Democratic Republic . It was chosen based on the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for the German Democratic Republic, the letters coming from the German name of the country: ...
for the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
and yd for South Yemen were eligible for a ccTLD, but not allocated; see also de
.de
.de is the country code top-level domain for the Federal Republic of Germany. DENIC does not require specific second-level domains, as it is the case with the .uk domain range which require .co.uk domain for example.The name is based on the first two letters of the German name for Germany...
and ye
.ye
-Second level domains:There are eight Second Level Domains:* com.ye: Commercial Entities* co.ye: Companies* ltd.ye: Limited Companies* me.ye: Private Individuals* net.ye: Network Providers...
.
The temporary reassignment of country code cs (Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia and Montenegro was a country in southeastern Europe, formed from two former republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia : Serbia and Montenegro. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, it was established in 1992 as a federation called the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
) until its split into rs
.rs
.rs is the Internet country code top-level domain for Serbia. The domain name registry that operates it is the Register of National Internet Domain Names of Serbia . The letters rs stand for Republic of Serbia....
and me
.me
.me is the Internet country code top-level domain for Montenegro.The .me top level domain replaced the .yu domain previously used by Serbia and Montenegro....
(Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
and Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
, respectively) led to some controversies about the stability of ISO 3166-1 country codes, resulting in a second edition of ISO 3166-1 in 2007 with a guarantee that retired codes will not be reassigned for at least 50 years, and the replacement of RFC 3066 by RFC 4646 for country codes used in language tags in 2006.
The previous ISO 3166-1 code for Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, YU, was removed by ISO on 2003-07-23, but the yu
.yu
.yu was the Internet country code top-level domain that was assigned to Yugoslavia and was mainly used by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and its successor Serbia and Montenegro between 1994 and 2010....
ccTLD remained in operation. Finally, after a two-year transition to Serbian rs
.rs
.rs is the Internet country code top-level domain for Serbia. The domain name registry that operates it is the Register of National Internet Domain Names of Serbia . The letters rs stand for Republic of Serbia....
and Montenegrin me
.me
.me is the Internet country code top-level domain for Montenegro.The .me top level domain replaced the .yu domain previously used by Serbia and Montenegro....
, the .yu domain was phased out in March 2010.
Australia was originally assigned the oz country code, which was later changed to au
.au
.au is the Internet country code top-level domain for Australia.-History:The domain name was originally allocated by Jon Postel, operator of IANA to Kevin Robert Elz of Melbourne University in 1986. After an approximately five year process in the 1990s, the Internet industry created a self...
with the .oz domains moved to .oz.au.
Internationalized ccTLDs
An internationalized country code top-level domain (IDN ccTLD) is a top-level domain with a specially encoded domain name that is displayed in an end user application, such as a web browserWeb browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
, in its language-native script or alphabet
Alphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letters—basic written symbols or graphemes—each of which represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semantic...
, such as the Arabic alphabet
Arabic alphabet
The Arabic alphabet or Arabic abjad is the Arabic script as it is codified for writing the Arabic language. It is written from right to left, in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters. Because letters usually stand for consonants, it is classified as an abjad.-Consonants:The Arabic alphabet has...
, or a non-alphabetic writing system
Writing system
A writing system is a symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in language.-General properties:Writing systems are distinguished from other possible symbolic communication systems in that the reader must usually understand something of the associated spoken language to...
, such as Chinese character
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
s. IDN ccTLDs are an application of the internationalized domain name
Internationalized domain name
An internationalized domain name is an Internet domain name that contains at least one label that is displayed in software applications, in whole or in part, in a language-specific script or alphabet, such as Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Hindi or the Latin alphabet-based characters with diacritics,...
(IDN) system to top-level Internet domains assigned to countries, or independent geographic regions.
ICANN started to accept applications for IDN ccTLDs in November 2009, and installed the first set into the Domain Names System in May 2010. The first set was a group of Arabic names for the countries of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. By May 2010, 21 countries had submitted applications to ICANN, representing 11 languages.
Unconventional usage
Lenient registration restrictions on certain ccTLDs have resulted in domain names like I.am, fa.st, tip.it, start.at and go.to. Other variations of ccTLD usage have been called domain hackDomain hack
A domain hack is an unconventional domain name that combines domain levels, especially the top-level domain , to spell out the full "name" or title of the domain. Examples include del.icio.us , goo.gl and fold.it...
s, where the second-level domain
Second-level domain
In the Domain Name System hierarchy, a second-level domain is a domain that is directly below a top-level domain . For example, in example.com, example is the second-level domain of the .com TLD....
and ccTLD are used together to form one word or one title. This has resulted in domains like blo.gs
Blo.gs
blo.gs is a service based on RSS feed aggregation, primarily from blogs, which produces a simple list of the user's bookmarked sites, ordered according to recentness of update. It was acquired by Yahoo! in June 2005...
of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands, known as the South Sandwich...
(gs
.gs
.gs is the Internet country code top-level domain for South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands..gs is a member of CoCCA, a group of country-code domains making use of common registry and dispute resolution services, along with .af, .cx, .nf, .ki, .tl, .mn, .dm, and .mu..gs is a common domain...
), del.icio.us of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(us
.us
.us is the Internet country code top-level domain for the United States and was established in 1985. Registrants of .us domains must be United States citizens, residents, or organizations, or a foreign entity with a presence in the United States...
), and cr.yp.to of Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
(to
.to
.to is the Internet country code top-level domain of the island kingdom of Tonga.The government of Tonga sells domains in its ccTLD to any interested party. Because to is a common English preposition, it became popular to craft memorable URLs called domain hacks that take advantage of this, such...
). The .co domain of Colombia has generated significant interest as a potential competitor to generic TLDs for commercial use given its possible use as the abbreviation for the word "company". In June and July 2010 .co was opened for public registrations.
Unconventional ccTLDs (such as .cm) form speculation over typographical errors. The .cm domain of Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
has generated interest due to the possibility that people might miss type the "o" for sites in the .com domain.
Commercial usage
A number of the world's smallest countries have licensed their TLDs for worldwide commercial use; for a list of these, see Country code top-level domains with commercial licensesCountry code top-level domains with commercial licenses
Country code top-level domains with commercial licenses are Internet top-level domains associated with countries or sovereign states, which, unlike most ccTLDs, have been licensed for worldwide commercial use....
.
External links
- IANA's list of TLDs – official site
- World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Domain nameDomain nameA domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System ....
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)