The IE Domain Registry team has been taking care of this work since 1991. Until November 2000, the registry team was a part of University College Dublin Computing Services. This team has developed policies and procedures based on Internet standards, on discussions with service providers and other interested parties both within and outside Ireland, and on its own experience.

The naming authority for IE deals only with primary sub-domains of the top-level domain IE. Second- (or lower-) level sub-domain registration is the responsibility of the administrative contact-person for the primary sub-domain.

Acceptable requests are processed and registered on a "First come, first served" basis. No acceptable request is "more acceptable" than another.

2. Procedure

2.1: A request for registration of a domain name under the top-level domain IE must be submitted to the IE Domain Registry by plain text email to hostmaster@domainregistry.ie. The format of a registration request is standarised. Supporting documentation should be faxed to (+353 1) 230 0365. The Registry's full contact details are available.

2.2: Each request for registration of a new domain name must include the following items:

• The proposed name for the new domain;
• The full legal name of the applicant;
• The Class of the applicant (see Section 2 of the Naming and Registration Policy)
• The Category of domain name (see Section 3 of the Naming and Registration Policy)
• The name and contact details of the contact persons for the domain;
• The fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of a minimum of two distinct nameservers for the new domain (the IP number of a nameserver should also be supplied where the FQDN of the nameserver is within the domain to be delegated);
• A declaration that the applicant (and, where the request is made on behalf of the applicant by a service provider, also the service provider) accepts the conditions of liability and indemnity specified in Section 7 of this document.

2.3: The contact persons registered for a domain may include one or more representatives of the service provider. However, at least the administrative contact person must represent the applicant rather than the service provider, and must have authority to act for the applicant.

2.4: On acceptance of a request for registration of a new domain name, the Registry makes the necessary entries in the DNS zone file for the IE domain once the DNS configuration of the domain has been verified as operational and correct, and the applicant becomes the holder of the domain name.

2.5: Once the applicant becomes the domain holder the domain name is licensed by the naming authority to the domain holder. Such licenses are not transferable, either by the naming authority or the domain holder.

3. Requirements

At the time of registration, the proposed domain name must be both valid and available. Then and subsequently, the domain must be reachable and well managed.

Validity:

3.1: An Internet domain name consists of a number of labels separated each from the next by a dot (period). The characters which may be used in a label are the 26 letters ["A"-"Z"] of the Roman alphabet without regard to upper- or lower-case, the 10 digits ["0"-"9"] and the hyphen ["-"]. The hyphen may not be used as the initial or final character of a label. Each label may be up to 63 characters in length and must be no less than three. The entire domain name, counting the separating dots, must be no longer than 255 characters. (See Domain Names - Implementation and Specification: RFC-1035).

A domain name proposed for registration by the IE Domain Registry must consist of a single such label followed by the suffix ".IE".

3.2: The proposed domain name must come within one of the categories set out in Section 3 of the Naming and Registration Policy, in which specific requirements are set out for deriving the domain name from a name or mark already belonging to the applicant. A summary of the Naming and Registration Policy is provided in Section 3.12 below.

3.3: In addition, the following procedure must also be applied in deriving the proposed domain name from a name or mark already belonging to the applicant.

• Any space appearing in the name or mark may, at the applicant's option, be replaced by a hyphen.
• Any remaining characters, other than those valid for use in a label component of an Internet domain name (see 3.1 above) shall be omitted.

3.4: The proposed domain name must not be offensive or contrary to public policy or generally accepted principles of morality.

3.5: The proposed domain name does no longer have to abide by the generic name regulation, as of November the 5th, 2001.

3.6: The proposed domain name must not contravene the geographical name regulation.
This regulation requires that no domain name may consist of geographical name(s), word(s) or description(s), or a combination of such, followed by .ie, which in the view of the Registry would be likely to be misleading if registered in the name of the applicant, or if registered would be likely to infer or to imply that the applicant had exclusive or certain rights emanating from such a domain name. [Elaborate]

3.7: The proposed domain name must not at the time of receipt of the registration request already have been registered to another applicant.

3.8: A sub-domain name must be distinct from any of the recognised top-level domain names (ARPA, COM, MIL, NET, INT, ...) except in special circumstances where the Registry considers such a registration to be in the best national interest. [Amended: 22nd May 2000].

Availability:

3.9: Where the proposed name is in the opinion of the naming authority likely to lead to confusion, another name shall be chosen.

3.10: A Category of Domain Name is not itself an applicant. The applicant must be the named individual or organisation to whom the domain name is to be registered. A domain name cannot be registered in the name of a trademark or a Registered Business Name, for example. It will be registered to the holders of these names.

3.11: All applicants, regardless of the category of domain name being applied for, must demonstrate a Real and Substantive Connection with Ireland. What constitutes such a connection for each type of applicant is defined in Section 9 of this document.

3.12: The provisions of the Naming and Registration Policy must be satisfied, a summary of which is presented below.
The tick marks indicate what categories of domain name are available to different classes of applicant. Click on the cell which relates to the class/category combination of interest to see a summary of the Naming and Registration Policy requirements.

Reachability:

3.13: The domain must provide a point of contact for electronic mail where requests for information may be addressed. [Amended:13th November 2000.]

3.14: At least one secondary nameserver must be registered in addition to the primary nameserver, and both nameservers must be reachable from the primary nameserver for the IE domain. Moreover, the agreement of the manager of each nameserver to provide name service for the proposed domain must be obtained in advance. [Elaborate]

Good Management:

3.15: Outgoing mail from the sub-domain must satisfy the requirements of RFC-822. In particular, header lines in messages must not include any address either consisting only of a username ('local part' in RFC-822 terminology ) or containing a partially qualified domain name.

3.16: Maintenance fees as described in the Pricing Policy must be paid when they fall due.

4. Refusal of Registration

A request to register a domain name may be refused on any of the following grounds:

4.1: Insufficient information (see section 2 above).

4.2: Failure to satisfy the requirements (see section 3 above).

5. Updating and Termination of Registration

5.1: Any person may at any time request an update to or termination of the domain's registration. Such request will only be carried out upon receipt of authorisation from the administrative contact for the domain. By this means, the naming authority avoids acting with a third party to interfere in any existing relationship between such a party and the domain holder.

5.2: Whenever the naming authority receives conflicting requests for update to or termination of a domain's registration, the naming authority shall be free to determine which, if any, request to honour.

5.3: When a domain ceases to satisfy any of the conditions of reachability or of good management (see Section 3 above), the contact person(s) shall be notified and given the opportunity to correct the deficiency. Should the necessary action not be taken within a reasonable delay, the naming authority shall be free to terminate the registration of the domain without further notice.

5.4: Where the Registry becomes aware that an accepted request was seriously or fundamentally incorrect, either intentionally or unintentionally, it shall have the right to terminate the registration after giving due notice.

6. Recommendations

6.1: Mail routing and/or IP connectivity for a domain must in most cases be arranged by a service provider. In such a case it is preferable and more effective that the service provider submit the request for registration on behalf of the applicant.

6.2: Required documentation should be submitted with a registration request to expedite registration.

7. Liability and Indemnity

IE Domain Registry Limited acts as naming authority as a public service neutrally and in good faith subject to the following conditions:

7.1: The holder of a domain name shall indemnify IE Domain Registry Limited and its servants or agents and shall hold IE Domain Registry Limited and its servants or agents harmless from and against any loss, damage, liability, claim or expense resulting from a claim or claims asserted by a third party regarding licensing of or right to use the domain name in question.

7.2: No liability shall attach to IE Domain registry Limited or its servants or agents in respect of any loss or damage whatsoever suffered by the applicant or a service provider and arising from any action or neglect on the part of IE Domain Registry Limited or its servants or agents in the exercise of the function of the naming authority.

7.3: The applicant accepts that failure to pay the maintainance fee will result in the deactivation of the domain name.

8. General Requirements Relating to Documents

8.1: Any documentary evidence or document required to be provided to the Registry must be either the original document

or

an official copy issued by the originating agency

or

a certified copy of the original or official copy duly certified by a practising Solicitor, a Commissioner for Oaths, a Notary Public or a Registered Trade Mark Agent whose name is entered in the Register of Trade Mark Agents.

8.2: The Registry, in certain instances, may accept faxed copies.

8.3: Any original documents provided to the Registry will be returned after inspection by the Registry at the applicant's risk by ordinary prepaid post to the applicant's postal address as specified in the request for registration.

9. General Requirements relating to a Real and Substantive Connection with Ireland

Where a real and substantive connection with Ireland is claimed, the applicant must provide the Registry with sufficient documentary evidence to support this claim.

9.1: An applicant who is a natural person, and can show documentary evidence or reasonable proof of a correspondence address within the 32 counties of Ireland (the island of Ireland) along with adequate documentary evidence of the applicant's legal name eg: a copy of the applicants passport or birth certificate, shall be deemed to have a real and substantive connection with Ireland.

9.2: An applicant which, at the time of application, is a body corporate incorporated under the laws of Ireland shall be deemed to have a real and substantive connection with Ireland

or

An applicant which, at the time of application, is a body corporate incorporated outside Ireland and which has either established a "place of business" within Ireland which it has registered under Part XI of the Companies Act 1963, or has established a "branch" in Ireland which it has registered pursuant to the European Communities (Branch Disclosures) Regulations, 1993 shall be deemed to have a real and substantive connection with Ireland.

9.3: An applicant who, at the time of application, is registered for VAT in Ireland shall be deemed to have a real and substantive connection with Ireland.

9.4: An applicant, who, at the time of application, can demonstrate substantial trade or commercial activity within Ireland, shall be deemed to have a substantive connection with Ireland.

Examples of acceptable documentation would be copies of invoices (showing trade to or from Ireland), high-quality brochures, a signed letter on headed paper from a bank manager, firm of chartered accountant(s), registered auditor(s), tax consultant(s) (where the tax advisor identification number is displayed), or solicitor(s) confirming the applicants trade with Ireland.

This is essentially to provide eligibility for non-Irish entities, which trade with Irish based organisations, and require a .IE domain name presence, while also ensuring compliance with the Treaty of Rome.

9.5: An applicant, who, at the time of application has a registered Irish or UK TM (where the registered TM holder is situated within the 32 counties/the island of Ireland) or Community TM will be deemed to have a real and substantive connection with Ireland. In order to ensure compliance with the Treaty of Rome, all Community trademarks (CTMs) may be deemed sufficient to demonstrate a claim on a proposed domain name and may be deemed a real and substantive connection with Ireland for the purposes of registering a .IE domain name.

The Registry may, at its sole discretion, accept other documentary evidence that an entity has a real and substantive connection with Ireland.

This document is based on contributions from many people by way of suggestion and discussion. Such contributions are gratefully acknowledged from colleagues in UCD; from Mike Norris, Michael Nowlan, Nick Hilliard, Daniel Karrenberg; and especially from Piet Beertema, who provided a copy of the requirements for registration of an Internet domain under NL and the members of the One Domain Per Holder Working Group.