May, 2010 : ICANN Announces Availability of IDN ccTLDs

📅 May 6, 2010 - Facilitates easier access to the Internet for users in the Middle East, with the ability to use their primary language for the entire domain name.

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the not-for-profit organization dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable, announced that for the first time in the history of the Internet, non-Latin characters are being usedfor top-level domains. The organization says that the first IDN country-code top-level domains were inserted in the DNS root zone earlier yesterday. The associated countries and their respective IDN ccTLDs are:

• Egypt: مصر (Egypt)

• Saudi Arabia: السعودية (AlSaudiah)

• United Arab Emirates: امارات (Emarat)

The organization explains that these are the first IDN ccTLDs to appearonline as a result of the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process which wasapproved by its Board at its annual meeting in Seoul, South Korea on 30October 2009. The first requests were received starting 16 November2009. The process enables countries and territories to submit requeststo ICANN for IDN ccTLDs, representing their respective country orterritory names in scripts other than Latin. It further explains that sofar, it has received a total of 21 requests for IDN ccTLD(s)representing 11 languages. A total of 13 requests have successfullypassed through the "String Evaluation" (the second stage of the process)and are hence ready for the requesting country or territory to initiatethe request for TLD Delegation (the final stage of the applicationprocess). It adds that as of today, the first three of these have beendelegated into the DNS root zone, which means they are available for use.

The organization articulates that Arabic has now become the first non-Latin script to be used as an IDN ccTLD. It states that Arabic is among the most highly used languages on the Internet today. The Middle-East has an average Internet penetration of just over 20%, andshows a big potential for growth. It further states that users in theregion will now have easier access to the Internet, with the ability touse their primary language for the entire domain name.

The organization avers that the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Program requiresparticipants to demonstrate that they fulfill a number of requirements:

• the script used to represent the IDN ccTLDs must be non-Latin;
• the languages used to express the IDN ccTLDs must be official in the corresponding country or territory; and
• a specific set of technical requirements must be met (as evaluated by anexternal DNS Stability Panel comprised of DNS and IDN experts).
  

The organization mentions that the request and evaluation processes entail three steps:

Preparation (by the requester in the country / territory): Community consensus is built for which IDN ccTLD to apply for, how it is run, and which organization will be running it, along with preparing and gathering all the required supporting documentation.

String Evaluation: incoming requests to ICANN in accordance with the criteria described above: the technical and linguistic requirements for the IDN ccTLD string(s). Applications are received through an online system available together with additional material supporting the process at: https://www.icann.org/en/topics/idn/fast-track/

String Delegation: requests successfully meeting string evaluation criteria are eligible to apply for delegation following the same ICANN IANA process as is used for ASCII based ccTLDs. String delegation requests are submitted to IANA root zone management.