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An internationalized country code top-level domain is a
top-level domain A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet after the root domain. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. For all domains in ...
in the
Domain Name System The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed naming system for computers, services, and other resources in the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It associates various information with domain names assigned to ...
(DNS) of the
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
. IDN ccTLDs are specially encoded domain names that are displayed in an end user application, such as a
web browser A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used on ...
, in their language-native script or
alphabet An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this way; in a syllabary, each character represents a syll ...
, such as the Arabic alphabet, or a non-alphabetic
writing system A writing system is a method of visually representing verbal communication, based on a script and a set of rules regulating its use. While both writing and speech are useful in conveying messages, writing differs in also being a reliable form ...
, such as
Chinese character Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the Written Chinese, writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are k ...
s. IDN ccTLDs are an application of the
internationalized domain name An internationalized domain name (IDN) is an Internet domain name that contains at least one label displayed in software applications, in whole or in part, in non-latin script or alphabet, such as Arabic, Bengali, Chinese (Mandarin, simplified ...
system to top-level Internet domains assigned to countries, or independent geographic regions. Although the domain class uses the term ''code'', some of these ccTLDs are not codes but full words. For example, السعودية ''(as-Suʻūdiyya)'' is not an abbreviation of "Saudi Arabia", but the commonwealth short-form name of the country in
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
. Countries with internationalized ccTLDs also retain their traditional ASCII-based ccTLDs. As of August 2018 there are 59 approved internationalized country code top-level domains, of them at least 47 used. The most used are
.рф The domain name .рф (romanized as ''.rf''; abbreviation of ) is the Cyrillic country code top-level domain for the Russian Federation, in the Domain Name System of the Internet. In the Domain Name System it has the ASCII DNS name . The domain ...
(Russia) with over 900,000 domains names, .台灣 (Taiwan) with around 500,000 and
.中国 .cn is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the People's Republic of China introduced on 28 November 1990. Domain name administration in mainland China is managed through a branch of the Ministry of Industry and Information. The registr ...
(China) with over 200,000 domains. Still as of 2018 around 20 countries using non-Latin script do not have an internationalized country code top-level domain, including
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.


History

The
ICANN The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) is an American multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces ...
board approved the establishment of an internationalized top-level domain name working group within the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) in December 2006. They resolved in June 2007 ''inter alia'' to proceed and asked the IDNC Working Group to prepare a proposal, which the group delivered in June 2008, "to recommend mechanisms to introduce a limited number of non-contentious IDN ccTLDs, associated with the ISO 3166-1 two-letter codes in a short time frame to meet near term demand." The group proposed a methodology using ICANN's Fast Track Process based on the ICANN charter to work with the
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is a standards organization that oversees global IP address allocation, autonomous system number allocation, root zone management in the Domain Name System (DNS), media types, and other Interne ...
# Identify technical basis of the TLD strings and country code specific processes, select IDN ccTLD personnel and authorities, and prepare documentation; # Perform ICANN due diligence process for technical proposal and publish method; # Enter delegation process within established IANA procedures. In October 2009,
ICANN The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) is an American multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces ...
resolved to start accepting applications for top-level
internationalized domain name An internationalized domain name (IDN) is an Internet domain name that contains at least one label displayed in software applications, in whole or in part, in non-latin script or alphabet, such as Arabic, Bengali, Chinese (Mandarin, simplified ...
s from representatives of countries and territories in November. Starting 16 November 2009, nations and territories could apply for IDN ccTLDs. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the
Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
were among the first countries to apply for the new internationalized domain name country code top-level domains. In January 2010 ICANN announced that these countries' IDN ccTLDs were the first four new IDN ccTLDs to have passed the Fast Track String Evaluation within the domain application process. In May 2010, twenty-one different countries representing eleven languages, including Chinese,
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
,
Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...
, and
Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...
, had requested new IDN country codes. On 5 May 2010, the first implementations, all in the Arabic alphabet, were activated. Egypt was assigned the مصر. country code, Saudi Arabia السعودية., and the United Arab Emirates امارات., (all reading right to left as is customary in Arabic). ICANN CEO
Rod Beckstrom Rod Beckstrom (born February 1961) is an American author, high-tech entrepreneur, and former CEO and President of ICANN. He previously served as Director of the National Cybersecurity Center. Education and early work Beckstrom received his BA ...
described the launch as "historic" and "a seismic shift that will forever change the online landscape." "This is the beginning of a transition that will make the Internet more accessible and user friendly to millions around the globe, regardless of where they live or what language they speak," he added. Senior director for internationalised domain names Tina Dam said it was "the most significant day" since the launch of the Internet. According to ICANN, Arabic was chosen for the initial roll out because it is one of the most widely used non-Latin languages on the Internet. There are problems entering a mixed left-to-right and right-to-left text string on a keyboard, making fully Arabic web addresses extra useful. Additional IDN ccTLDs had been implemented by the end of June 2010: one using
Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...
,
.рф The domain name .рф (romanized as ''.rf''; abbreviation of ) is the Cyrillic country code top-level domain for the Russian Federation, in the Domain Name System of the Internet. In the Domain Name System it has the ASCII DNS name . The domain ...
(for
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
), and five using Chinese characters (the first using a non-alphabetical
writing system A writing system is a method of visually representing verbal communication, based on a script and a set of rules regulating its use. While both writing and speech are useful in conveying messages, writing differs in also being a reliable form ...
) approved by the ICANN board on 25 June 2010: (Note: In these minutes, the encodings of the two CNNIC-delegated ccTLDs have inadvertently been swapped.) *
.中国 .cn is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the People's Republic of China introduced on 28 November 1990. Domain name administration in mainland China is managed through a branch of the Ministry of Industry and Information. The registr ...
(encoded as ".xn--fiqs8s") and
.中國 .cn is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the People's Republic of China introduced on 28 November 1990. Domain name administration in mainland China is managed through a branch of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of ...
(encoded as ".xn--fiqz9s"; ".
zhongguo China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
"), delegated to
China Internet Network Information Center The China Internet Network Information Center (), or CNNIC, is the administrative agency responsible for domain registry affairs of .cn under the Cyberspace Administration of China. Founded on 3 June 1997, it is now a government department based in ...
(CNNIC), the registrar for ccTLD
.cn .cn is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the People's Republic of China introduced on 28 November 1990. Domain name administration in mainland China is managed through a branch of the Ministry of Industry and Information. The registr ...
; * .香港 (encoded as ".xn--j6w193g"; ".hongkong"), delegated to
Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation Hong may refer to: Places *Høng, a town in Denmark *Hong Kong, a city and a special administrative region in China *Hong, Nigeria *Hong River in China and Vietnam *Lake Hong in China Surnames *Hong (Chinese name) *Hong (Korean name) Organiz ...
(HKIRC), the registrar for ccTLD
.hk .hk is the designated Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Hong Kong. It is administered by the Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation (HKIRC), the only organization endorsed by the Hong Kong Government to undertake the adminis ...
; * .台灣 (encoded as ".xn--kpry57d") and .台湾 (encoded as ".xn--kprw13d"; ".taiwan"), delegated to
Taiwan Network Information Center Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeas ...
(TWNIC), the registrar for ccTLD
.tw .tw is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Taiwan. The domain name is based on the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code TW. The registry is maintained by the Taiwan Network Information Center (TWNIC), a Taiwanese non-profit org ...
. The dual domains delegated to each of CNNIC and TWNIC are synonymous, being purely
orthographical An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and mos ...
variations differing only in using simplified forms ( and ), as preferred in
mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
, versus traditional forms of the same characters ( and ), as used in
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
. The new country codes were available for immediate use, although ICANN admit they may not work properly for all users initially. According to Egypt's communication and information technology minister, three Egyptian companies were the first to receive domain licenses on the new "masr" صر_transliterated.html" ;"title="transliterated.html" ;"title="صر transliterated">صر transliterated">transliterated.html" ;"title="صر transliterated">صر transliteratedcountry code. Egypt's Ministry of Communications was possibly the first functional website with an entirely Arabic address. The ccTLD
.рф The domain name .рф (romanized as ''.rf''; abbreviation of ) is the Cyrillic country code top-level domain for the Russian Federation, in the Domain Name System of the Internet. In the Domain Name System it has the ASCII DNS name . The domain ...
for Russia launched on 13 May. Bulgaria's
.бг (abbreviation of bg, България, translit=Balgarija) is an internationalized country code top-level domain (IDN ccTLD) for Bulgaria..br .br is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Brazil. It was administered by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee until 2005 when it started being administered by Brazilian Network Information Center. A local contact is r ...
. The Ukrainian string
.укр The domain name .укр ( romanized as ''.ukr''; abbreviation of uk, Україна, tr. ''Ukrayina'') is an approved internationalized country code top-level domain (IDN ccTLD) for Ukraine. It is a common abbreviation used in Ukraine, as in '' ...
was approved by the ICANN Board on 28 February 2013. The zone was added to the root servers on March 19, 2013. The Bulgarian string
.бг (abbreviation of bg, България, translit=Balgarija) is an internationalized country code top-level domain (IDN ccTLD) for Bulgaria..ελ string in 2015, both after controversies about possibilities of confusion with existing Latin strings. India has applied for top-level domains in each of its local scripts, at first seven, later eight more. The first one, .भारत, was approved 2011 and became active in 2014. The general flow of applications has ceased after 2016. The Pakistan string پاکستان. was approved by the ICANN BOARD on 7 January 2011 to represent Pakistan in Arabic script. On 4 February 2017, IDN ccTLD پاکستان. was delegated to the National Telecommunication Corporation and the zone was added to the root servers on February 15, 2017. The European Union applied in 2016 for the Cyrillic domain
.ею .eu is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the European Union (EU). Launched on 7 December 2005, the domain is available for any person, company or organization based in the European Union. This was extended to the European Economic Ar ...
and the Greek domain .ευ. ею was approved and put into operation, but ευ was rejected as being too similar to
.eu .eu is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the European Union (EU). Launched on 7 December 2005, the domain is available for any person, company or organization based in the European Union. This was extended to the European Economic Are ...
also belonging to the European Union. In 2019 ευ was approved on the condition that the same registry organisation
EURid EURid vzw (European Registry for Internet Domains) is the nonprofit organisation appointed by the European Commission as the domain name registry that operates the .eu top-level domain and its variants in other scripts – .ею (.eu in Cyrillic) ...
own both, and makes sure two equal or equally looking second-level domains are not registered in both ccTLD. Second-level domains under eu, ею and ευ shall have same script as the ccTLD (older Greek or Cyrillic domains under .eu got cloned into the new domain, but kept under .eu)


See also

*
List of Internet top-level domains This list of Internet top-level domains (TLD) contains top-level domains, which are those domains in the DNS root zone of the Domain Name System of the Internet. A list of the top-level domains by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) ...
* Country code top-level domain#Internationalized ccTLDs *
Punycode Punycode is a representation of Unicode with the limited ASCII character subset used for Internet hostnames. Using Punycode, host names containing Unicode characters are transcoded to a subset of ASCII consisting of letters, digits, and hyphens, wh ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Internationalized Country Code Top-Level Domain International telecommunications Top-level domains Country codes Internationalized domain names