The domain name int is a

sponsored top-level domain A sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) is one of the categories of top-level domains (TLDs) maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) for use in the Domain Name System of the Internet, alongside country-code top-level domains (ccTLD ...

(sTLD) in the

Domain Name System The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed name service that provides a naming system for computers, services, and other resources on the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It associates various information ...

of the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

. Its name is derived from the word ''international'', characterizing its use for international organizations and treaty-related purposes. The first use of this domain was by

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

, which had previously been assigned the

top-level domain A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domain name, 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 DNS root zone, root zone of the nam ...

.nato. According to

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is a standards organization that oversees global IP address allocation, Autonomous system (Internet), autonomous system number allocation, DNS root zone, root zone management in the Domain Name Syste ...

(IANA) policy, based on RFC 1591, the sTLD ''int'' is reserved for international treaty-based organizations,

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

agencies, and organizations or entities having

observer status Observer status is a privilege granted by some organizations to non-members to give them an ability to participate in the organization's activities. Observer status is often granted by intergovernmental organizations (IGO) to non-member parties and ...

at the UN. ''int'' is considered to have the strictest application policies of all TLDs, as it implies that the holder is a subject of

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

. For this reason, the application procedure requires the applicant to provide evidence that it is indeed treaty-based by providing a United Nations

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention ...

registration number and that it has independent legal status. Previously, it also was open to Internet infrastructure services; those services have since been required to register in .arpa.

Delegations

, the domain ''int'' consists of 235 subdomain delegations. The subdomain eu.int was used by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

–affiliated institutions. However, the aforementioned institutions' domain names switched to the TLD eu on May 9, 2006 (

Europe Day Europe Day is a day celebrating "peace and unity in Europe" celebrated on 5 May by the Council of Europe and on 9 May by the European Union. The first recognition of Europe Day was by the Council of Europe, introduced in 1964. The European Uni ...

). All previous eu.int addresses continued to be accessible for a transitional period of at least one year. , the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...

continues to use ecb.int in addition to ecb.eu and ecb.europa.eu, and the .int domain is still sometimes used for email addresses. The

Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is an international environmental treaty, signed on 22 May 2001 in Stockholm and effective from 17 May 2004, that aims to eliminate or restrict the production and use of persistent organi ...

(POPS) saw its initial application for a domain name under ''int'' rejected on the grounds that the convention did not explicitly create an entity subject of international law. However, POPS appealed to the IANA Reconsideration Committee and obtained its domain (pops.int) on the grounds that other conventions lacking such specific language had nevertheless obtained a registration. The IANA granted the domain after the committee determined that (1) the organization was chartered by a treaty that was very likely to enter into force, and (2) despite lacking a legal track record, it met "the requirement for independent international legal personality." This grant was subject to the provision that the status of eligibility be renewed if the treaty had not entered into force within four years of the registration. Additionally, the domain ''int'' was historically also used for Internet infrastructure databases. The name space arpa had been slated to be moved into ''int'', but in 2000 the

Internet Architecture Board The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) is a committee of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and an advisory body of the Internet Society (ISOC). Its responsibilities include architectural oversight of IETF activities, Internet Standards ...

recommended that no new infrastructure databases should be added to ''int'' and that ''arpa'' retain its function. The only remaining technical role of ''int'' was for reverse translation of

IPv6 address An Internet Protocol version 6 address (IPv6 address) is a numeric label that is used to identify and locate a network interface of a computer or a Node (networking), network node participating in a computer network using IPv6. IP addresses are ...

es in the zone ''ip6.int''. This zone was officially removed on 6 June 2006 in favor of ''ip6.arpa'', also administered by IANA.

Grandfathered delegations

Several domains under ''int'' were granted prior to the application of the strict guidelines. World

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

is an example of the loose guidelines applied in the early 1990s. IANA has not withdrawn the existing assignment from YMCA and other organizations such as The Phone Company (which has however not been available since 2011 and the domain name is no longer registered) who do not meet the current criteria.

References

External links

Delegation Record for .INT

(IANA)
IANA—Intergovernmental Treaty (.INT) Domains
{{DEFAULTSORT:INT Internet properties established in 1988 Internet Assigned Numbers Authority Sponsored top-level domains sv:Toppdomän#Generiska toppdomäner

Delegations

Grandfathered delegations

See also

References

External links