.krd Pre-Register Domain - .krd Domain Information

Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, Council of Minsters 2006 regulation no. 2. There are two pages to the attachement:- Page 2 is the original order which was issued by the council of Ministers and signed by the Prime Minister. 12/10/2006 Page 1 is the ammendment which corrected the name of the Department and was signed by the Deputy Prime Minister. 8/3/2007

The mission/purpose of the .krd TLD is to promote the Kurdistan region of Iraq and elevate the people of Kurdistan onto the international stage by providing an online space in which to promote and develop the culture and language of the Kurdistan Region and its people. As such, the TLD aims to establish a dedicated, open namespace that represents Kurdish people within Kurdistan and internationally, and offers a new and innovative approach for internet users globally to engage with the people of Kurdistan.

The applicant for the .krd TLD is the Department of Information Technology of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The KRG is the democratically elected body representing the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The applicant is the executive body responsible for the IT agenda of the KRG. The management and operation of a TLD that represents the Kurdistan region is therefore within the scope of the Department of IT's mandate.

The .krd TLD will promote the Kurdistan region, its culture and its potential through a dedicated open space for the benefit of registrants, the KRG, and Internet users in Kurdistan and globally. The TLD will provide a portal for Internet users to access information relating to Kurdistan. As such, the .krd TLD will be targeted at those seeking to affiliate themselves with the Kurdistan region.

The .krd TLD will play a strategic role in validating the Kurdish culture and language in an age of increasing globalisation. The .krd TLD will allow the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to take part in the increasingly global, cultural online perspective through the ability to educate and share its rich language, cultures and traditions. As such, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq will be given an opportunity to foster cross-cultural integration and understanding of this region and its people.

In understanding the intrinsic value in preserving the cultural and linguistic identity of the Kurdistan region and its people and educating and serving audiences around the world as a forum of authoritative online content, the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, as represented by President of Divan (Minister), Fawzi Hariri has endorsed the acquisition of this TLD, in full support and acceptance. The KRG Department of IT, as the applying entity is proud to be the only applicant that has been provided with such unwavering commitment and full support for the TLD, from the KRG.

The .krd will also play a pivotal role in promoting further the use of the Kurdish language on the World Wide Web as a modern medium of communication. The TLD will function as a means of preserving, enriching and developing Kurdistan for the benefit of its constituents as well as the global Internet community. The .krd TLD will centre on creating an Internet identity for the Kurdish linguistic and cultural community.

BENEFITS OF THE .KRD TLD

The main beneficiaries who will gain advantage from the introduction of the .krd TLD include:
1. ENTITIES WHO IDENTIFY WITH THE KURDISH LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL GROUPS
As a space dedicated to the language and culture of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the .krd TLD will benefit audiences internationally, who identify with Kurdish linguistic and cultural Groups. This widely includes audiences who display a distinct interest in the culture and language of Kurdistan.
The .krd TLD will centralise the content relevant to this region, and provide interested parties with a global yet localised access to information that is currently scattered across the World Wide Web.
The beneficiaries will benefit from content being available in Kurdish and other languages in a space that is legible and relevant.

2. THE KURDISH DIASPORA
The Kurdish Diaspora consists of individuals connected to the Kurdistan Region by birth who currently reside outside of the region. The Kurdish diaspora is made up of millions of people who would benefit from an online identity which represents their cultural background and language. This online identity would be a portal to facilitating communication with others of the same or similar cultural and linguistic heritage. Equally, content developed in this space will support the preservation of this heritage abroad for generations to come.

3. INTERNET USERS
The .krd TLD will benefit Internet users by highlighting online content that is relevant to the Kurdistan Region, therefore reducing confusion associated with finding Kurdistan specific online content. As the .krd TLD gains a foothold online, navigation will become easier. The .krd namespace will attract more and more users over time, thus enhancing its reputation, and consequently improving its indexing status with search providers.
The .krd TLD will also generate traffic as a result of its logical naming structure, thereby providing accessibility for users. For example, the .krd TLD will overcome less intuitive domain name extensions currently existing online, such as; kurdishinformation.com.

4. BUSINESSES WITHIN and OUTSIDE OF THE KURDISTAN REGION
This online space will create new business opportunities and allow individuals to engage in new Kurdistan related outlets. Through the creation of the .krd TLD, businesses within the Kurdistan region will be able to leverage this unique TLD to promote their business within the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in a more direct manner, ultimately leading to more intuitive navigation.

Foreign businesses will also be in a position to create a local presence, and could use the .krd TLD to identify with, and ease their entry into the local market. For example, a foreign company who wishes to promote their activities within the Kurdistan Region would opt for a domain name of companyname.krd.

Similarly, businesses that promote the Kurdish language and culture in locations around the world, for example Kurdish restaurants or book, clothing or media stores, will be able to use the TLD to communicate their offering to their local audiences. These businesses will ultimately benefit from being able to directly access and communicate to their target markets.
5. RESIDENTS OF THE KURDISTAN REGION
The constituents of the Kurdistan region are identified as people who live in, or are associated with the Kurdistan region of Iraq. This includes around five (5) million people in Kurdistan and the millions of diaspora abroad.
These constituents will benefit from a uniquely Kurdish online cultural identity, creating an accessible space for their region and region specific information, which can be easily identified as authoritative, authentic and reliable. For example schools.krd would provide geographically relevant school information for teachers and students alike.
They will also benefit from the proliferation of Kurdish language content, supporting the mission and purpose of the .krd TLD to create a home for Kurdish culture online.

6. ENTITIES AFFILIATED WITH THE KURDISTAN REGIONAL GOVERNMENT
This includes Government Departments, Authorities and affiliates of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) both within the region and abroad. These entities will be able to register domain names within the .krd TLD to better promote their services and activities and outreach to constituents, described at 5 above.

As the Registry Operator, the Department of IT of the KRG will benefit from having ultimate control of the TLD and the policy that underpins it. This will ensure that this policy serves the mission and purpose of the domain.

The .krd TLD will provide an immediately identifiable online space, for example, education.krd. The KRG, its ministries, their departments and affiliates will be able to reliably communicate Kurdistan government's services and activities, to its audiences. With a new communications medium in place, the KRG will be able to significantly reduce their marketing budgets.

The .krd TLD will also provide a much needed digital space for the KRG's e-government programme, which is designed to deliver transparency and efficient services to its constituents. The .krd TLD will benefit the KRG Department of IT by creating a single domain which will be used as the parent domain for all electronic government services. For example, egovernment.krd.


GOALS OF THE .KRD TLD

Expanding the online presence of the Kurdistan region, language and culture:

Individuals and organisations with an affiliation or interest in the Kurdistan region, locally and internationally will be encouraged to assume an online presence on this domain. This will be achieved by positioning the .krd TLD as the ‘must have' domain for those wanting a link to the Kurdistan region, language and culture.

Increasing the availability of Kurdish content on the Internet:
As the majority of people in the Kurdistan region are Kurdish speakers, this domain will encourage the development of Kurdish language content. This will happen through targeted campaigns encouraging people to set up .krd portals online and populate them with Kurdish content.

It is anticipated that the Kurdish language will appear on most websites within the .krd TLD as these websites will be targeted towards the beneficiaries of the .krd TLD. The Kurdish diaspora will also contribute to the name space by provide content from a global perspective, and in languages other than Kurdish, thus enhancing the diversity of content within the .krd TLD namespace.

Creation of an online dedicated space for the Kurdistan region:

Establishment of this domain will provide a dedicated, branded and authentic space for the Kurdistan region. This will be achieved during and after the launch through targeted awareness and marketing campaigns.
It is anticipated that Registrant demand will support the achievement of this goal.

The short term goal of .krd is to create a dedicated, formal online space for the Kurdistan region. The medium term goal is to achieve recognition and reputation as the popular domain amongst those identifying as Kurdish in their region and internationally. The long term vision is to encourage the increase of Kurdistan language, culture and region relevant content on the Internet. The attainment of these goals will be achieved by respecting the values in the mission/purpose of the .krd TLD, and gaining the trust and confidence of registrants, and Internet users in this uniquely Kurdish online environment.

Promoting the reputation of the .krd TLD amongst registrants and Internet users will be key to achieving these stated goals. The success of the .krd TLD relies upon registrants recognising the value of .krd as the official space for those in the region and those who wish to associate with it. The .krd TLD will gain the reputation as the home for Kurdish people, language, culture, businesses and the KRG online.
Registration demand will be a key indicator of whether the .krd TLD has achieved its intended reputation The .krd TLD has projected registration targets of 730 at year 1, 1250 at year 2, and 1970 at year 3.

The applicant will also seek to measure the success of the .krd TLD, because registration volumes alone are not sufficient to determine the relevance of the .krd TLD to all its beneficiaries. One approach will be to monitor the position of .krd domains relative to other domains for the search terms "kurdistan", "kurd", "krg" and "kurdish" within the most popular search engines. It is important to note that the use of search engine optimisation techniques will not be employed, nor encouraged as it may actually reduce the benefits of the .krd TLD to its beneficiaries.

Search engine results will, however, be combined with web metrics to identify the percentage of non-referred requests, which will indicate the "mind share" within the online community. A web metrics organisation will be engaged for this purpose and their services offered to customers for free in return for aggregated (non-identifiable) traffic information. This data will help to quantify the success of the .krd TLD, and help registrants to quantify the success of their registrations, in terms of its relevance to Internet users.

Social media surveys and market studies will also be used to quantify success in terms of Internet users' understanding of the reputation of the .krd TLD. These will be conducted at least once annually during the first five years following the TLD's launch to track awareness, reputation and use of the .krd TLD.

As well as determining whether the reputation of the .krd TLD has been attained, the methods described above, will also help the Department of IT understand whether it's goals have been achieved. In addition to this, surveys will be conducted to see whether registrants are increasing content on the Internet regarding the Kurdistan region, language and culture and whether Kurdish language content has increased.

ANTICIPATED CONTRIBUTION TO THE CURRENT SPACE

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq has enjoyed immense progress over the past decade, and is fast becoming a regional business and cultural hub. The beneficiaries of the .krd TLD will benefit greatly from having a dedicated online space promoting the region as a thought leader in the digital age at the same time building a sense of community for its citizens and diaspora, residents, organisations and businesses.

The .krd TLD will cater for the current and future needs of the language, culture and region providing an online platform for those seeking Kurdish content online to learn, communicate, collaborate and explore.

The .krd TLD will also make a significant contribution to the current space in the following ways:
The .krd TLD has a clear point of differentiation compared to other TLDs as a space designed specifically for content related to the Kurdistan language, culture and region. Other TLDs do not provide this. The .krd TLD will be a targeted and dedicated online space for those seeking Kurdish content online, as well as constituents, companies, organisations and Government entities within the Kurdistan Region and internationally. Therefore the .krd TLD will create clear benefits over existing TLDs by creating new opportunities for registrants to register a TLD that is relevant to them.
These points of differentiation of the .krd TLD will promote competition amongst existing TLDs by offering registrants, products and services, which are currently unavailable in existing TLDs.

REGISTRATION POLICIES IN SUPPORT OF THE .krd TLD

In order to encourage openness and innovation, the .krd TLD will not have wholly restrictive registration policies applied to it. Potential registrants have a multitude of backgrounds and interests, and as such no residency requirements will be demanded of potential registrants. However, the registration of a .krd TLD will be promoted to relevant companies, organisations and individuals who are deemed to be interested in learning about or have an interest in the Kurdistan language, culture and the region. Consequently, demand is expected to be the primary determinant of the relevancy of registrants.

A restricted word list will be developed through a dedicated committee, which will be comprised of relevant stakeholders from civil society, academia and government. The list will include words which do not respect the mission/purpose of the .krd TLD. However, the list is expected to be extremely limited, and is not intended to censor freedom of expression. No restrictions on content will be placed as content will not be monitored or censored.

The restricted word list will help to ensure that domain names adhere to the stated goals of the .krd TLD, and provide a reasonable platform for naming conventions. The openness of the registration policies is expected to encourage availability for the .krd TLD, and it is in the interests of the success of the .krd TLD that the policies put in place do not deter potential registrants from creating their own .krd online space.

PROTECTION OF PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

The KRG will establish all relevant security policies to ensure that its registrants are protected against misrepresentation and misuse of information.
In order to register a TLD, a registrant will be required sign a consent form, to enable the registrar to use the information provided, as required for the operation of the registry, disclosure to ICANN or in response to a request from a law enforcement agency. This agreement will be supported by and make reference to the Department of IT's Privacy Policy, which will confirm measures that are in place to prevent disclosure of registrant contact information other than through WHOIS or intentional disclosures to ICANN or law enforcement agencies. Information will not be provided to third parties other than as described above.

OUTREACH AND COMMUNICATIONS ACTIVITIES

The KRG Department of IT will conduct a number of outreach and communications activities to promote awareness of the .krd TLD, and will initially focus on reaching the potential registrant market. The key aim of this activity will be to inform potential registrants of the existence of the .krd TLD and how to apply for .krd domain names. Focus will be directed towards the delivery of a suitable brand identity for .krd, which will be attractive and reflect the .krd TLD mission/purpose.
The marketing plan will be driven by two key objectives, each of which corresponds to the key beneficiaries of our TLD. These objectives are:

1. Raise general awareness of the .krd TLD within the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and internationally. Tactics to achieve this objective will include establishing brand identity and spreading the message about the launch of the .krd TLD by sponsoring conferences, which will be attended by top government officials, intellectuals, academia and thought leaders, community leaders, influential business people, and prominent figures from both Kurdistan and abroad. These conferences will take place during the start-up period and in years one, two and three. Feeding into the momentum of this initiative, the focus will then split in year two to include promotion of the .krd TLD at smaller events and conferences of specialist groups within the varied communities.

2. The outreach and communications campaign will also ensure end-user utilisation through consumer-driven awareness activities. Tactics to achieve this objective will include developing a registrant welcome pack, promotional collateral and undertaking advertising campaigns in local and international publications such as Lvin Magazine, Time, Economist, Hawlati Weekly, Rudaw Weekly, etc.

The advertising campaign will be outsourced to professional advertising companies, which will develop the advertising materials and packages as per the .krd TLD requirements. The campaign will take place over 12 months during the start-up and year one; the first three (3) months of the campaign will be the most intensive. The intensity will lessen during the second - three (3) months periods and will be very low for the remaining months. This pattern may be repeated with modification for years two and three, and will be based on lessons learned and market research studies.

Question 18(c): Elimination or Minimisation of Social Costs

INTRODUCTION

The introduction of the .krd TLD is anticipated to result in the minimisation and in some cases the elimination of social costs and other negative consequences imposed upon consumers by the adoption of the following operating rules:
1. Method of resolving multiple applications for a domain name.
2. Cost benefits for registrants.
3. Contractual commitments to registrants regarding the magnitude of price escalations.
These operating rules will be described along with the manner in which they serve to eliminate or minimise social costs and negative consequences imposed upon consumers.

METHOD OF RESOLVING MULTIPLE APPLICATIONS

The method of resolving multiple applications for a domain name varies depending on the particular stage of the launch process - For example, whether or not the domain name is being registered during the Sunrise, Landrush or General Availability period. The resolution method for each stage is provided below, along with a discussion of the manner in which the selected method serves to eliminate or minimise social costs.

Sunrise Period

A ʹsunrise period' is a period of time for a defined category or categories of prospective domain name registrants to register domain names before registration opens to the general public. The Department of IT will implement two Sunrise Periods aimed at different categories of registrants - one aimed at trademark holders and another aimed at government affiliated entities. In accordance with the Registry Agreement, a sunrise period must be implemented in all new gTLDs for a minimum of 30 days during the pre-launch phase to protect the legal rights of trademark holders. Multiple applications for a domain name will be resolved by auction during the Sunrise period aimed at trademark holders.

The Department of IT will also implement a Sunrise Period during which government affiliated entities may apply for .krd domain names over a 30 day period. Multiple applications for a particular domain name are not anticipated during this Sunrise Period as government affiliated entities are restricted to registering domain names that are closely related to their executive functions. In the event that multiple applications are received for a domain name during this period, the applicants will be required to participate in mediation to settle the contention. The Department of IT retains ultimate discretion regarding the allocation of .krd domain names to government affiliated entities.

Utilisation of the auction method to resolve multiple applications in the .krd TLD during the sunrise period for trademark holders is anticipated to minimise and possibly eliminate social costs and other negative consequences imposed upon consumers.

Similarly, resolving multiple applications for a .krd domain name received during the sunrise period for government affiliated entities by participation in mediation ensures that the domain name is allocated to the entity that, as determined by the Department of IT in its discretion, is in the best position to provide authoritative content and promote the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The subsequent increase in legitimate and accurate content online serves to promote consumer trust and minimises the amount of time and money wasted by consumers on illegitimate sites.

Landrush Period

A ‘landrush' period is a period of time for all prospective registrants to register domain names before registrations become available on a first-come/first-serve basis. In accordance with the Registry Agreement, a trademark claims service must be implemented during the first 60 days that registration is open for general registration. This will coincide with the landrush period for the .krd TLD.

The auction method will be used to resolve multiple applications for a domain name during landrush, because the benefits of utilising auctions and burdens of using the first-come/first-serve method in sunrise, apply with equal force to the landrush period. Just as in the sunrise period, auction allocation during the landrush period provides an efficient, transparent and objective method for resolving multiple applications for a domain name.

General availability commences when domain names are made available for general registration. Upon commencement of general availability, domain names will be registrable at the standard registration fee and allocated on a first-come/first-serve basis. The lower cost and certainty associated with the first-come/first-serve method renders it a viable and sustainable method of resolving multiple applications on an ongoing basis.

We have engaged ARI Registry Services (ARI) to deliver services for this TLD. This response describes protection of geographic names as implemented by ARI.

1 PROTECTION OF GEOGRAPHIC NAMES

In accordance with Specification 5 of the New gTLD Registry Agreement, the registry operator must initially reserve all geographic names at the second level, and at all other levels within the TLD at which the registry operator provides for registrations.
ARI supports this requirement by using the following internationally recognised lists to develop a comprehensive master list of all geographic names that are initially reserved:
- The 2-letter alpha-2 code of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, including all reserved and unassigned codes [http://www.iso.org/iso/support/country_codes/iso_3166_code_lists/iso-3166-1_decoding_table.htm].
- The short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, including the European Union, which is exceptionally reserved on the ISO 3166-1 List, and its scope extended in August 1999 to any application needing to represent the name European Union [http://www.iso.org/iso/support/country_codes/iso_3166_code_lists/iso-3166-1_decoding_table.htm#EU].
- The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardisation of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of the World. This lists the names of 193 independent States generally recognised by the international community in the language or languages used in an official capacity within each country and is current as of August 2006 [http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/ungegn%20tech%20ref%20manual_M87_combined.pdf].
- The list of UN member states in six official UN languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the standardisation of Geographical Names [http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/UNGEGN/docs/9th-uncsgn-docs/econf/9th_UNCSGN_e-conf-98-89-add1.pdf].
Names on this reserved list in ARI's registry system are prevented from registration.
A corresponding list of geographic names will also be available to the public via the registry operators website, to inform Registrars and potential registrants of reserved names. The lists noted above, are regularly monitored for revisions, therefore the reserved list (both within the registry and publicly facing) will be continually updated to reflect any changes.
In addition to these requirements, ARI are able to support the wishes of the Governmental Advisory Council (GAC) or any individual Government in regard to the blocking of individual terms on a case by case basis. ARI's registry system allows such additions to be made by appropriately authorised staff, with no further system development changes required.
The following applies to all Domain Names contained within the registry's reserved list:
- Attempts to register listed Domain Names will be rejected.
- WhoIs queries for listed Domain Names will receive responses indicating their reserved status.
- Reserved geographic names will not appear in the TLD zone file.
- DNS queries for reserved domain names will result in an NXDOMAIN response.

2 PROCEDURES FOR RELEASE

We understand that if we wish to release the reserved names at a later date, this will require agreement from the relevant government/s or review by the GAC, and subsequent approval from ICANN.