.ruhr Pre-Register Domain - .ruhr Domain Information

The regiodot GmbH & Co. KG (formerly Christopherus GmbH & Co. KG) is a limited partnership with, the sole general partner being a limited liability company, in this case the regiodot Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH (formerly Christopherus Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH). The German jurisdictional law (HGB §§ 161 ‐ 177a) defines this type of entity and can be found on the German Ministry of Justice website URL under http://bundesrecht.juris.de/hgb/BJNR002190897.html#BJNR002190897BJNG019600300

The .RUHR TLD is designed to serve the needs of the community of citizens, organizations and institutions in the "Ruhrgebiet" area on the Internet. The unique string .RUHR is a commonly known abbreviation for the Ruhrgebiet. The Ruhrgebiet, which will be presented in more detail below, is a conglomerate of Cities in Germany, which has developed a strong regional identity and the proposed TLD shall serve as a token of this common identity on the Internet. Already now, there are thousands of domain names containing the string "RUHR" at the second level, which shows that Internet users are already using this abbreviation for their presence in the region.

Due to the strong focus on the Ruhrgebiet, the TLD will primarily address
- registrants from the region
- persons outside the region that have a strong affection to the Ruhrgebiet because e.g. they were born or raised there
- companies targeting at this particular market

As a consequence, regiodot does not expect many registrants from outside the region or even from abroad. The number of registrations is expected to slightly exceed the ratio of the number of inhabitants vs. the number of domain registrations based on the statistics for Germany.

* The Ruhrgebiet *

The Ruhrgebiet (in English language "Ruhr Area"), is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With 4435 km² and a population of some 5.17 million (2009), it is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany. It consists of several large, formerly industrial cities bordered by the rivers Ruhr (eponym of the Ruhrgebiet) to the south, Rhine to the west, and Lippe to the north. In the Southwest it borders to the Bergisches Land. It is considered part of the larger Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region of more than 12 million people.

From west to east, the region includes the cities of Duisburg, Oberhausen, Bottrop, Muelheim an der Ruhr, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Bochum, Herne, Hagen, Dortmund, and Hamm, as well as parts of the more ʺruralʺ districts Wesel, Recklinghausen, Unna and Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis. Historically, the western Ruhr towns, such as Duisburg and Essen, belonged to the historic region of the Rhineland, whereas the eastern part of the Ruhr, including Gelsenkirchen, Bochum, Dortmund and Hamm, were part of the region of Westphalia. Since the 19th century, these districts have grown together into a large complex with a vast industrial landscape, inhabited by some 7.3 million people (when including Duesseldorf and Wuppertal). It is the fourth largest urban area in Europe after Moscow, London and Paris. In 2010, the Ruhr region was one of the European Capitals of Culture.

* The Vision of .RUHR *

The local domain names available with .RUHR are concise and create an unique and individual identity for citizens, organisations, institutions and local authorities that are located in the Ruhrgebiet or having a business, cultural social, private or other relationship with those located in the Ruhrgebiet. Those providing and looking for information, goods and services can thus intuitively come together. The .RUHR domain names strengthen the feeling of community amongst people in the Ruhrgebiet, improve communication and make interaction easier, thus providing a stimulus for innovation and development. Both for the Ruhrgebiet and for foreigners the Ruhrgebiet becomes more attractive as a place to visit, as a commercial location and as a place to live.

The allocation of .RUHR domain names shall incorporate, in a fair and transparent manner, the many and varied interests of Ruhrgebiet community in the top-level domain .RUHR. The .RUHR policies shall ensure that Ruhrgebiet citziens, their institutions and their organizations may benefit individually by an unique identity with a .RUHR domain name.

* Support for .RUHR *

The introduction of .RUHR is supported by relevant organisations and local authorities in the Ruhrgebiet such as the leading Ruhr Regional Association (RVR).

The Ruhr Regional Association, with its offices in Essen, is the regional hub of the 11 independent municipalities and four districts of the Ruhr Metropolis with its approx. 5.2 million inhabitants.

The Ruhr Regional Association is responsible for the regional planning for the Ruhr region. It is the sponsor of significant infrastructure project such as the Industrial Heritage Trail and the Emscher Landscape Park. The Ruhr Regional Association has been working on improving the quality of life in the Ruhr region for more than 80 years. It maintains and preserves green open spaces for recreation and leisure.

Its legal functions also include the regional business and tourism development, as well as public relations for the Ruhr Metropolis. Together with its municipal partners it carries the seven Ruhr region and leisure parks.
The Ruhr Regional Association also collects geo and climate data about the region and makes it accessible to its member municipalities, amongst others for planning reasons.

* Economic transformation *

The Ruhrgebiet was at the center of the German economy during the 1950s and 1960s, as very rapid economic growth created a strong demand for coal and steel. As the demand for heavy industry products decreased, the area went through phases of structural crisis and industrial diversification, first developing traditional industries, then moving into service industries and high technology. The monumental structural transformation from an area of steel and coal production to a modern service and culture-oriented European metropolis of the 21st century is at full throttle. The 53 Ruhrgebiet cities are working together to implement the transformation - and are pleased about active citizens, immigrants and visitors, who want to be part of the region's change.

* Ruhr Parliament *

The Ruhr parliament embraces the region politically: All cities and districts of the Ruhr Metropolis are represented in the Ruhr parliament of the Ruhr Regional Association (RVR), with its head office in Essen. It consists of approximately 70 members with voting rights, who are delegated by the cities and districts. The Ruhr parliament bundles and represents the interest of the Ruhr region. It forms the regional assembly for the respective municipalities. Therewith the association meeting of the Ruhr Regional Association is the only democratically legitimate committee with representatives from the eleven cities and four districts of the Ruhr Metropolis. These are elected by the counsels or district assemblies; the 15 Lord Mayors and district administrators are also members with voting rights.

As can be seen from the various factors described above, the Ruhrgebiet is an area, which is - despite of consisting of numerous cities - rather a unified region with joint efforts in many areas. Thus, a common namespace on the Internet for this region is part of a natural evolution of the area. The purpose of the TLD is to support the commonalities and help forge a common identity in the Ruhrgebiet.

* The Name RUHR *
The name "RUHR" does not qualify as a geographic name according to the specifications of the question and the Applicant Guidebook. However we have requested a statement of the regional government of North Rhine-Westphalia regarding this questions. The responsible government answered that "RUHR" does not qualify as a geographic name that requires support-letters from governments. The orginial text is:
Nach hiesiger Auffassung ist die Landesregierung nicht mit dem Begriff ʺRuhrʺ verbunden und wäre dementsprechend in die Vergabemodalitäten einer TLD ʺ.RUHRʺ nicht eingebunden. Ich empfehle Ihnen jedoch, in dieser Angelegenheit Kontakt zu dem Regionalverbund Ruhr (http://www.metropoleruhr.de/regionalverband-ruhr.html) in Kontakt zu treten, dessen Pflichtaufgabe unter anderem das Marketing des Ruhrgebiets ist.

i.
* SPECIALITY - A connected namespace *

The .RUHR domain names shall be the essential name space for the communication and interaction within the Ruhrgebiet Community with its large target groups like Internet users, companies and other organizations.

By becoming an essential source of information and communication for community members and foreigners, the .RUHR namespace integrally connects them on the Internet. The applicant is particularly interested in stimulating the creation of unique content for the region to actually make the namespace under the proposed TLD both the online home for private and business users in the region as well as a valuable source of information for those outside the region that seek information and services in the Ruhrgebiet. In order to achieve this goal, the applicant will ensure that general terms, which are descriptive for cultural, business and leisure offers are run as directory services populated with information from and about the region. Such directory sites shall be available as of the launch date of the TLD to make the namespace attractive from the very beginning.

* REPUTATION and SERVICE LEVEL - A trustworthy Namespace *

The applicant is a German entity and governed by German law, which provides a high protection level in terms of data protection and data security. Additionally, the policies on registration abuse and usage abuse are drafted to protect minors, human dignity, intellectual property and other core values according to the protection level in Germany. Combined with responsive reporting mechanisms, well trained personnel working on abuse reports, robust escalation procedures and efficient enforcement, the proposed TLD is well equipped for being a reputable namespace.

A good example to showcase that Germany provides an excellent framework for a reliable, secure and trustworthy namespace is DENIC, which runs the most successful ccTLD (.de) in the world.
Like DENIC, the applicant has installed a requirement for registrants to name an Admin-C in Germany to whom correspondence can be served. This allows for an efficient enforcement of applicable laws as well as contractual sanctions, if needed.

City names, names of certain associations (e.g. the chamber of commerce or professional associations), certain cultural assets or names of geographic, historical or political relevance will be placed on a list of names, which can only be registered by the competent authority. This helps ensuring that such terms are actually reserved to the use of the appropriate bodies, which is another means to increase the reputation of the namespace.

In addition to that, the registration policies and the phased roll-out plan ensure that, after rights holders can apply for registration during the sunrise-period, registrations are possible for registrants in the Ruhrgebiet exclusively before the landrush phase allows for registrations from the general public. Thus, Internet users may rest assured that interested parties from the region have priority in populating the namespace and making available information and services under .RUHR. This is a service level that is demanded by the global Internet community and which will contribute towards a very positive reputation of .RUHR.

* Intuitive and memorable namespace *

Domain names under .RUHR are descriptive, precise and create identity for all parties related to the Ruhrgebiet. It enables commercial and non-commercial suppliers and enquirers to come together in a more intuitive manner than today. This is a speciality that has rarely been seen in existing top-level domains, but will become a standard in future top-level domains.


ii.

* COMPETITION - Added Value by local Flavor *

As an addition to gTLDs and ccTLDs .RUHR and its domains names will be an ideal supplement with a local flavor and search engine relevance to existing domain name portfolios. By this there will be a natural competition in the global domain name business by introducing a dedicated namespace for the Ruhrgebiet. The new .RUHR domain names are a valuable alternative to the established local ccTLD. The .RUHR top-level domain will be welcome, since the national ccTLD .de is overcrowded with nearly 15 million registered domain names. In order to make the namespace more attractive to German users, the regiodot GmbH & Co.KG (herein after referred to as regiodot) will deploy IDN characters used in the German language.

* A speaking TLD *

The .RUHR TLD and its .RUHR domain names are clearly diffentiated to existing TLDs, not only due to their descriptive and speaking nature which has a clear meaning and value to the targeted registrants and Internet users but also due to its dedicated and validated owners.

* Prosperous and promising namespace *

The .RUHR environment will create new business opportunities and fosters the development of innovative services for the benefit of the Ruhrgebiet. With .RUHR domains, the Ruhrgebiet community will have the ability to enhance their search engine rankings by delivering more relevant search results for members, foreigners, investors and tourists. This will benefit in more direct e-commerce on .RUHR websites and increase their position in the global market. From a user perspective a quicker and easier way to find information will result.


iii.

The intuitive and descriptive domain names under a "speaking TLD" like .RUHR will enable consumers to navigate and search more easily for information and services in and about the Ruhrgebiet on the Internet. Since a huge portion of all search queries with search engines relates to local information, the proposed TLD may assist in increasing the visibility of local or regional offers compared to other TLDs. This will increase the visibility along with the marketing efforts for .RUHR by regiodot and the community. Additionally, the aforementioned directory services will provide an unprecedented user experience in unified format for numerous generic terms. Thus, the users will be able to find relevant information on the region via direct type-ins, should the user wish to do so. In order to avoid repetition, please refer to the answers given above, which also support the aim of a good user experience.


iv.

Beyond the provisions of the New gTLD Agreement the the following policies are imposed.

In order to support the goal of creating a namespace for Internet users in the Ruhrgebiet and to provide valuable information for the users in the region, regiodot has chosen to give special treatment to certain domain names.

Names of cities, authorities, institutions and regions as well as emergency numbers are blocked from general registration and will only be available to the respective entitled parties. This measure helps to both protect the rights of the respective rights holders, but also ensures that names important to the region are actually owned and operated by the appropriate entities (should they wish so).

Additionally, certain Premium Names will be blocked from general registration and will be sold and/or auctioned off by regiodot. By doing so, regiodot reduces the risk of speculative domain registrations for domain names that are important to the region. It can be expected that such domain names will be primarily invested in by parties that wish to use the domain names for offering content or services to get a return of investment.

Further, regiodot has the right to reserve certain .RUHR domain names for personal and / or internal usage and for the provision of directory services to populate the namespace with valuable information relevant to the region. With this measure, regiodot will help the namespace to be populated with unique content from the very beginning to stimulate the creation and publication of content relevant to the region.

Finally, regiodot will include a Regional Registrants Priority Phase during the roll out of before the Landrush phase takes place.

During this phase, applicants who are running a business / a company or individuals who provide an address with a postal code in the Ruhrgebiet as predetermined by regiodot, will be eligible to apply for a .RUHR domain name. Eligible postal codes will be published by regiodot.

The postal code in the address given by the applicant needs to be absolutely identical with the postal code on the published list to qualify for registrations during this period.
The applicant needs to evidence to run a business or to have its address within an eligible and predetermined postal code area upon request by the Validation Agent.

.RUHR domain names are awarded on a "first come, first served" basis during this phase.
This phase will provide an opportunity for registrants from the region to get „their" domain name, which shall help making the .ruhr TLD an online home for private and commercial Internet users in the region.

The goal of providing a trustworthy namespace is supported by the .RUHR Eligibility Policy, which requires registrants who do not have a place of general jurisdiction in Germany to name an Admin-C in Germany to provide for an efficient enforcement of applicable laws and contractual sanctions since service of writs or other correspondence can be made to the Admin-C.

Further, regiodot will use an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) which provides for clear demarcations of acceptable use versus abuse.

The AUP will differentiate between "registration abuse" and "usage abuse" (together "malicious use").

"Registration abuse" is:
- Use of faulty/falsified/incomplete/stolen person-related or company-related data on registration (danger to WHOIS accuracy, see below);
- Cybersquatting/typosquatting;
- Registration of illegal domain names, which themselves constitute a breach of applicable laws;

"Usage abuse" is:
- Violation of applicable laws or regulation; in particular the provisions of the German Criminal Code, the German Youth Protection Act and the German Interstate Treaty on the Protection of Minors in the Media (JMStV);
- Use of a domain to publish content which incites to hatred against parts of the population or against a national, racial, religious or ethnic group, content which glorifies violence, content which violates the human dignity, content which denies or plays down acts committed under the National Socialist regime;
- Distribution of child abusive material;
- Use of a domain name for the dissemination of spam, i.e. unsolicited bulk electronic communication (e-mail, instant messaging, on websites, in forums or mobile messaging) or advertising a domain name by means of spam;
- Use of a domain name for Distributed Denial-of-service attacks ("DDoS attacks");
- Use of domain names in phishing activities, tricking Internet users into divulging personal data such as names, addresses, usernames, passwords, or financial data;
- Use of domain names in pharming , such as DNS hijacking and DNS cache poisoning;
- Use of domain names for the intentional distribution of malicious code such as spyware, botware, keylogger bots, viruses, worms or trojans;
- Use of domain names to command and control botnets , i.e. a network of compromised computers or "zombies,"
- Use of domain names in activities intended to gain illegal access to other computers or networks ("hacking"), as well as any activity to prepare for such a system penetration; or
- Use of a domain name fast flux hosting, disguising the location of Internet addresses or Internet services.

The AUP which will be enforced by means of robust escalation procedures including response times to provide for swift action, if needed.

Due to the fact that the AUP is based on the rigid youth protection provisions in Germany, registrants are required to make adult material available in closed user groups using age verification systems that follow standards issued by the Commission for the protection of minors in the media (www.kjm-online.de) and material which is detrimental to the development of minors or harmful to minors may only me made available when criteria laid down in the respective legislation are met and which will be further specified in a transparent manner in the policies). This will help providing for a high protection level and exceptional user experience.

v.

Preserving diversity and freedom of opinion is one of the core values of the applicant. Within the boundaries of applicable laws, these constitutional rights shall be supported by the applicant's registry. Thus, the use of proxy and privacy services to protect the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users will be allowed at the discretion of registrars and registrants. However, the applicant will implement all policies and requirements ICANN may impose on the subject of privacy and proxy services. In addition to that, the registry will conduct its business in compliance with German / European data protection laws, which provide for a high protection level.


vi.

The .RUHR TLD is financially supported by a syndication of different Yellow Pages publishers within the Ruhrgebiet. Already around 2 years before the application we started the outreach to build a reasonable community to support our application. As a result of our outreach the .RUHR TLD has already been gained awareness within the community including presentation at local city government level. We will continue to communicate the benefits of .RUHR domains names within the community. We believe that the broad outreach program, which is part of our marketing efforts, will help us to achieve the projected benefits of .RUHR.

regiodot uses various measures to eliminate or minimize social costs.
Firstly, regiodot will implement all Rights Protection Mechanisms as required by ICANN. This commitment applies both for currently known RPMs as well as those yet to be defined or imposed at a later stage by means of consensus policies.

Secondly, regiodot's .RUHR Eligibility Policy requires registrants who do not have a place of general jurisdiction in Germany to name an Admin-C in Germany to provide for an efficient enforcement of applicable laws and contractual sanctions since service of writs or other correspondence can be made to the Admin-C. Additionally, the .RUHR TLD will be marketed as a namespace for the region. As a consequence, the TLD will most likely not be interesting for abusive registrations since the target group is relatively small.

Today, the vast majority of all UDRP cases relates to .com, .net and .org domain names, all of which address Internet users at the global level and all of which do not have a local presence requirement.
Thirdly, certain Premium Names will be blocked from general registration and will be sold and/or auctioned off by regiodot.

Fourthly, regiodot has the right to reserve certain .RUHR domain names for personal and / or internal usage and for the provision of directory services to populate the namespace with valuable information relevant to the region.

All these measures help mitigate the risk of abusive or speculative registrations. Therefore, the need for defensive registrations is expected to be low.


i.

As a general principle, regiodot will deal with multiple registrations for a domain name by using the first-come, first-served basis. However, regiodot reserves the right to auction certain names during the sunrise period or either auction or sell premium names at a later stage.


ii.

As of today no cost benefits are planned. However, the Registry will, in its own discretion and depending on the development of the .RUHR namespace, decide to implement cost benefits, if appropriate. Our prices are based on our outreach to the Registrar community, especially in Germany, which will lead to fair and reasonable wholesale prices.


iii.

.RUHR domains will be available through accredited registrars who will be provided non-discriminatory access to registry services. The initial conditions are as follows:
- Sunrise for a term of one to ten years
- General availability for a term of one to ten years

Premium names will have discrete pricing.

regiodot reserves the right to reduce pricing for promotional purposes in a manner available to all accredited registrars. Registry Operator reserves the right to work with ICANN to initiate an increase in the wholesale price of domains if required. Registry Operator will provide reasonable notice to the registrars of any approved price increase.

1. Reserved List

In accordance with Specification 5 of the proposed TLD Registry Agreement published as Attachment to Module 5 of the Applicant Guidebook by ICANN, and with Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) advice on geographic names at the second level, the .RUHR registry will put the following names on the reserved list, therefore making them unavailable for registration or any other use:

1) the short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, as updated from time to time, 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;
2) 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; and
3) the list of United Nations member states in 6 official United Nations languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the Standardisation of Geographical Names.

Technically, this is achieved by utilising the advanced domain name rule engine that is part of the TANGO Registration System and described in detail in the answer to Question 28. As laid out there, the underlying set of checks can be tuned to block registrations of .RUHR names based on various syntactic rules, multiple reserved names lists, and patterns. Prior to the launch of the .RUHR TLD, the rule engine will be configured in accordance with the reserved list mandated by Specification 5, which means that the listed names are not available for registration by registrars.


2. Exceptions

However, the .RUHR registry recognises that there may be cases where a request to register and use a geographic name at the second level should be considered legitimate, valid and useful.

Examples of such cases are:

* the local consulate wishing to use that name for itself, with the agreement of its Government;
* the countryʹs or territoryʹs relevant authorities wishing to use it, e.g. for touristic or cultural promotion purposes;
* other legitimate purposes.

For registration requests from the relevant public authority, the .RUHR registry will put in place the procedure agreed between the GAC and Afilias for the .info gTLD, as referenced in the letter written by Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi, GAC Chair, on Sept 9, 2003; see https://gacweb.icann.org/download/attachments/1540128/dotinfocircular1.pdf.

The current procedure is:

1) The government or public authority concerned informs the GAC Secretariat of their request to register the name, and the designated beneficiary.
2) The GAC secretariat authenticates the request and transfers it to the ICANN staff and to the regiodot GmbH & Co. KG.
3) The regiodot GmbH & Co. KG verifies the availability of the name and issues a special authorisation code, which is transmitted directly to the designated beneficiary in the country concerned.
4) The designated beneficiary (the registrant) registers the name, with an accredited .RUHR registrar, using the authorisation code as their authority.

Technically, the registrar needs to use the authorisation code supplied by the registrant as the domain authinfo in the EPP 〈domain:create〉 request, which will let the request bypass the rule engineʹs blocking mechanism and permit the registration.


3. Additional monitoring

The .RUHR registry does not plan to monitor use of geographic names below the second level (i.e. subdomains used by a .RUHR domain name registrant), as those procedures are both difficult and ineffective. Available dispute resolution mechanisms are a more adequate resolution procedure in cases where third or higher level domains use country or territory names unduly.


Attachment:
- Support-Letter from Regionalverband Rurhgebiet on the use of .ruhr