.wales Pre-Register Domain - .wales Domain Information

Summary

The mission and purpose of dot WALES will be to provide an innovative, relevant and trusted internet top level domain (TLD) for the use and benefit of the citizens and businesses of Wales and the Welsh diaspora.

For Welsh businesses, organisations and individuals, a dot WALES domain will contribute to a sense of community and ‘togetherness', reflecting community pride and unity, and offering scope to celebrate Wales's unique culture.

In a study carried out as background to this application (see attachment Q46_Economic_Study.pdf) 70% of consumers and 59% of businesses believe Wales should have its own domain space. 70% of consumers also said they would prefer a dot WALES TLD to a dot COM extension. 40% of businesses surveyed said that a dot WALES domain name could help promote their business in Wales.

We expect significant business take-up for the promotion of key economic sectors in Wales, such as leisure, tourism, agriculture and the creative industries, to reinforce local preference purchasing, and for the purpose of branding and awareness-raising of Wales to the world at large. More detail on this is provided in our answer to question 18(b).

We also expect dot WALES to contribute positively to the development of the Wales brand and to wider recognition of that brand overseas. In this way it will support the Welsh Government's work in raising the profile of Wales internationally to attract inward investment, to promote exports and to grow the Welsh economy.

Nominet is bringing forward this bid. Nominet is a not-for-profit company which has been successfully running dot UK, the fourth largest registry in the world, for over fifteen years. Nominet's systems and processes are at the leading edge within the registry community and it takes a responsible approach to policy development resulting in greater levels of protection to registrants and other stakeholders. ICANN can be confident that it will comfortably meet or exceed all the relevant technical, operational and financial criteria set out in the application process.

Nominet will operate the dot WALES TLD on a not for profit basis with any surplus being reinvested in community projects in Wales.

Nominet has received the necessary statements of non-objection from the Welsh Government and from the UK Government. We have also received strong statements of endorsement from the Welsh Assembly and from a wide range of business and community organisations in Wales.

Nominet is bringing forward in parallel an application for dot CYMRU (Cymru is the Welsh language name for Wales). Although ICANN's rules require that these two TLDs are submitted as separate applications, it is our intention to provide them as part of a single, bilingual registry operation which serves the needs of all the constituent communities in Wales.

Operating model

The operating model for dot WALES will be an open TLD, primarily operating on a first come, first served basis, which is price-competitive with existing mass market TLDs. We will adopt an approach that effectively balances eligibility criteria with commercial sustainability which is most appropriate given Wales's economic and cultural profile in the world.

Applicants for a dot WALES domain will be required to meet one of two registration criteria either (a) a validated postal address from a predefined list of postcodes associated with Wales; or, (b) complete an EPP extension field during their application setting out their affiliation with Wales. This affiliation need not be based on location of the applicant but instead their connection with Wales.

The geographical association (a) will be checked on application as part of a standard check for valid contact details for the domain applicant (see answer to Q28 for further details).

The registration policy ensures dot WALES is accessible to Wales-based businesses, organisations and individuals as well as those who have a connection with Wales, whether the Welsh diaspora or a company based outside Wales with a strong affinity to and customer base within Wales.

Policy development and implementation

We are committed to developing dot WALES policy through a multi-stakeholder model of engagement and consultation, in line with accepted internet industry best practice. The community of dot WALES stakeholders is broad, comprising Wales-specific communities who will be the key users and registrants of the domain space, in addition to sector or issue specific communities who represent particular concerns. In addition to addressing communities of interest such as those concerned with rights protection, law enforcement and so on, policy development for dot WALES will need to address legitimate community aspirations in relation to the promotion of Welsh economic development, language and culture.

We recognise that consideration and implementation of the processes and mechanisms for facilitating community engagement is central to effective policy making. These are integral to ensuring that legitimate concerns have an opportunity to be heard, consultation processes are perceived as open and transparent, and to enable the registry to manage the various competing interests of stakeholders. We have already started informal discussions of the concept and objectives of the dot WALES namespace amongst stakeholders.

We have tracked the evolution of the new TLD programme and we believe that this TLD opportunity fits very closely with ICANN's stated aims. Dot WALES increases competition and choice, promotes innovation and addresses new market needs, whilst at the same time it ensures that any potential harms to consumers and businesses are minimised.

We draw your attention in particular to the extensive measures, over and above those required by the application process that we are proposing to put in place to secure businesses' existing rights and to protect consumers from harm. For example, we are proposing extended sunrise phases for registered rights holders and unregistered rights holders, approaches that will minimise abusive registrations and policies that will address such registrations if they do occur. These are set out in more detail in the remainder of this question and in the answers to the relevant questions, 28 and 29 in this application.

Goal of dot WALES

The goal of the dot WALES domain is to provide an innovative, relevant and trusted TLD for the use and benefit of the citizens and businesses of the country of Wales.

A successful dot WALES domain will deliver high levels of service and a trusted reputation for users. It will enjoy significant local market penetration and relevant local content, used by businesses, organisations and individuals to promote their association with Wales. There will be high levels of domain use, rather than speculative or defensive registrations and registrations will therefore be sustainable and successful in the long term, with high levels of domain renewals.


What dot WALES will add to the current space

In developing the business case for the dot WALES TLD, Nominet has been informed substantially by existing research which shows that internet users have a strong preference for domain names which they perceive as being local to them. We believe that this is because the perception of localness leads to a feeling of trust, which is particularly important when the user is entering into e-commerce or other online financial transactions.

We believe that establishment of a dot WALES TLD will will enhance levels of trust benefitting the 3 million strong Welsh community, which is not currently served by a Wales-specific geographic TLD.

The dot WALES TLD is being designed to provide a low-cost and open registry which is highly competitive with existing gTLDs and ccTLDs. We expect that the dot WALES TLD will be actively used by the Welsh people and businesses active in Wales, and will take a material share of the market for new domain name registrations (across all TLDs) in Wales. This is entirely in line with our mission to serve the needs of the people and businesses of Wales.

An economic study was commissioned in 2011 from consultancy firm LE Wales to examine the costs and benefits of introducing dot WALES under the new gTLD programme. A copy of the study is provided attached to Question 46 in attachment Q46_Economic_Study.pdf.

The study indicates that:

- The majority of Welsh consumers and businesses that expressed an opinion think that Wales should have its own domain space. 70% of internet users believe that Wales should have its own domain space and 70% of consumers prefer a dot WALES domain name to a dot COM domain name.

- Around 40% of business respondents thought that a domain name for Wales could help promote their business in Wales and 30% considered that a dot WALES domain name could promote their business outside Wales.

- Up to £2bn of household expenditure could be influenced by the use of a dot WALES domain name (that is to say, it could be diverted from providers making use of other domain names);

A dot WALES domain, reflecting well-established consumer preference for locally branded goods and services, could lead to additional e-commerce activity and offline transactions for businesses registering under the new domain. If a separate domain for Wales were to increase e-commerce sales by just 1%, for example, then this would be equivalent to an annual sales increase of £195 million.

The study noted that the potential benefits to business would vary by economic sector. Particular benefits could be expected to accrue in strategically important sectors to the Welsh economy such as leisure and tourism, agriculture and the creative industries.

User experience

As well as benefits flowing directly to businesses adopting the new domains through increased sales, and to consumers through increased choice of domain and recognition of ‘local preference' in purchasing, the new TLD will generate significant indirect benefits for Wales. The marketing and branding opportunities arising from the use of dot WALES would also potentially dovetail with known aims of the Welsh Government to promote worldwide recognition of and inward investment to Wales.

The dot WALES TLD will work as a positive force in Wales, and through strong and effective policies it will establish a high quality and trusted space that delivers social and economic benefits to Wales. The high standards of the new TLD will act as a best practice benchmark, encouraging competition and thus benefiting registrants and users at an international level.

The dot WALES domain will employ robust and effective abuse prevention and mitigation policies that minimise the prospect of abusive registration in the first instance, supported by effective measures to respond to malicious and harmful activities in the domain. These policies will define the types of behaviours that would be considered unacceptable in the dot WALES TLD and the process by which such domains might be suspended. In addition, through the responsible management of the TLD in line with ICANN consensus policies, we will ensure high levels of service for registrants of dot WALES domains.


Registration policies

Dot WALES will be an open registry and we will operate a ‘first come, first served' policy to allocate domains. This will be underpinned by validation procedures enforced by both the registrar and the registry to minimise abuse. These will be proportionate in scope to minimise undue costs on registrants, but to promote swift identification and suspension of domains associated with rights infringement and malicious use.

To keep costs in terms of registrants' time to a minimum, we intend to make the registration process as simple, efficient and easy to use as possible. We will deploy several ICANN compliant registration tools in conjunction with the registrar and resale channels to enable this.

Registrants will also be asked to either:

(a) supply a verifiable postal address from a predefined list of postcodes associated within Wales; or,
(b) provide a statement (in an EPP extension field) briefly explaining their connection with Wales and reasons for wanting to make use of a dot WALES domain name. The information supplied in this field will be published on the WHOIS.

There will be two exceptions to our ‘first come, first served' approach. The first relates to measures allowing protection for existing rights (please refer to our responses to Questions 18c and 29 for further details). The second concerns the potential to auction a specified number of "premium" domain names. Our business model currently envisages the publication of a premium names list for auction in line with an approach which has been successful and uncontroversial in previous domain launches.

All applicants for a dot WALES domain name will be contractually required to provide complete and accurate WHOIS data. Verification will be undertaken by the registrar in the first instance and enforced through the registry/registrar agreement. The registrar shall be contractually responsible for verifying the quality of the registrant data. Nominet will also conduct proactive validation checks on the name and address of all registrants.

We believe this will deter criminals from registering under the new domain and will ensure a high accuracy of WHOIS data from the outset, thus helping law enforcement and rights holders to take action against abuses if these occur. Registrars will also conduct regular post registration checks on WHOIS data quality as required by the WHOIS Data Reminder Policy.


Registrant personal information

We are committed to host data in the UK with off-shore back-up (within the European Union) and to be answerable and operate the business in jurisdiction.

We will ensure that data supplied by registrants is protected in accordance with all applicable laws (specifically the UK Data Protection Act 1998 and the EU Data Protection Directive which informed it), including through an appropriately designed WHOIS implementation.


Outreach

We will ensure that there is broad market awareness of the dot WALES domain via online and more traditional media to ensure stakeholders know about and understand the benefits of using the TLD.

A marketing and communications programme to inform stakeholders and rights-owners will be deployed in advance of the launch of the dot WALES TLD in partnership with community organisations to inform and promote the rules and mechanisms by which registrants will be permitted to register rights and acquire dot WALES domains. This will encourage engagement from rights owners to either take up their rights at low cost by registering a domain or to ensure that their trademark is registered in the clearing house.

Nominet has considerable experience of stakeholder engagement and management, which ensures that we understand the respective needs, concerns and priorities of stakeholders. These include government, business, registrants, registrars, law enforcement, internet community, regulators. Nominet has developed proven multi-stakeholder processes for consulting and engaging with stakeholders, using them to inform the way in which policies and rules are developed and reviewed in order that costs are minimised and benefits maximised.

Additionally, the dot WALES TLD will utilise mechanisms to raise awareness through proactive contact with business and industry stakeholders who are registered companies through the UK's Companies House to advise and assist with their decision-making, limiting unintended consequences of a lack of awareness.

Nominet is committed to ensuring that dot WALES will be a high quality, safe and secure space which maximises benefits and minimises consumer harm. We will adopt a range of rules relating to registration, registrar management, expiry, intellectual property protection, prevention of abuse and malicious behaviour to ensure that the dot WALES TLD meets its objective as a trusted, safe, and credible space. We will ensure registration procedures are simple and quick to use, operating on a first-come, first-served basis subject to the registration policy previously outlined, while at the same time mitigating potential harms, such as:

- Excessively high end-user prices which impose unnecessary cost on users wishing to purchase domains and/or deter take-up and use of the new domain;
- Use of the TLD for illegal purposes such as phishing, pharming, distribution of malware, online fraud and identity theft;
- Harm caused to third parties through infringement of their intellectual property rights.

We will mitigate these potential harms through the following actions:

Pricing and route to market

It is not in registrants' interests for dot WALES domains to be available at excessively high, uncompetitive prices. Indeed registrants are likely to be put off from registering if prices are too high. Consumers could also be negatively impacted if high domain prices feed through into higher price of (for example) e-commerce services.

Nominet is committed to a pricing model in which wholesale charges for dot WALES domains are set at a level which is competitive with comparable charges for existing mass market gTLDs. Given that this is crucial to the success of dot WALES we do not think it is necessary to make binding contractual commitments on future pricing but we will, as required by the Registry Agreement, offer registrants advance notice of price changes.

Retail prices paid by registrants are, of course determined by the registrar market, to which the wholesale charges set by the registry are only an input. We are committed to ensuring the broadest and most competitive registrar channel for dot WALES. As well as working through all ICANN-accredited registrars who wish to sell the dot WALES product, Nominet also intends, via a subsidiary, to become an ICANN accredited registrar itself for the purpose of offering an alternative mechanism to purchase dot WALES domains for non-ICANN accredited registrars. (Nominet has around 3,000 registrars for the sale of .uk domains and these registrars will be able to choose whether to register through any of ICANN's accredited registrars that wish to offer dot WALES domains including Nominet's registrar subsidiary. This subsidiary will sell registrations on competitive terms only through resellers; Nominet does not intend to become active itself in the retail market.)

We will offer 1-10 year variable registration periods in line with standard practice. In addition, we have set aside in our model appropriate funds to provide additional marketing effort to promote the new domain. This may take the form of assistance with the development and delivery of specific marketing campaigns by the channel, or it could take the form of a quantity discounting arrangement as an introductory incentive to registrants.


Effective sunrise processes

The dot WALES registry will deploy a staged sunrise process before making the domain names available for general registration on a first-come, first-served basis. The trademark claims service mandated by ICANN to provide notice to potential registrants of existing trademark rights, as well as notice to rights holders of relevant names registered will operate throughout all phases and for the first 60 days of general registration.

The sequential order of availability for dot WALES domains will be as follows:
(1) Sunrise period for both trademarks in the ICANN Trademark Clearinghouse and other registered trademarks enforceable in the UK;
(2) Sunrise period for unregistered rights (also known as "passing off" rights) enforceable in the UK;
(3) Landrush for premium domain names open to all applicants; and
(4) Landrush open to all other applicants.

Participation in each stage will be contingent on meeting the eligibility requirements for dot WALES.

Phase (1) will be open to those parties with registered trademark rights. Parties who wish to take part in this phase will have the option of either registering their rights at the ICANN Trademark Clearinghouse, or going through a dot WALES-specific trade mark validation process. Phase (2) will be open to parties with legally enforceable unregistered rights; we will require an affidavit from a qualified intellectual property lawyer confirming that they believe such unregistered rights exist. The landrush at phase (3) will be for previously identified "premium" domain names and will be open to anyone who can fulfil the registrant requirements for dot WALES explained earlier in this answer, regardless of whether they have any prior rights in a name. Phase (4) will be open only to parties based in Wales. The premium names will have been identified at an early point and reserved for registration until this stage.

In the event that more than one valid application for the same domain name is received in a given phase, an auction will be used to determine who will be entitled to the domain name. In order to prevent unnecessary delay in moving to subsequent phases, auctions for a given phase will be held in parallel with subsequent phases, given that there is no detriment in doing so. Surpluses generated by the auction will be returned to communities in Wales in line with our not-for-profit business model.

Once these four phases have been completed, dot WALES domains will be made available on a first come, first served basis (subject to eligibility requirements).

Aside from the internal costs to the participants, and any costs charged by a supplier, for the first two phases, the registry will charge only an administrative fee to cover the verification of rights claims by independent experts. This fee will be calculated on a cost-recovery basis. For the landrush phase, participants will pay a minimal application fee, the purpose of which is to ensure that only genuine participants take part in any auction.

A marketing and communications programme to inform stakeholders and rights-owners will be deployed in advance of the launch of the dot WALES registry. This programme will be conducted in partnership with relevant community organisations to inform and promote the rules and mechanisms by which registrants will be permitted to register rights and dot WALES domains. This will encourage engagement from rights owners to either take up their rights at low cost by registering a domain or to ensure that their trademark is registered in the Clearinghouse. We understand the needs, concerns and priorities of stakeholders due to our considerable experience of stakeholder engagement and management from our dot UK operations. These stakeholders include government, businesses, registrants, registrars, law enforcement authorities, the internet community, and regulatory bodies. Nominet has developed tried and tested multi-stakeholder processes for consulting and engaging with stakeholders, using those processes to inform the way in which policies and rules are developed and reviewed in order that costs are minimised and benefits maximised.

Additionally, the dot WALES registry will use mechanisms to raise awareness through proactive contact with business and industry stakeholders who are registered companies through the UK's Companies House to advise and assist with their decision-making, limiting the unintended consequences of a lack of awareness.

We will implement an effective policy for the protection of geographic names as required by the Governmental Advisory Committee. The registry will reserve all country names set out in Specification 5 to the draft Registry Agreement with ICANN (the "Reserved Names"). The Reserved Names will not be available for general registration at any point, whether before or after the launch of the dot WALES registry, regardless of any claimed trade mark or other rights. See our response to Q22 for further details.


Registration

Once in the general availability phase, as noted, we will operate on a first-come, first-served basis. Where two applications are received for the same domain name and both meet the registration policy and data quality requirements the application received first will succeed.

All applicants for a dot WALES domain names will be contractually required to provide complete and accurate WHOIS data. Verification will be undertaken by the registrar in the first instance and enforced through the registry/registrar agreement. The Registry Operator will also conduct proactive validation checks on the name and address of all registrants
We believe this will deter criminals from registering under the new domain and will ensure a high accuracy of WHOIS data from the outset, thus helping law enforcement and rights holders to take action against abuses if these occur.

Registrars will be obliged to ensure that registrant data is verified and correct, and regularly reviewed at appropriate times. We will have the option to incentivise registrars and will also have the option to impose financial and technical restrictions on poorly performing registrars.


Abuse: Detection and policy approach

Strong abuse policies on domains associated with criminal or malicious activity will ensure dot WALES is a safer and more secure internet space. We will seek to minimise any harm to consumers resulting from the use of dot WALES for criminal purposes.

While our registration policies will be designed to deter abusive registrations, this is unlikely to be 100% infallible, we will therefore adopt the following additional measures:

- A strong abuse policy which allows us to suspend domains where we are presented with information that they are being used for criminal purposes. This will be reinforced through contractual provisions with registrars and resellers.
- Full operational roll-out of DNSSEC.
- Co-operation with law enforcement authorities to develop ‘early warning' and reporting systems.
- Dispute resolution (mediation) to enable third parties to effectively deal with allegations of IP infringement.

These measures are set out in more detail in our response to question 28.


DNSSEC

Nominet recognises the importance of DNSSEC in order to run a secure and reliable TLD. As a result we will provide two services in relation to DNSSEC:

- A fully DNSSEC enabled TLD that supports all DNSSEC RFCs; and
- An RFC compliant DNSSEC signing service. This will allow all dot WALES registrars to take advantage of Nominet's DNSSEC signing infrastructure if they do not already have provision themselves. We believe that this will significantly increase DNSSEC take up.


IP rights protection

We are committed to providing a high level of protection for existing IP rights and this is a core objective of the registry. Our approach will go beyond the basic requirements laid out by ICANN in three key areas:

- We will extend the sunrise window to two months to ensure the maximum possibility is afforded to rights-owners to secure existing rights.
- We will afford protection not just to trademarks, but to other enforceable brand protection rights linked to Wales and established in UK intellectual property law.
- We will keep the costs of securing rights to a reasonable minimum. Any fees payable to secure rights under this process will be set on a cost-recovery basis. We will also offer a low-cost mediation process as an optional pre-cursor to the obligatory UDRP.

The key to successful rights protection will be extensive outreach amongst rights holders to raise awareness and explain the processes. Nominet is committed to an extensive programme of engagement and consultation ahead of the commencement of the rights protection window.

In addition to meeting our obligations to offer the UDRP, the registry will also provide registrants and complainants with a free mediation service administered by qualified mediators, giving users access to low-cost mechanisms to enforce their intellectual property rights.

Our proposals are set out in more detail in our response to question 29.


Data protection and privacy

We will ensure that data supplied by registrants is protected in accordance with all applicable laws (specifically the UK Data Protection Act 1998 and the EU Data Protection Directive which informed it), including through an appropriately designed WHOIS implementation.

Nominet will reserve all country names set out in the lists specified in Specification 5 to the draft Registry Agreement with ICANN (the "Reserved Names"). The Reserved Names will not be available for general registration at any point, whether before or after the launch of the dot WALES registry, regardless of any claimed trade mark or other rights.

This restriction on domain name registrations will be communicated to the public as part of the general pre- and post-launch marketing for the TLD in order to minimise any confusion or disappointment.

The Reserved Names will only be available for registration by the relevant governments, using the process set out below (modelled on the GAC-approved process adopted for .INFO).

1. The government or public authority concerned informs Nominet of their request to register the name, and the designated registrant.
2. We will verify the request, from third parties (such as local embassies or government contacts) if necessary, and request any additional information required.
3. The availability of the domain name will be verified and an authorisation number transmitted to the designated registrant.
4. The designated registrant will then be able to register the domain name, via a registrar for the TLD, by submitting the authorisation number to confirm their authority.

This process will be open ended, and will be available at all times, but we will highlight its existence to local governmental representatives (such as embassies or high commissions) as part of the marketing push during the launch of the TLD.