Daily Domainer

It’s all set. The .asia top level domain (TLD) was approved by ICANN in late 2006 and the DotAsia Organisation is quietly but surely moving forward with the gradual launch of the new domain. According to a rough timeline, there will be three sunrise periods to allow special entities to register their domains: The first sunrise period for government entities, the second one for registered trademark owners, and the third one for registered entities which will be able to register their company names or organization names.

Most individual domainers will have to wait until the official landrush to start registering .asia domains. That could be a good thing because not just anyone is able to purchase a .asia domain. Potential registrants must meet certain eligibility requirements. According to the DotAsia Charter Eligibility, “…at least one of the domain contacts associated with the domain name must be an existing and current legal entity in the DotAsia Community". Surprisingly enough, this community includes 73 different countries, regions and territories:

Afghanistan, Antarctica, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Cook Islands, Cyprus, Fiji, Georgia, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Macao, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Palestinian Territories, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Qatar, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tokelau, Tonga, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Yemen.

Types of qualifying legal entities include: natural persons, corporations, cooperatives, government bodies, trusts, etc. Therefore, if you’re interested in a .asia domain but do not meet the eligibility requirements, now is the time to begin strategic planning so that you can legally secure your desired domains.

The .asia launch is expected for 2008. To learn more about the past and present .asia domain happenings, watch this site which will start being updated on a regular basis shortly. And of course, here at the Daily Domainer we'll keep you up-to-date as well.