The Irish domain registry service, IEDR, has opened a public consultation on the liberalisation of the rules to register a .ie domain name.
The consultation process will run until 30 September and looks for submissions around the relaxing of the current .ie domain registration rules whereby an applicant must demonstrate a connection to Ireland and a valid claim to the name.
The proposal, which has already been approved in principle by the Policy Advisory Committee (PAC), is that the requirement for a valid claim to the name be dropped, retaining only the requirement for a connection to Ireland.
According to David Curtin, chief executive, IEDR, this change will make it easier and faster to obtain a .ie domain name, potentially opening the process up to more applicants, specifically citing clubs, communities and businesses.
“By dropping the ‘claim to a name’ requirement but retaining the connection to Ireland,” said Curtin, “we are removing a hurdle that slows down some registrants from getting started with a .ie address. Our liberalisation proposal will make registering a .ie domain more straightforward for both individuals and businesses.”
Ireland’s .ie domain has been criticised in the past for being too restrictive, but supporters have pointed to the domain’s security, regarded as among the best in the world, as an argument against liberalising registration.
The IEDR report for 2016 shows that compared to 22 European countries, Ireland ranks in joint 18th with France for the number of country code domains per 1,000 people. Many other countries with similar and smaller populations fare far better, including Denmark (233 .dk domains per 1,000 people), Norway (136 .no domains) and Lithuania (63 .lt domains).
This has been taken as evidence that Ireland’s restrictive rules are discouraging greater use of the domain, particularly among smaller businesses.
Curtin said in the report on 2016, that “some Irish SMEs do not fully appreciate a web site’s power to transform their business, particularly in terms of opening up new revenue streams and growing customer bases through e-commerce.”
“Our most recent dot ie Digital Health Index discovered that just 28% of Irish SMEs can process payments online, while two-thirds of offline SMEs believe there is ‘no need’ to have a web site in their industry – despite the fact that Ireland’s share of the digital marketplace is worth over €9 billion per annum and growing.”
“We are pleased to be opening up this liberalisation process to the public,” said Curtin, “and look forward to receiving submissions by the end of September. The policy development process for the .ie namespace benefits from this transparent, multi-stakeholder approach to building consensus for policy changes.”
Further information and a FAQ on the proposed policy change, see www.iedr.ie/liberalisation
Members of the public interested in submitting their opinions on the proposed policy change should visit www.iedr.ie/public-consultation
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