Estonian Registry Liberalizes .EE Domain Registration System as of July 5

The Estonian Internet Foundation (EIF), the official registry of the Estonian .EE country code top-level domain (ccTLD), has announced that the new rules regulating the .EE registration process will come into effect on July 5, 2010. The new rules will significantly liberalize the registration system, thus making the .EE domain more accessible.

As of July 5, in addition to the legal entities and natural persons, foreigners will also be allowed to register .EE domains and there will be no limit to the number of domains that natural persons and legal entities can register. The EIF will take over the management and registration of domain names from the current registry EENet and enforce the new regulations and fees. The EIF will also establish an arbitration court for domain disputes at its premises.

The EIF has accredited several .EE registrars and listed their names on its website. The owners of domain names registered under the old rules will be given a six-month transition period in order to choose a registrar and re-register their domains.

The new rules do not contain any references to the sunrise period for the owners of existing rights, such as the trademark owners.

The new rules were announced back in January and the new registration policy was expected to come into force on February 1, 2010, but the EIF postponed the deadline several times.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Noveska at our Macedonia office.

Source: EIF