Report on the Delegation of the бг (“bg”) domain representing Bulgaria in Bulgarian language to Imena.BG AD

10 June 2016

This report is being provided under the contract for performance of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) function between the United States Government and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Under that contract, ICANN performs the “IANA functions”, which include receiving delegation and redelegation requests concerning TLDs, investigating the circumstances pertinent to those requests, making its recommendations, and reporting actions undertaken in connection with processing such requests.

Factual Information

Country

The “BG” ISO 3166-1 code from which the application’s eligibility derives, is designated for use to represent Bulgaria.

String

The domain under consideration for the delegation at the DNS root level is “бг”. This is represented in ASCII-compatible encoding to the IDNA specification as “xn--90ae”. The individual Unicode code points that comprise this string are U+0431 U+0433.

In Bulgarian language, the string has a transliteration equivalent to “bg” in English.

Chronology of events

Following the launch of the Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) Fast Track string selection pocess in 2009, the currently listed sponsoring organization for the .BG ccTLD, Register.BG, participated in multiple consultations with the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications (MTITC) regarding the selection of strings to be used for the Bulgarian domain.

During this time, a round table discussion was initiated by MTITC, where various stakeholders were invited to participate. The participants reached consensus that the appropriate string to represent the Bulgarian IDN ccTLD is .бг (.xn--90ae). MTITC was also chosen to act as the applicant for this string.

On 19 February 2010, an application was made by MTITC to ICANN’s “IDN Fast Track” process to have the string “бг” recognized as representing Bulgaria in Cyrillic script.

The string was initially declined following the IDN ccTLD Fast Track DNS Stability Panel string review process. However, in October 2014, a second review panel called the Extended Process Similarity Review Panel (EPSRP) conduted another review of the proposed string and issued a report concluding that “The candidate string is not confusingly similar to any ISO 3166-1 entries.”

From October 2014 to March 2015, MTITC established a working group consisting of local Internet stakeholders to select the sponsoring organization for the .бг domain. A public expert council was also established to review and approve the decisions of the working group.

Subsequently on 1 July 2015, a call for applications to all interested parties to become the sponsoring organization for .бг was announced by the working group.

On 11 December 2015, Imena.BG AD was established as a publicly limited company by several founding member organizations including Register.BG, the current sponsoring organization of the .bg ccTLD.

On 16 December 2015, MTITC informed Imena.BG AD about the completion of the application evaluation process and that Imena.BG AD was chosen to manage the .бг domain.

On 26 February 2016, Imena.BG AD commenced a request to ICANN for the delegation of .бг as a top-level domain.

Proposed Sponsoring Organisation and Contacts

The proposed sponsoring organization is Imena.BG AD.It is a publicly limited company based in Bulgaria.

The proposed administrative contact is Dragomir Slavov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Imena.BG Plc. The administrative contact is understood to be based in Bulgaria.

The proposed technical contact is Daniel Kalchev, Director of Imena.BG Plc.

Evaluation of the Request

String Eligibility

The top-level domain is eligible for delegation under ICANN policy, as the string has been deemed an appropriate representation of Bulgaria through the ICANN Fast Track String Selection process, and Bulgaria is presently listed in the ISO 3166-1 standard.

Public Interest

Government support was provided by Valery Borissov, Depute Minister of the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications.

Additional support letters were provided by the following:

  • Justine Toms, Marketing and Sales Manager Europe, ABC Design & Communication
  • Lyubomir Tanev, Managing Director, Best Partners Ltd.
  • Elitsa Barakova, Executive Director, Bulgarian Charities Aid Foundation
  • Ivo Dimitrov, Managing Director, Cooolbox
  • Hristo Takev, Executive Director, Evronet
  • Dimitar Angelov, Chief Executive Officer, Global Communication Net AD
  • Galina Momcheva - Gardeva, Associate Professor, ICT Cluster - Varna
  • Georgi Stoyanov and Jordan Kolev, IEEE Bulgaria Section Chair, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
  • Emiliya Milkova, Director, “Pencho Slaveykov” Public Library
  • Jordan Kissjov, Chief Executive Officer, RISK Electronics Ltd.
  • Vladimir Petrov, Chief Executive Officer, STRATEGMA Agency
  • Dimitar Velev, Chief Executive Officer, Telnet OOD
  • Dimitar Tonev, Executive Director, UNIQA Insurance Plc
  • Teodora Bakardjieva, Professor, Varna Free University “Chernorizets Hrabar”
  • Sheni Delcheva, Managing Director, Escom OOD
  • Rosen Nikolov Vasilev, Professor, Technical University of Varna

The application is consistent with known applicable laws in Bulgaria. The proposed sponsoring organization undertakes responsibilities to operate the domain in a fair and equitable manner.

Based in country

The proposed sponsoring organization is constituted in Bulgaria. The proposed administrative contact is understood to be a resident of Bulgaria. The registry is to be operated in Bulgaria.

Stability

The application does not involve a transfer of domain operations from an existing domain registry, and therefore stability aspects relating to registry transfer have not been evaluated.

The application is not known to be contested.

Competency

The application has provided information on the technical and operational infrastructures and expertise that will be used to operate the proposed new domain. One of the founding members of the proposed operator is the current manager of .BG country-code top-level domain for Bulgaria.

Proposed policies for management of the domain have also been tendered.

Evaluation Procedure

ICANN is tasked with coordinating the Domain Name System root zone as part of a set of functions governed by a contract with the U.S. Government. This includes accepting and evaluating requests for delegation and redelegation of top-level domains.

A subset of top-level domains are designated for the local Internet communities in countries to operate in a way that best suits their local needs. These are known as country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs), and are assigned by ICANN to responsible trustees (known as “Sponsoring Organisations”) that meet a number of public-interest criteria for eligibility. These criteria largely relate to the level of support the trustee has from its local Internet community, its capacity to ensure stable operation of the domain, and its applicability under any relevant local laws.

Through ICANN’s IANA department, requests are received for delegating new ccTLDs, and redelegating or revoking existing ccTLDs. An investigation is performed on the circumstances pertinent to those requests, and, when appropriate, the requests are implemented and a recommendation for delegation or redelegation is made to the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

Purpose of evaluations

The evaluation of eligibility for ccTLDs, and of evaluating responsible trustees charged with operating them, is guided by a number of principles. The objective of the assessment is that the action enhances the secure and stable operation of the Internet’s unique identifier systems.

In considering requests to delegate or redelegate ccTLDs, input is sought regarding the proposed new Sponsoring Organisation, as well as from persons and organisations that may be significantly affected by the change, particularly those within the nation or territory to which the ccTLD is designated.

The assessment is focussed on the capacity for the proposed sponsoring organisation to meet the following criteria:

  • The domain should be operated within the country, including having its sponsoring organisation and administrative contact based in the country.
  • The domain should be operated in a way that is fair and equitable to all groups in the local Internet community.
  • Significantly interested parties in the domain should agree that the prospective trustee is the appropriate party to be responsible for the domain, with the desires of the national government taken very seriously.
  • The domain must be operated competently, both technically and operationally. Management of the domain should adhere to relevant technical standards and community best practices.
  • Risks to the stability of the Internet addressing system must be adequately considered and addressed, particularly with regard to how existing identifiers will continue to function.

Method of evaluation

To assess these criteria, information is requested from the applicant regarding the proposed sponsoring organisation and method of operation. In summary, a request template is sought specifying the exact details of the delegation being sought in the root zone. In addition, various documentation is sought describing: the views of the local internet community on the application; the competencies and skills of the trustee to operate the domain; the legal authenticity, status and character of the proposed trustee; and the nature of government support fort he proposal. The view of any current trustee is obtained, and in the event of a redelegation, the transfer plan from the previous sponsoring organisation to the new sponsoring organisation is also assessed with a view to ensuring ongoing stable operation of the domain.

After receiving this documentation and input, it is analysed in relation to existing root zone management procedures, seeking input from parties both related to as well as independent of the proposed sponsoring organisation should the information provided in the original application be deficient. The applicant is given the opportunity to cure any deficiencies before a final assessment is made.

Once all the documentation has been received, various technical checks are performed on the proposed sponsoring organisation’s DNS infrastructure to ensure name servers are properly configured and are able to respond to queries correctly. Should any anomalies be detected, ICANN staff will work with the applicant to address the issues.

Assuming all issues are resolved, an assessment is compiled providing all relevant details regarding the proposed sponsoring organisation and its suitability to operate the relevant top-level domain.