Proposed Registering, Managing & Cancelling Policy Amendments

DNCL is seeking comments on proposed changes to the Registering, Managing and Cancelling Domain Names (RMC) policy.

The proposed changes all relate to the requirements around name servers.

1. Clause 4.2.5 Currently clause 4.2.5 of the RMC policy reads: 4.2.5 Domain names commencing 'xn--' are not permitted. It is proposed that this is amended to: 4.2.5 Domain names must conform to a supported encoding scheme. Currently the encoding scheme for IDN Applications uses ‘xn--‘ however it is possible that future schemes may differ. The change proposed will allow .nz to keep up with technical developments without having to amend general policies.

2. Clauses 4.3 and 4.4 Currently these clauses read: 4.3 No name servers are required to be configured for a domain name to be registered. Note however, that though none are required for registration, domain names with fewer than two name servers will not be delegated in the DNS. These will be recorded as TXT-only entries and a system-generated comment will be assigned next to these entries. 4.4 Where name servers are configured, registrants are also responsible for ensuring that at least two name servers remain configured and operable. Listed domains that are found to have fewer than two operable name servers at any time will not be delegated in the DNS. It is proposed that they are amended to: 4.3 Name server data is not required for a domain name to be registered. If valid name server data is provided it will be published in the DNS when delegation is requested. 4.4 Name server data will be validated when provided to ensure that it meets minimum technical and operational criteria to ensure the security, stability and resilience of the DNS. 4.5 Name server data may be revalidated at any time and may be removed from the DNS should the technical and operational criteria not be met.

The changes will allow .nz to validate name server data as appropriate and should enable the overall standard of name server information, and therefore DNS operations, to improve.

Details of the supported encoding schemes will be included as part of NZRS’ technical policies.

Comments should be sent by email to [email protected], by fax to (04) 495 2115, or by mail to P O Box 11881, Wellington.

Comments on these proposed changes should be by Monday, 28 June 2010.