Domain name registrar de-authorised

A .nz registrar has been notified that it will lose its status as an authorised registrar.

Domain Name Commissioner Debbie Monahan said the move, against Domain Name Management Services Ltd (DNMSL), was to help ensure a fair and competitive market for those seeking .nz domain names.

The Domain Name Commissioner has been working with DNMSL for an extended period about whether DNMSL met the standards expected of a registrar.

Over the past 12 months there have been various breaches of required standards by DNMSL. These include registering customers’ domain names to a company closely related to DNMSL and allowing that company to speculate in domain names, despite also being a DNMSL reseller. DNMSL received a sanction for both of those breaches. The company has also twice been suspended by the registry for technical breaches.

DNMSL will be the only registrar to have been de-authorised.

Ms Monahan said the move should not affect those with .nz domain names registered with DNMSL because the company can arrange with another registrar to take over the management of those names and the change does not affect the operation of the names. The Domain Name Commissioner’s office will work with DNMSL on this process.

“Overall, we’re well served by .nz registrars and they play a key role in the broader .nz system. In this one instance, however, a registrar has operated their business contrary to the guiding principles, including fair and transparent market competition, and we have had to revoke its registration,” Ms Monahan said.