Colombia clarifies management of '.co' ccTLD

The Colombian government has issued Resolution 001455 on the administration of the '.co' country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) following a consultation with the Colombian internet community. The resolution covers issues left unaddressed by previous resolutions regulating the '.co' ccTLD.

It provides the following:

• The Uniform Domain Names Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) will apply to conflicts over '.co' domain names. Thus far, a party whose trademark rights were infringed by a '.co' domain name could only initiate inadequate and lengthy judicial actions. Pursuant to the new resolution, the UDRP will be incorporated into a new style of domain name registration agreement that will be drafted by the Universidad de los Andes - the Colombian network information centre (NIC) managing the '.co' domain space. Also, the NIC will implement a public database to allow access to information about domain name registrants.
  
  
• Domain names registered under the second-level domain '.gov.co' will be transferred to a new '.gob.co' suffix. The new suffix reflects the spelling of the word 'gobierno' (which means 'government') and thus will make it easier for Colombian users to access governmental websites. The transition will take two years.
  
  
• The '.co' ccTLD must only be used to identify the Republic of Colombia on the Internet. This provision has the aim of preventing misuse of the '.co' suffix and a special regulation on this issue is pending.

Fernando Triana and Edna Falla, Triana Uribe & Michelsen, Bogota