New rules clarify domain name registration procedure

The Foundation for National Scientific Computation (FCCN) has introduced new rules for the registration of domain names under the country-code top-level '.pt' domain.

The FCCN has been in charge of domain name registration in Portugal since 1991, registering more than 30,000 names in that time. Following recommendations from the World Intellectual Property Organization, the FCCN introduced the new rules, which have three primary aims:

• to prevent speculation and misuse of '.pt' domain names: additional documents will be required if the request for a domain name is based on an existing application to register a trademark;
  
  
• to encourage out-of-court settlement of domain name disputes: the rules establish a new arbitration procedure, which provides procedural guarantees to the parties involved and can be applied without prejudicing other potential legal action; and
  
  
• to adopt international recommendations related to the multilingual use of the Internet.

João Gonçalves de Assunção, Abreu Cardigos & Associados, Lisbon