Nominet warns Scottish businesses about '.sc' sales

Nominet.uk, the registry for the '.uk' domain, has issued a warning to Scottish businesses that the '.sc' domain, being marketed as a Scottish domain, is in fact the country code of the Seychelles.

Nominet explains that '.sc' domain names are subject to the rules of the Seychelles registry, "including the fact that local requests for domain names get priority over international requests." Willie Black, managing director of Nominet, says: "While there is nothing inherently wrong with having a web address which ends '.sc', people should be aware what this means before they sign up."

The domain names are being promoted to Scottish businesses by a company called SC Registrars. Its homepage makes no reference to the Seychelles. Indeed, its tag line is ".SCotland's premier domain reseller".

David Flint, CEO of SC Registrars, has hit back, arguing that it is open about what customers are buying when they register a '.sc' name, although mention of the Seychelles is only made in the 'About Us' and 'FAQ' pages of the site. Flint states:

"SC Registrars has been explicit about the Seychelles connection. If Nominet had taken the time to refer to our website then it would have discovered that we state clearly that the suffix '.sc' is the ccTLD [country-code top-level domain] for the Seychelles, in respect of whose registry SC Registrars has negotiated this unique opportunity for Scotland and that all registrations are subject to the rules of the '.sc' ccTLD."

There has been support for a Scottish domain suffix for some time. Scotnom Ltd, a non-profit making company, was unsuccessful in an application to Nominet last year for a second-level domain name, '.scot.uk'.

Jon Fell, Masons, London