ZADNA releases revised registry & registrar licensing regulations for additional public comment:

Following the public consultation process which ran from 18 November 2009 to 1 February 2010, ZADNA releases the revised licensing regulations for additional public comment. ZADNA accepted the request to have an additional comment period after delegates to the 8 December 2009 licensing workshop requested to have a second chance to comment before the final regulations are submitted to the Minister of Communications for approval in terms of section 68 of the ECT Act.

Interested parties are requested to email their submissions to submissions@zadna.org.za or fax them to +27 11 234 5022 or to 086 688 7109 (South Africa only). Queries may be directed to Vika Mpisane, ZA DNA General Manager, by telephone to +27 11 275 0082, by email or fax to the abovementioned address and fax numbers.

The deadline for submissions is Monday, 14 June 2010.

Revised Regulations can be downloaded here:

. ZA revised Registry licensing regulations (Word) and (PDF)

. ZA revised Registrar licensing regulations (Word) and (PDF)

ZA DNA will thereafter consider the inputs received, and draft final regulations which will be submitted to the Minister of Communications for approval in terms of the ECT Act.

.ZA Licensing regulations released

ZA DNA has completed the work of drafting licensing regulations for .za registries and registrars, as required by the ECT Act. The regulations seek to formalize relationships and define accountability lines between ZA DNA and the .za registries and registrars. The public and the local Internet industry are invited to comment to the regulations.

As part of the public consultation process, ZA DNA will also hold a workshop for stakeholders and interested parties where it will present the regulations and answer questions. The workshop date will be published in the ZA DNA website.

The closing date for written submissions is Monday, 1 February 2009. Submissions can be emailed to submissions@zadna.org.za or faxed to +27 11 234 5022 or to 086 688 7109. Queries may be directed to Vika Mpisane, ZA DNA General Manager, by telephone to +27 11 275 0082, by email to gm@zadna.org.za or by the abovementioned fax numbers.

ZA DNA will thereafter consider the inputs received, and draft final regulations which will be submitted to the Minister of Communications for approval in terms of the ECT Act.

The regulations can be downloaded here:

.ZA Registry Licensing Regulations (Word) and (PDF)

.ZA Registrar Licensing Regulations (Word) and (PDF)

.ZA POLICY ROADMAP .odt .pdf

Registries

The ECT Act requires the Authority to license registries and registrars for the .za domain. The Board resolved in 2007 that it would introduce a single or central registry model primarily for open domains. The central registry (CR) will include those restricted domains that choose to be part of thereof.

Much work has gone on to investigate the most suitable model for the CR. In so doing, consultations have been made with certain local and international players. The Authority will soon be finalizing the establishment of the CR starting with web.za and net.za, both which the Authority already administers. Subsequent to the licensing of registrars, the Authority will also license registries for the restricted domains.

Registrars

The licensing regulations for registrars are set for release for public comment in August 2009. There will also be consultations with the local Internet industry once the Department of Communications releases the regulations for public comment. Once the consultation period closes, the Authority will consider all input received, and then release final regulations. The Minister of Communications will then promulgate the final regulations in terms of the ECT Act.

Co.za registrar accreditation

The work of finalizing registrar licensing regulations goes hand in hand with the work of accrediting registrars for the co.za domain. The co.za registrar accreditation process was initiated by Uniforum, the co.za administrator, and is not a licensing process in terms of the ECTA. It is a short-term measure intended at improving the co.za registry.

The Authority nevertheless supports the co.za accreditation process as it allows it to pilot registrar licensing using one registry before it rolls out the ECTA registrar licensing process for the rest of the .za domains. The Authority wants to ensure that the co.za accreditation process is in line with the envisaged registrar licensing regulations, so that co.za accredited registrars could easily be absorbed into the ECT Act licensing.

Fees

There is currently no set fees regime for the .za domain. Since the inception of the .za namespace, domain administrators determine fee policies, while other domains do not charge any fees at all.

Through the licensing process, the Authority will set fees for:

• Registrar licensing
• Registry licensing
• Registration of domain names
• Renewal of domain name
• Transfer of domain names

Resellers

The Authority does not plan to license resellers. Resellers will only have relationships with those registrars they resell services for – they will not have any relationship with the Authority nor the registries.