Press Release
Paris, June 25th 2008 - Launched today at ICANN Paris, a new extension for Internet domain names that will open a brand new horizon for Dutch and international enterprises. From September 2008, companies and other interested parties will be able to give a Dutch "flavor" to their Internet presence by using the "co.nl" ending.
Directly operated from Amsterdam with the technical back-end of EuroDNS SA, a global Registrar of Internet Domain names, the service is aimed at international users willing their Internet Addresses to end in ".nl" but with additional flexibility.
"The co.nl extension will be open to anyone, with no requirement of local presence or tie with the Netherlands" confirms Sander Scholten, General Manager of the CO.NL Operator "Because openness should not mean free for all, we have taken several steps to ensure protection of third parties’ rights".
Accordingly, a so-called "Sunrise Period" will be specifically dedicated to Trademark Holders to give them the opportunity to Register their brands as CO.NL names before the system is open to the general public. Beforehand, a "Grandfather Period" will allow holders of a ".NL" domain name to register the same with a ".Co.nl" ending. Both periods – beginning in September – will benefit from the expertise of Deloitte Laga. The firm will validate customers’ requests based on trademark registries.
"We are delighted that Deloitte Laga accepted to join the project" stressed Xavier Buck, EuroDNS’ CEO,"their experience with key Registries like .Asia .Nl, .Me and .Tel should be extremely beneficial to our own customers".
Several International Registrars have already asked to be accredited by the Operator and the next ICANN meeting shall be an opportunity for many more to come on board. "our partners do like the concept“ added Scholten "some of their customers have been looking for a better way to express their Dutch identity on the Internet for some time now, and they see CO.NL as a perfect opportunity".
Interested parties may visit
http://www.domain.co.nl or stop by the EuroDNS booth at ICANN Paris for details.
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Contact:
Sander Scholten
General Manager
CO.NL Operator
mobile: +31 6 11625540
email:
sscholten@domain.co.nl
About the operator
The CO.NL Operator was established in 2007 to manage the registration of domains with the .co.nl extension. The organization operates under the national TLD of Dutch registry SIDN but has no further ties to the foundation.
About Domain Names
By the closing of 2007, 146 million domain names were registered around the world. About 55 million of these domains are registered under country code top-level domains (ccTLD) like .nl and .co.uk. The remaining domains are registered under general top-level domains (gTLD) like .com and .net.
In terms of domain registrations per inhabitant, the Netherlands has the highest number of domain registrations in the world, with over 20 domains per 100 inhabitants. The total number of registrations under the .nl ccTLD is the fourth largest in the world with about 3 million registered domains, after Germany, China, and the United Kingdom (sources: Verisign and SIDN).
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