1. What are Internationalized Domain Names?
Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) are domain/host names that are
represented with native language, non-ASCII characters. The native language
domain name is followed by the top-level domain (TLD), such as .ORG. An example
of an IDN is: müller.org.
2. When will .ORG IDNs be available?
.ORG German script IDN registrations have been available since 15 January, 2005 and.ORG Danish, Hungarian, Icelandic, Korean (Hangul), Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish and Swedish script IDN registrations have been available since 23 July 2005.
.ORG Spanish language script IDN registrations become available on 03 March 2007 at 19:00 UTC on a first-come, first-served basis.
3. What language scripts will be available for registration?
.ORG Danish, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Korean (Hangul), Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish and Swedish script IDN registrations are now available, and .ORG Spanish script IDN registrations will be available on 03 March 2007, in compliance with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) IDN standards and Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) IDN guidelines.
PIR will inform registrars as additional language scripts are available for registration.
4. How can I register an IDN?
To register a .ORG IDN, go to a PIR-authorized and Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)-accredited registrar. (See our list for
registrars that offer IDNs.) The unique IDN is then placed into the PIR
.ORG registry database by the registrar.
5. Which registrars offer IDNs for .ORG?
See the list of
registrars offering
.ORG IDN registrations.
6. How much does it cost to register IDNs?
The retail pricing for all domains is set by the registrar.
7. What browsers support IDNs?
The new Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE7), Netscape 7.1, Mozilla 1.4, Firefox 1.0 and Opera 7 are anticipated to be IDNA compliant browsers. Subsequent versions of these browsers are also expected to contain this same functionality.
Further questions about IDN compatibility should be directed to your registrar.
8. Why will IDNs registered before 02 April 2007 be locked?
.ORG Spanish IDNs (not including Danish, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Korean (Hangul), Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish and Swedish IDNs) registered between 03 March and 02 April, 2007 will be placed on Server Hold, Server Update Prohibited, Server Renew Prohibited, Server Transfer Prohibited and Server Delete Prohibited until 02 May, 2007 to allow any Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) disputes to be initiated. While locked, the domains will not resolve and cannot be updated, deleted or transferred. This will provide intellectual property owners an opportunity to identify any potential infringements. Please contact your registrar for further details.
9. How are IDNs displayed in WHOIS?
The "domain name" field displays the registered IDN in Punycode (e.g.,
xn--probestck-w9a.org). Three additional fields follow at the end of the PIR
WHOIS query results:
-
IDN-Tag: The IDN-Tag of the IDN as determined by the registrant (e.g., "de" for
German).
-
Unicode Hex: The IDN in Unicode Hex format (e.g., U+0070 U+0072 U+006F U+0062
U+0065 U+0073 U+0074 U+00FC U+0063 U+006B).
-
Unicode HTML: The IDN in HTML entity format (e.g., probestück).
To convert domain names from Punycode to Unicode -- or vice versa -- go to the
"Punycode Converter."
10. Will PIR allow previously registered Spanish language script IDN test bed names to resolve?
Yes, if you have contacted your registrar to ensure that your Spanish language script IDN domain record is correctly updated in the .ORG registry, this IDN language script should resolve.
Please contact your registrar if you have further questions.