ICANN has received a request to delegate the .ලංකා domain, and .இலங்கை domain, as country-code top-level domains representing Sri Lanka, to LK Domain Registry. ICANN Staff have assessed the request, and provide this report for the ICANN Board of Directors to consider.
The "LK" ISO 3166-1 code, from which these applications’ eligibility derive, is designated for use to represent Sri Lanka.
The domains under consideration for delegation at the DNS root level are:
The string “ලංකා”, represented in ASCII-compatible encoding according to the 2003 IDNA specification as “xn--fzc2c9e2c”. The individual Unicode code points that comprise this string are U+0DBD U+0D82 U+0D9A U+0DCF. In Sinhalese language, the string has a meaning equivalent to “Lanka” to English. Its pronounciation in English is translitered as “Lanka”. The string is expressed using the Sinhala script.
The string “இலங்கை”, represented in ASCII-compatible encoding according to the 2003 IDNA specification as “xn--xkc2al3hye2a”. The individual Unicode code points that comprise this string are U+0B87 U+0BB2 U+0B99 U+0BCD U+0B95 U+0BC8. In Tamil language, the string has a meaning equivalent to “Sri Lanka”. Its pronounciation in English is transliterated as “Ilangai”. The string is expressed using the Tamil script.
The LK Domain Registry was registered as a not-for-profit organisation on 25 June 2008, formalising an operation that had been ongoing for some time managing the .LK top-level domain.
In 2007, the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka convened a task force to work on internationalised domain names. The task force commenced work in May 2008, deciding to engage in the ICANN IDN Fast Track process. Invitations were sent to the community to participate in the working group’s activities, both in national newspapers and through specific invitations to key stakeholders. The Task Force was comprised of representatives of a number of government agencies, The University of Colombo School of Computing, the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon, and two key ISPs — Sri Lanka Telecom and Eureka.
The Task Force concluded which specific strings should be applied for as representations of the country, as well as concluding the existing sponsoring organisation for .LK, LK Domain Registry, “would be most suitable” to operate the domains. The decision was reported to be unanimous, and that “it would be financially infeasible to set up a separate body to register IDN domain names [sic]”.
In January 2010, an application was made to the “IDN Fast Track” process to have the strings “ලංකා” and “இலங்கை” recognised as representing Sri Lanka. The request was supported by the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka, the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka, and the Sri Lankan Department of Official Languages.
On 1 March 2010, review by the IDN Fast Track DNS Stability Panel found that "the applied-for strings associated with the applications from [Sri Lanka] (a) present none of the threats to the stability or security of the DNS ... and (b) present an acceptable low risk of user confusion". The request for the strings to represent Sri Lanka was subsequently approved.
On 14 May 2010, the application by LK Domain Registry to delegate these two top- level domains was presented to ICANN.
The proposed sponsoring organisation is LK Domain Registry, a company limited by guarantee in Sri Lanka.
The proposed administrative contact is Gihan Dias, the Chief Executive Officer of LK Domain Registry. The administrative contact is understood to be based in Sri Lanka.
The proposed technical contact is Chamara Disanayake, the Manager of Engineering of LK Domain Registry.
The top-level domains “ලංකා” and “இலங்கை” are eligible for delegation under ICANN policy, as the strings have been deemed appropriate representations of Sri Lanka through the ICANN Fast Track String Selection process, and Sri Lanka is presently listed in the ISO 3166-1 standard.
Support for the application to delegate the domain to LK Domain Registry has been received from Jayantha Fernando, Director of the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka, an agency under the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat, representing the Government of Sri Lanka.
In addition to the reported consensus building achieved by the members of the task force, form letters of support for the application have been received from the Lanka Internet Network Group, and the Licensed Internet Service Providers Association.
The application is consistent with known applicable local laws in Sri Lanka.
The proposed sponsoring organisation undertakes to operate the domain in a fair and equitable manner.
The proposed sponsoring organisation is constituted in Sri Lanka. The proposed administrative contact is understood to be resident in Sri Lanka. The registry is to be operated in the country.
The application does not involve a transfer of domain operations from an existing domain registry, and therefore stability aspects relating to registry transfer have not been evaluated.
The application is not known to be contested.
The proposal is to have the existing operation of the .LK top-level domain operate the two proposed new top-level domains. Satisfactory detail on the technical and operational infrastructure and expertise that will be used to operate the proposed new domain has been provided.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is tasked with managing the Domain Name System root zone as part of a set of functions governed by a contract with the U.S. Government. This includes managing the delegations of top-level domains.
A subset of top-level domains are designated for the local Internet communities in countries to operate in a way that best suits their local needs. These are known as country-code top-level domains, and are assigned by ICANN to responsible trustees (known as “Sponsoring Organisations”) who meet a number of public-interest criteria for eligibility. These criteria largely relate to the level of support the trustee has from their local Internet community, their capacity to ensure stable operation of the domain, and their applicability under any relevant local laws.
Through an ICANN department known as the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), requests are received for delegating new country-code top-level domains, and redelegating or revoking existing country-code top-level domains. An investigation is performed on the circumstances pertinent to those requests, and, when appropriate, the requests are implemented. Decisions on whether to implement requests are made by the ICANN Board of Directors, taking into account ICANN’s core mission of ensuring the stable and secure operation of the Internet’s unique identifier systems.
The evaluation of eligibility for country-code top-level domains, and of evaluating responsible trustees charged with operating them, is guided by a number of principles. The objective of the assessment is that the action enhances the secure and stable operation of the Internet’s unique identifier systems. The evolution of the principles has been documented in “Domain Name System Structure and Delegation” (RFC 1591), “Internet Domain Name System Structure and Delegation” (ICP-1), and other informational memoranda.
In considering requests to delegate or redelegate country-code top-level domains, input is sought regarding the proposed Sponsoring Organisation, as well as from persons and organisations that may be significantly affected by the change, particularly those within the nation or territory to which the ccTLD is designated.
The assessment is focussed on the capacity for the proposed sponsoring organisation to meet the following criteria:
To assess these criteria, information is requested from the applicant regarding the proposed sponsoring organisation and method of operation. In summary, a request template is sought specifying the exact details of the delegation being sought in the root zone. In addition, various documentation is sought describing: the views of the local internet community on the application; the competencies and skills of the trustee to operate the domain; the legal authenticity, status and character of the proposed trustee; and the nature of government support fort he proposal. The view of any current trustee is obtained, and in the event of a redelegation, the transfer plan from the previous sponsoring organisation to the new sponsoring organisation is also assessed with a view to ensuring ongoing stable operation of the domain.
After receiving this documentation and input, it is analysed in relation to existing root zone management procedures, seeking input from parties both related to as well as independent of the proposed sponsoring organisation should the information provided in the original application be deficient. The applicant is given the opportunity to cure any deficiencies before a final assessment is made.
Once all the documentation has been received, various technical checks are performed on the proposed sponsoring organisation’s DNS infrastructure to ensure name servers are properly configured and are able to respond to queries for the top-level domain being requested. Should any anomalies be detected, ICANN staff will work with the applicant to address the issues.
Assuming all issues are resolved, an assessment is compiled providing all relevant details regarding the proposed sponsoring organisation and its suitability to operate the top-level domain being requested. This assessment is submitted to ICANN’s Board of Directors for its determination on whether to proceed with the request.
