News

Domain names: An ad for Andorra

Anchovy News I .AD

18 June 2024

Andorra Telecom, the Registry for the Andorran Top Level Domain (TLD) .AD, recently kicked off a major liberalisation project for the .AD extension that will see it becoming available to all registrants without restriction towards the end of this year. Once liberalised, the extension has the potential to generate significant interest among registrants as a pseudo generic, or “domain hack” (like Montenegro’s .ME and Tuvalu’s .TV), given its correlation with the abbreviation for “advertisement” in English.

The .AD extension was previously heavily restricted, being available only to the owners of business names registered in Andorra or the holders of registered trade marks with effect in Andorra. Domain name registrations were previously handled manually via the Registry directly, but the Registry has modernised its systems and adopted a standard registrar model.

The liberalisation of the .AD TLD will roll out according to the following phases:

Transition Phase (22 May 2024 - 16 October 2024)

The Transition Phase combines an Opening Phase and a Landrush Phase.

The Opening Phase runs from 22 May 2024 to 4 September 2024 and, under this phase, applications will be accepted (in the following order of priority) for:

corporate names for Andorran legal entities
foreign trade marks without effect in Andorra (registered before 22 May 2024)
names of Andorran citizens or residents
names matching domain names in other TLDs (registered before 22 May 2024)

The Landrush Phase runs from 5 September 2024 to 16 October 2024 and this phase will see applications opened up to names without previous rights or priority, i.e., it will be open to any name not covered by one of the above categories.

In the event that multiple identical applications are submitted within the same category, the Registry will attempt formal or informal mediation and, where no agreement can be reached, an auction will take place.

General Availability – from 22 October 2024

From this date, domain names will be available without restrictions on a first-come, first-served basis.

Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) are available in .AD, including the Catalan language characters à, ç, è, é, í, ï, l·l, ò, ó, ú and ü.

To date, the Registry has not announced the adoption of any alternative dispute resolution procedure relating to domain names. Given that registrations will be open to holders of matching domain names registered in other TLDs (without the need for a trade mark) as early as the Opening Phase, we would advise brand owners to also consider applying for their brands during this phase.

Authored by the Anchovy News team.