In September 1990, the International Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) granted NIC Costa Rica, a Specialised Unit of the National Academy of Sciences, the administration of the .CR ccTLD for Costa Rica.  The Registry has, since its inception, aimed to promote .CR in the “commercial, academic, governmental, financial, health and organisational sectors”, and has been actively involved in the development and strengthening of the internet infrastructure in Costa Rica, which it believes is crucial for the growth of the “digital economy and the expansion of the local technological ecosystem”.

NIC Costa Rica has also worked on projects that are outside of the general domain name management area. This has included working and collaborating with national and international organisations, including LACNIC, ICANN, LACTLD, IETF and ISOC, as well as local institutions like MICITT, all with the aim of ensuring the security and resilience of the Internet within Costa Rica.

The Registry is also committed to providing training to educational institutions, which it believes has had an “extremely positive impact on society”. This has included providing training programs to primary school students with regard to the correct use of the internet, the dangers of using social networks and cyberbullying, as well as training to university students on subjects such as DNS, DNSSEC, Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy and IPv6.

There are currently under 20,000 registered domain names managed by the .CR Registry.  Domain name registrations are possible directly at the top level under .CR, as well as at the second level under extensions such as .CO.CR.  Domain name registrations under both of these extensions are unrestricted, meaning that they are open to all entities without restrictions such as local presence or a matching trade mark. 

Rosalía Morales, Executive Director of NIC Costa Rica, stated that:

Working at NIC Costa Rica is a fascinating experience since the projects and topics we analyse change continuously and are directly related to the development of the country, the global Internet network and the technologies that affect innovation and global geopolitics. Over the last 34 years, we have seen the accelerated growth of the Internet, its role in the country's connectivity, the implementation of the latest DNS security technologies and the launch and growth of the Internet Neutral Exchange Point (IXP) among many initiatives.

To visit NIC Costa Rica’s website, please click here.

Authored by the Anchovy News team