Canadian
Registration Information:
Registration
Overview
The Canadian domain
landscape is changing. The .ca registry, once run by a co-operative under
the University of British Columbia, is being transitioned to a new,
non-profit corporation (CIRA) on November 1, 2000. At that point,
registrars across Canada will be competing to offer .ca names to their
clients. CanadianDomains.org is one such registrar.
As a result of this registry
change, all existing .ca registrants must "pre-register" their
existing names with the new authority (CIRA), through an accredited
registrar. Tucows is now offering pre-registration through our domain
resellers.
Registrants in the .ca namespace risk losing their names after 12/01/00 if
they do not "pre-register" them.
"Pre-registration" officially begins Monday, 09/18/00.
Pre-registrations
During the pre-registration
process you can choose one of the following:
a) pre-registration of an
existing second level domain name
b) pre-registration of an existing third level domain without upgrade
c) pre-registration of an existing third or fourth domain with upgrade
keeping the old name
d) pre-registration of an existing third or fourth level domain with
upgrade releasing the old name
Advance
Registrations
On or around 11/01/00 (date still tentative), CIRA will begin accepting
new .ca registrations, under much less stringent registration
restrictions. Previously, .ca registrants were only allowed one
registration per individual/organization, and there were further rules
restricting access to the .ca space to federally incorporated
organizations.
CanadianDomains.org is now accepting advance registration requests for new
.ca domain name. These requests will be kept in a queue until November 1,
2000, at which point CIRA will open its systems to the registrars' advance
registration queues.
Essentially, the only restrictions for new .ca registrations are that the
registrant must be any of the following:
-
Canadian citizens /
Permanent Canadian resident or legal representative of aforementioned
-
Canadian corporations,
trusts, partnerships. and associations
Upgrading
Third and Fourth Level Domains
Registrants with existing
third or fourth level names can choose to upgrade to second level name
during the pre-registration process. The following are CIRA rules:
An EXISTING REGISTRANT may
request an upgrade of a third or fourth level EXISTING REGISTRATION to a
second level .ca Domain Name (for example xy.on.ca to xyz.ca) prior to OTD
(November 1, 2000).
A request for an upgrade
will only be approved if:
-
the EXISTING
REGISTRATION existed in the .ca Registry operated by UBC in August 1,
2000; and
-
the requested Domain
Name is not in conflict with any other Domain Names in the .ca
Registry at any level. (For example, if there are EXISTING
REGISTRATIONS of xyz.on.ca and xyz.bc.ca, neither EXISTING REGISTRANT
would be permitted to upgrade to the xyz.ca).
Registrants also have the
option of simply renewing a third or fourth level name and not upgrade.
Additionally, registrants have the option to discard the original third or
fourth level domain name and only request the upgrade.
Registration
Process
During the registration
process, CIRA will email the administrative contact of the domain to
confirm the application is correct and the registrant accepts the terms
and conditions of the agreement. The administrative contact will have 48
hours to visit the CIRA site to confirm the registration and accept the
registration and accept their terms and conditions.
