Scotnom Ltd, a non-profit making company, is applying for the
creation of a new second level domain name, .scot.uk, to help
identify Scottish businesses on-line. Its founder members include
Cap Gemini, Ernst and Young, Scottish Media Group, Scotsman.com and
others. The application is being considered by Nominet, the
official registry for all .uk domains.
Scotnom says in its application that, “as well as creating
significant marketing and promotional opportunities for
organisations of all types the new domain will have a number of
benefits for the internet community, including users, ISPs and
website managers.” It anticipates 10,000 .scot.uk applications per
month, if the second level domain is introduced.
Scotnom proposes that domains will be priced at £10 for two
years for members or £80 for two years for non-members. Membership
will be £500 to join and then £100 per year to renew. It has also
proposed putting the funds towards pushing for a .scot top level
domain, which would require authority from ICANN.
Yesterday, Nominet’s Executive recommended that the Policy
Advisory Board (PAB) reject the application in its present form
because it “fails to comply with the stated policy in several key
areas,” although indicated that an application was more likely to
succeed if the domain was operated by Nominet, which already
controls second level domains such as .co.uk and .org.uk.
The policy areas where the Executive found non-compliance
included a requirement for a third party registry to “demonstrate
it is recognised as a suitably neutral and impartial body by a
significant number of potential Registrants in the SLD [second
level domain], and that it can comply with the Policy.”
The application goes before the PAB on 6th June
