Kiwi.nz Registrations Opening September 11th

The .nz (New Zealand) domain registry has announced that provisional registrations under the new extension kiwi.nz will open from next Tuesday September 11th 2012.

The new extension under .nz will not “go live” until 500 registration requests have been received.

During the provisional registration phase, domain names:

    Can only be registered for a maximum term of three months;
    Will be recorded on the register with all applicable details, as for any other domain name;
    Will be locked after registration to prevent any changes being made to the record;
    Will not be delegated to the DNS.

And if the 50 domain threshold is reached then the new zone will “go live”:

Registrars will be notified by NZRS when the registration threshold has been met and .kiwi.nz declared active. At that time, domain names registered will be unlocked and delegated to the DNS. Registrars will then be able to offer registrations in .kiwi.nz in the same way as their usual domain name registrations

BUT, if the 500 domains threshold isn’t reached not only will the new zone never go live, but registrars will be out of pocket for the registrations they had processed (????)

If the threshold of 500 registrations is not met within a month of the commencement of the provisional registration period, the domain will not be created and all names provisionally registered will be cancelled. No refund of registration fees paid will be made to registrars in this situation.

Personally, as a registrar, that last bit is a deal breaker for me. Why on earth would you open yourself for this kind of liability?

Or is it that the guys in NZ don’t actually want the new extension?

Related articles

• Fight breaks out over .kiwi (domainincite.com)
• Chilean Domain Registry Launch 1 Year Registrations (internetnews.me)
• Dot Kiwi fails to knock out .kiwi.nz (stuff.co.nz)
• Icelandic Registry To Introduce “Very Important Domains” (internetnews.me)