THE POLICY OF THE  .UA DOMAIN

Contents

1. General principles and provisions……………………………………………………………...1

2. The domain name delegation policy.......... 2

3. Administration features of the public domain .UA 7

4. The .UA domain register database (the WHOIS database)..... 7

5. The domain name service availability checking procedure.. 12

6.   The recommended essential conditions of the contract between the registrant and the registrar       ………………………………………………………………………………………………13

7.   The recommended essential conditions of the contract between the registrant and the public domain administrator.       14

8.   The recommended essential conditions of the agreement between the public domain administrator and the .UA domain administrator 17

9.   Rules for resolution of domain disputes in the .UA domain 19

10. The list of references.. 24

1.   GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND PROVISIONS

1.1. The top-level domain .UA is a constituent part of the global domain name system, which is administered by the "Internet Corporation For Assigned Names And Numbers" (ICANN). ICANN has a status of an international non-profit non-governmental organization with location in the USA and acts on behalf and in the interests of all the Internet users.

1.2. The present "Policy of the .UA domain" (hereinafter - the Policy) is worked out by the .UA domain administrator subject to current ICANN rules (RFC#1591, ICP‑1), with due regard to recent recommendations of ICANN, CENTR, US DoC, WIPO and international experience.

1.3. The aim of the present Policy is to determine such system of interrelations and procedures regarding the delegation and administration of domain names in the .UA domain, which:

1.3.1.   satisfies the requirements of the society and entrepreneurship;

1.3.2.   complies with the current legislation of Ukraine;

1.3.3.   facilitates the development of domain name system and the Internet on the whole in Ukraine;

1.3.4.   corresponds to the interests of the global Internet community.

1.4. Within the framework of the present Policy the term "the Internet community of Ukraine" ("the Ukrainian Internet community") shall imply the community of all the citizens and/or residents of Ukraine, natural and legal persons, governmental authorities, state run public authorities of Ukraine and local authorities that use the Internet and Internet-technologies regardless of the aims and ways of such use.

1.5. Within the framework of the present Policy the meaning of the term "person" shall include natural, as well as legal persons. Natural and legal persons have equal rights with regard to the domain name system.

1.6.  Within the framework of the present Policy the term "delegation" shall be used in the meaning determined by current Internet standards, as well as documents ICP-1 and RFC#1591.

1.7. The interests of all the members of the Ukrainian Internet community regarding the domain name system are equal to the extent they do not affect other legitimate interests of the members of the Ukrainian Internet community and/or any third parties.

1.8. A domain name is not an object of ownership. Terms and conditions of the domain name delegation are determined on the contractual basis.

1.9. Within the framework of the present Policy domains are divided into two categories based on their purpose:

1.9.1.   Public domains, i.e. domains that are administered in the interests of a certain community;

1.9.2.   Private domains, i.e. domains that are administered by a certain person in his own interests.

1.10.                  The category of a domain is determined at the moment of delegation of its domain name (see Cl. 4.18.5).

1.11.                  The .UA domain is delegated to its current administrator in the interests of the entire Ukrainian Internet community. Therefore the .UA domain is a public resource, i.e. a public domain.

1.12.                  Public domain administrators shall be concerned about "responsibilities" and "service to the society". The activity of public domain administrators shall be estimated in terms of effectiveness of their operation and extent of satisfaction of the requirements of the Ukrainian and global Internet community.

1.13.                  Since a domain is an administratively determined subset of the hierarchical domain namespace, the policy of a lower level domain may only concretize and/or supplement certain provisions of the policy of a higher level domain, but can not contradict it. Their administrators establish the policies of domains delegated in the .UA domain at the moment of delegation provided that there is consent of a higher-level domain administrator; these policies cannot contradict the present Policy.

1.14.                  Issues of contradiction of a public domain policy to the present Policy are decided in compliance with the domain disputes resolution procedure set forth by Article 9 of the present Policy.

2.   THE DOMAIN NAME DELEGATION POLICY

2.1. Domain names in a public domain may be delegated as public or private according to the policy of the public domain of the previous level and in compliance with the decision of its administrator.

2.2. Delegation of public domain names in a private domain is not possible.

2.3. The domain name www in a public domain is reserved for the administrator of this public domain; it shall point to the website where the policy of this public domain and the list of registrars registering domain names in this domain are published.

2.4. Requests for delegation of any names in a public domain are processed by the administrator on the "first-come-first-served" basis, except as otherwise provided for by the policy of a particular public domain.

2.5. A public domain policy may establish "a simultaneity period", i.e. the time interval from the moment of receipt of the first request for a domain name, during which all subsequent requests for this domain name are regarded as received simultaneously with the first one.

2.6. The decision on delegation in a public domain of a certain domain name as a new public domain, or on refusal of such delegation, is taken by the administrator pursuant to the public domain policy, separately in each specific case, based on the following considerations:

2.6.1.   Is there a user community, members of which are characterized by certain common features and interests and show an active interest in the use of domain names in a new public domain?

2.6.2.   Is there already a delegated public domain oriented at the interests of the same user community?

2.6.3.   Delegation of public domains of the third and lower levels is not recommended.

2.7. Participants of the procedure of delegation of a domain name in a public domain are:

2.7.1.   The Registrant – a person wishing to use and dispose of a certain domain name in a public domain;

2.7.2.   The Registrar – a subject of business registered in Ukraine that renders services to the registrant, which are necessary for technical support of delegation and operation of a domain name.

2.7.3.   The Administrator – an administrator of the public domain, in which the delegation takes place. The person acting as a public domain administrator shall be a subject of business registered in Ukraine.

2.8. The public domain administrator is not allowed to simultaneously act as a registrar in the same domain.

2.9. Relations between the registrant and the registrar regarding the delegation of a domain name to the registrant arise as a part of the complex of services rendered by the registrar; these relations are built exclusively on a contractual basis. The recommended essential conditions of the contract between the registrant and the registrar with regard to domain name delegation are set forth in Article 6 of the present Policy.

2.10.                  Relations between the registrar and the public domain administrator regarding the provision of services by the registrar on delegation of domain names to the third parties are built exclusively on a contractual basis.

2.11.                  In order to ensure the equality of interests, competition, transparence and public control, Article 7 of the present Policy sets forth the recommended essential conditions of the written contract between the registrar and the public domain administrator.

2.12.                  The registrant of a private domain name and the administrator of the public domain, in which this domain name is delegated, do not enter into direct relations with regard to the delegation.

2.13.                  If the registrant wishes to create a new public domain or transfer a private domain registered by him earlier to the category of public domains, he can do it only subject to conclusion of a written agreement with the .UA domain administrator; the recommended essential conditions of this agreement are set forth in Article 8 of the present Policy.

2.14.                  Transfer of a public domain to the category of private domains is not allowed.

2.15.                  The delegation to the registrant of a domain name in a public domain is subject to the following procedure:

2.15.1.                       The registrant at his own discretion chooses a registrar from among the persons, who concluded the appropriate written contracts with the administrator of this public domain.

2.15.2.                       The registrar and the registrant conclude a contract with due regard to the requirements of the present Policy and the requirements of the policy of the public domain, in which the delegation takes place. Conclusion of a separate contract for each domain name is a recommended practice.

2.15.3.                       The registrar creates a record about the person in the .UA domain register database, this record containing the information about the registrant pursuant to the requirements of Cl. 4.15 of the present Policy, or verifies the availability of the existing record and its conformity to the requirements of the present Policy.

2.15.4.                       The registrar takes necessary measures in order to ensure service availability of the domain name, if it is necessary.

2.15.5.                       The registrar draws up a request for delegation of a domain name to the registrant and sends it to the input request queue of the administrator of the corresponding public domain. The request is made in the form of a record about the domain name pursuant to the requirements of Cl. 4.18 of the present Policy.

2.15.6.                       The request is considered accepted to the input queue from the moment when the software of the .UA domain register database (see Article 4 of the present Policy) gives the acknowledgment of this acceptance to the registrar.

2.15.7.                       The administrator within the period of time established by the public domain policy checks the fulfillment by the registrar of technical requirements, which regard the ensuring of service availability of the domain name, and pursuant to the corresponding public domain policy takes one of the following decisions:

2.15.7.1.    to delegate the domain name, or

2.15.7.2.    to refuse delegation, or

2.15.7.3.    to suspend processing of the request.

2.15.8.                       The administrator informs administrative and technical contacts of the registrar on the course and results of processing of the request via electronic mail.

2.16.                  The receipt of a request for delegation of a domain name in a public domain means that the registrant independently and voluntarily identifies himself as a member of the community, in the interests of which this public domain is administered. The administrator of the public domain has no rights to judge whether the convictions of the registrant are trustworthy, except for cases when the public domain policy necessitates documentary confirmation of the registrant's membership in a certain community.

2.17.                  The requested domain name delegation may be refused in the following cases:

2.17.1.                       The syntax of the request or its contents does not comply with the requirements of Cl. 4.18 of the present Policy.

2.17.2.                       The domain name has already been delegated to another registrant.

2.17.3.                       The domain name contains words or expressions that violate the current legislation of Ukraine or do not comply with the requirements of social morals.

2.17.4.                       The domain name is syntactically incorrect pursuant to current Internet standards.

2.17.5.                       The request has been received from the person who is not the registrar.

2.17.6.                       The registrar cannot provide documentary confirmation of certain facts with regard to the registrant in cases when the public domain policy sets forth such a requirement.

2.17.7.                       The service availability of the domain name is not ensured, which is evidenced by results of its checking performed by the administrator. A checking of service availability of the domain name is conducted in compliance with the requirements of Article 5 of the present Policy.

2.18.                  The administrator's refusal to delegate a domain name may be appealed against pursuant to the procedure provided for by Article 9 of the present Policy.

2.19.                  Processing of the request may be suspended in the following cases:

2.19.1.                       There is a domain dispute with regard to this request.

2.19.2.                       A request for delegation of an identical domain name, which has been received earlier, is being checked for its compliance with the public domain policy or is in the stage of service availability checking (see Article 5 of the present Policy), and this checking is not completed yet.

2.20.                 The delegation of a private domain name in a public domain may be revoked and a specified domain name cancelled only in the following cases:

2.20.1.                       at own request of the registrar expressed in writing and sent to the registrar and (or) the administrator of the corresponding public domain;

2.20.2.                       in case of cancellation of the corresponding contract concluded between the registrant and the registrar, or in case of termination of such contract if such contract provides for revocation of the delegation;

2.20.3.                       in case of reiterated and repeated technical errors that make the use of the domain name impossible and/or impede normal operation of the domain name system on the whole;

2.20.4.                       by decision of a competent court (see Article 9 of the present Policy).

2.21.                  In cases provided for by Cl. 2.20.2 and Cl. 2.20.3 of the present Policy the delegation of a private domain name in a public domain may be revoked only after suspension of the delegation for a period not less than 15 (fifteen) calendar days, during which the registrar and the registrant are given the opportunity to renew the contract, correct technical errors etc.

2.22.                  The delegation of an operational public domain cannot be fully revoked.

2.23.                  The higher-level domain administrator may take a decision to re‑delegate a public domain to another administrator. This decision may be taken only in the following cases:

2.23.1.                       at own request of the public domain administrator expressed in writing;

2.23.2.                       in case of cancellation of the corresponding written agreement between the public domain administrator and the .UA domain administrator;

2.23.3.                       in case of reiterated and repeated technical errors that make the use of the domain name impossible and/ or impede normal operation of the public domain or the domain name system on the whole;

2.23.4.                       by decision of a competent court (see Article 9 of the present Policy).

2.24.                  The public domain administrator may re-delegate a private domain name to another registrant only in the following cases:

2.24.1.                       at own request of the registrant expressed in writing and sent to the administrator of the corresponding public domain;

2.24.2.                       by decision of a competent court (see Article 9 of the present Policy).

2.25.                  Re-delegation of a private domain name in a public domain is carried out by way of suspension of the delegation of this name until the moment the new registrant concludes the corresponding contract regarding this domain name with the registrar, which has a written contract with the administrator of this public domain.

3.   ADMINISTRATION FEATURES OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN .UA

3.1.          For the purpose of protection of legitimate interests of the members of the Internet-community of Ukraine with regard to their intellectual property, private second-level domain names in the .UA domain are delegated exclusively in case the spelling or pronunciation of the corresponding full domain name or its second-level component (before the "." character not including it) coincides with the word mark for goods and services registered in Ukraine (hereinafter – trademark, TM), with regard to which the corresponding registrant has the rights of use on the territory of Ukraine. This delegation is performed regardless of the classes of the International Classifier on the basis of which the TM is registered. The delegation is implemented exclusively on condition that duly certified copies of the following documents are submitted:

3.1.1.   The Certificate of Ukraine for the trademark or service mark issued by the central executive authority dealing with issues of legal protection of intellectual property;

3.1.2.   The contract for transfer of ownership for the mark or licensing agreement (in case the registrant is not the holder of the Certificate);