The rules for registering domains in the .RU and .РФ zones need to be changed.

After reviewing the findings of an independent commission established to identify violations of the rules during the launch of open registration in the .РФ domain, the Coordination Center Council decided that the registration rules in the .RU and .РФ domain zones require significant changes.

As a reminder, the independent commission was established in November 2010. Its goal was to determine whether registrars violated the rules of the Coordination Center (CC) during the launch of open registration of domains in the .РФ zone.

According to the commission's findings, the registrar company RU-CENTER was a major violator of the rules. The company purchased over 60,000 domain names and put 24,000 of them up for auction. The Coordination Council demanded that the company cease the auctions, but RU-CENTER failed to comply. As a reminder, according to the rules, a domain name must be registered to the person whose application is first processed by the Technical Center.

Following this incident, an independent commission was created, which advised the Control Center to revise the rules for "secondary" domain registration in the .RU and .РФ zones (when multiple applicants apply for a vacated name), prohibit registrars from buying names "for themselves," and develop a procedure by which registrars would purchase names for their own use from other companies on a general basis.

The commission also stated that the violations occurred because the CC board included individuals with personal interests in RU-CENTER. State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein, representing the United Russia party, alleged that former Deputy Minister of Communications and Mass Media Alexey Soldatov was involved. The commission discovered that 14% of RU-CENTER's shares belong to the former deputy minister's sister. It was he who insisted on the rapid launch of open registration, so the board had to develop rules on a tight deadline.

According to Khinshtein, Soldatov did everything possible to ensure the domain registration process in the .РФ zone was opaque. He stated that he would personally forward the commission's findings and information on Soldatov's activities regarding the launch of the .РФ domain to the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media and the Russian Government.

At the time the registration rules for the .РФ domain were being developed, RU-CENTER CEO Alexey Lesnikov was a member of the council. The commission advised the Center to propose that Lesnikov resign from his position on the council. However, this recommendation was ignored.

Andrey Kolesnikov, Director of the Call Center, stated that the incident involving violations of the rules during the launch of open registration for the .РФ domain made it clear that it was time to change the regulations and procedures for registration in the .RU and .РФ domains.

The Council decided to create several working groups to finalize the rules. New regulations and procedures must be prepared by March 1, 2011.

Alexander Panov, Managing Partner of the Hosting Community group of companies, believes that the changes to the rules will have serious consequences for the Russian domain name market. Council member Yulia Ovchinnikova notes that the Community Center will also have to consider user interests when revising the rules.

RU-CENTER itself maintains that during the registration launch, it acted solely in the interests of users and did not violate any rules. RU-CENTER claims that the Call Center was aware of the upcoming auctions.

RU-CENTER representatives stated that they are interested in an objective "investigation" of the open registration process and are actively cooperating with regulatory authorities. They have sent information on all names put up for auction to the CC and the Federal Antimonopoly Service.

RU-CENTER representative Andrey Vorobyov stated that the company will not use the funds it received from the auction. He also stated that RU-CENTER will defend its interests in court if necessary. Currently, over 720,000 domain names are registered in the .РФ zone, 380,000 of which have already been delegated (prepared for website hosting).