RuNet is comfortable in the Cyrillic zone
90% of the Russian market has no pressing need for international internet space; their marketing policy would be much more effective in the Cyrillic .РФ zone.
On October 19, a webinar was held dedicated to the open registration of the .РФ domain. REG.RU Registrar specialists discussed changes to the .РФ Domain Registration Rules, provided practical advice on choosing, registering, and administering domains, and presented a new version of the REG.Panel automated registration panel.
On the eve of open registration, REG.RU held a webinar to inform the general public and the business community about new options for registering and supporting domains in the Cyrillic zone. The event opened with an explanation of the new procedure for open registration of domains in the .РФ zone, which begins on November 11, 2010, at 12:00 PM Moscow time. According to the new Registration Rules, domain name registration services are available only to citizens of the Russian Federation and legal entities registered in accordance with Russian law, as well as foreign legal entities with a separate subdivision in the Russian Federation.
In response to this restriction and the wishes of its clients, REG.RU is committed to assisting bona fide non-residents in registering their domains. Without conflicting with the imposed restrictions, non-residents can register domain names by naming REG.RU as the administrator and using an agency agreement: either an offer agreement (in which case domain delegation will be impossible) or a written agreement with delegation capability. Alexey Korolyuk, CEO of REG.RU and a member of the Working Group for the Development of Domain Registration Rules in the .РФ TLD, noted that currently, approximately 20% of domain names in the .RU zone are registered by non-residents of the Russian Federation. "The Coordination Center's decision regarding restrictions for foreign citizens was swift and unexpected for industry representatives. But the Coordination Center is acting to protect the new domain zone from unscrupulous registrants, and therefore, their decision is justified."
The second restriction concerns the change of domain administrator: the right to administer a domain name registered between November 11, 2010 and November 10, 2011 (inclusive) cannot be transferred to another person within one year from the date of registration of such domain name.
Many Russian internet users are concerned about the legality of ownership of specific domain names. Regarding the currently disputed domains auto.rf, rabota.rf, and sochi.rf, Alexey Korolyuk explained: "Several individuals are laying claim to these domains under the priority registration provisions. Legal proceedings are currently underway regarding ownership of these domain names. The court will issue a ruling soon, and the domains will be returned to their rightful owners. REG.RU has received three applications to register these names. They will be suspended, and all funds will be refunded."
The webinar also addressed a topic of interest to Russian internet users: a stoplist for obscene words in the .РФ domain. According to REG.RU, it is currently under development and has not yet been published or submitted to registrars. Speaking about how the stoplist works, Alexey Korolyuk explained that it "will be automatic; applications for registering obscene domain names will not be rejected, regardless of the registrar." Furthermore, if the automated system malfunctions for any reason and a REG.RU client is unable to submit an application, the registrar will do everything possible to ensure the desired domain is registered.
In a practical advice section, REG.RU experts explained how to choose the best .РФ domain name and presented the company's popular intelligent domain name selection services: REG.Premium, REG.Choice, and REG.Check.
The final, professional block presented a new version of the REG.Panel distributed registration system, officially launched on November 1, 2010. The system is software specially developed by REG.RU specialists, allowing partners to create their own dealer network for registering and renewing domain names, as well as automatically serve end customers through their own website. This version is fundamentally different from previous versions. REG.Panel 3.0 introduces new universal user interfaces, pre-orders and orders for .РФ domains, and IDN domains in the COM / NET / SU zones. Clients can now order a larger number of domain zones (39 + IDN). New services have also been added: VPS, web forwarding, certificates, an internal messaging system, a news feed, a full-featured shopping cart, bulk domain renewals, bulk DNS changes, as well as domain transfers to another REG.Panel user and partial transfer of control to a REG.RU user. In total, REG.Panel 3.0 features over 200 changes and innovations. Particularly noteworthy in the new version of REG.Panel is the implementation of personal data protection methods stipulated by Federal Law No. 152 (Federal Law "On Personal Data"), which will be presented to the company's partners in December of this year.
During the webinar, Alexey Korolyuk answered questions from participants. One of them concerned what would happen if multiple registrars simultaneously submitted applications to the registry for the same name. Alexey explained that in this case, a "...based on the results" process would determine who would apply first.
At the conclusion of the event, REG.RU experts offered forecasts and opinions on the popularity of the Cyrillic domain zone. The registrar estimates that the popularity of the .РФ domain will continue to grow, fueled by marketing and PR efforts planned by leading registrars and the Coordination Center for TLD RU. "Experts predict that between 50,000 and 100,000 .РФ domains will be registered on the first day of open registration. Such a surge has not been observed in either the .RU or .SU zones. "I am confident that 90% of the Russian market has no pressing need for the international internet space; their marketing strategy will be much more effective in the Cyrillic zone," said Alexey Korolyuk.
