Clarification of the scope of applicable domain extensions

[Edwin]

Some clarification on the scope of the extensions to which the "right to .uk" determination applies comes courtesy of an update to a blog post by Andrew Cormack (from Janet):

Although Nominet's Q&A document answers "who exactly will be offered the shorter .uk domain" by saying "All domains..." I've now been informed that that only applies to second-level domains managed by Nominet, so hierarchies including .police.uk, .nhs.uk and .ac.uk will have no rights over equivalent second-level domains.

https://community.ja.net/blogs/regulatory-developments/article/nominet-directuk-announcement

While I think most of us guessed/assumed as much, it's nice to get confirmation even if the source is indirect. Andrew is well-placed enough to be given the "correct" info from Nominet, so there's no doubt in my mind at least that this is the truth of the situation.

Combine the above info with one of the answers from Nominet's Q&A (below) and we have the full list of domain extensions to which the right to the .uk might theoretically be assigned.

What will happen to existing .uk domains?

All existing Nominet domains – .co.uk, .org.uk, .me.uk, .net.uk, .plc.uk, .ltd.uk and .sch.uk – will continue to run as normal. (Nominet doesn’t manage all .uk domains, for example .gov.uk or .ac.uk.)

In other words,
A) .co.uk wins. If not .co.uk, then...
B) then .org.uk wins. If not .org.uk, then...
C) .me.uk, .net.uk, .plc.uk, .ltd.uk and .sch.uk get a look in (though in practice these cases are going to be few and far between)
D) Non-Nominet managed extensions aren't in the .uk running at all

Nominet have not yet explained how extensions within C) will be ranked vs each other. Nor is it clear whether .sch.uk will be included in practice, given that Nominet said in response to a question raised during V2 that there are no third level domains issued under .sch.uk, only fourth level ones.

But at least we're a bit closer to knowing what's going on than we were before Andrew's news!

 

[Edwin]

Good news for Mark?

I mean regarding food .co.uk

No. There is unfortunately a separate piece of V3 dealing with the small number of domains that will be reserved for "orphaned" government departments. I say "dealing", but it's more of a placeholder for the agreement that Nominet still has to thrash out on the subject with government.

However, there was some verbiage about Nominet working with government to minimise the impact on "generic" .uk domains so hopefully they'll come up with an alternative proposal that will release "food", "independent" and the few others that are pure generics.

 

[markb]

I have had an email from nominet that said they will be proceeding on the basis that government will not be allocated domains that are obvious generics and that they will be writing to the Cabinet Office to work on this approach. So this looks pretty promising to any owners of generic domains that where originally on the reserved list.

 

[Edwin]

I have had an email from nominet that said they will be proceeding on the basis that government will not be allocated domains that are obvious generics and that they will be writing to the Cabinet Office to work on this approach. So this looks pretty promising to any owners of generic domains that where originally on the reserved list.

Yes. Seems like the most pragmatic, rational approach for Nominet to take.