CZ.NIC

Domains have been registered in the Czech Republic since 1991. Back then, those were the now non-existent.cs domains for the former Czechoslovakia. The computing center at Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague was in charge of the registration. Today's.cz Czech domain appeared with the disintegration of Czechoslovakia in 1993. The original rules for allocation of domains were relatively strict, as was usual at these times. The domain administrator also covered the costs of operation of the registration system and the registration, and the use of second-level domain names was free of charge.

The importance of the Internet in the Czech Republic has been gradually growing, together with the number of applications for registration of new domain names. This development logically brought along the pressure to relax the allocation rules. The first major breakthrough in this respect occurred in 1997 — since then, registering domain names has been possible for natural person as well. Furthermore, the relationship of the applicant to the registered domain name has stopped to be questioned.

Origin

With the increasing number of domain names, stronger position of the Internet in the commercial sector and the increasing costs of operating the system, it was necessary to institutionalize the registration process. Therefore, in 1998, the major ISPs represented in the NIX.CZ association founded an association of legal persons CZ.NIC. In September 1999, CZ.NIC officially took over the administration of the.cz domain. At the same time, the registration of second-level domain names became chargeable. In the period from September 1999 to 2003, there were further modifications and relaxation of the rules of domain registration. For example, a system of so-called special requests was established as a defense against speculators and in 2002, registration of domains without working name servers was allowed. The domain names identical to the endings of other top-level domains that had been blocked until then were released.

Commercial Registrars

At first, CZ.NIC had fulfilled the role of both registry administrator and the registrar. A fundamental change in this respect occurred in 2002, when there was a transition to more efficient decentralized domain administration. Thanks to this transition, other entities could enter the domain registration process. The aim of this measure was to separate the technical aspects of the operation of the registration system from the operation by domain names’ end holders and to introduce competitive environment, which would bring better services and lower prices, into the registration process. The decentralized domain administration system started its operation in autumn of 2003 and was immediately entered by first commercial registrars. Apart from commercial environment and price decrease, the decentralized system has brought other intriguing changes. The users have been enabled to register domains for a period longer than one year (up to 10 years), and the system have been further secured, in particular with respect to domain holder's rights. Due to the decentralization and making domains accessible to public, domain disputes have become a frequent occurrence. That is why the association introduced an arbitration clause into the Registration Rules in 2004. This clause allows for resolving disputes through Arbitration Court attached to the Chamber of Commerce and the Agricultural Chamber of the Czech Republic. The registration now includes accepting the commitment to respect the decisions of the Arbitration Court, which has simplified and accelerated the dispute resolution.

A new generation Decentralized System of Domains

In 2005, the CZ.NIC association decided that it would operate system of registration and domain administration on its own. Until then the system administration had been outsourced. The aim of this change was to ensure greater flexibility in changes in the system and to reduce the cost of its operation. A new generation Decentralized System of Domains (DSDng) was launched on October 1, 2007. It brought an abrupt drop in wholesale prices, simplification of rules for.CZ domain registration and a significant increase in the number of registered domains. After half a year, there were 400,000 domains on the Czech Internet and the growth rate doubled compared to the previous year. DSDng runs on the basis of the FRED software, developed by employees of CZ.NIC as open source. In September 2008, the system was implemented by Angola, in 2009 it was followed by Tanzania and a year later by the Faroe Islands, Costa Rica and Estonia.