As regular Anchovy News readers will know, sTLDs are a special category of Top-Level Domains which are supported by a community or organisation for specific purposes. Another example is .AERO, which is sponsored by the Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautique (SITA).
As for .POST, it is sponsored by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) – a United Nations specialised agency and the postal sector's primary forum for international cooperation. According to Lati Matata, Director of the UPU's Postal Technology Centre, .POST “is the only Top-Level Domain sponsored by a UN body" and it “can be seen as the hallmark of trust in global supply chains, setting the standard for secure and reliable cross-border commerce and shipping."
First launched in 2012, .POST was, until now, highly restricted and intended exclusively for the postal sector. According to an announcement published by EnCirca, which has been selected as the first ICANN registrar to manage the transition of .POST, all registrants had to be “verified and adhere to strict security protocols to help identify trusted actors in global supply chains.”
The sTLD is now being relaunched in order to reach a broader audience as the previous restrictions have been lifted (although not in totality), while eligibility has been extended to entities of the private sector (which will need to prove their business identity and undergo a verification process). Individuals are, however, still not allowed to register .POST domain names. In addition, the Registry requires all .POST domain names to resolve to an active website and parking pages displaying third-party advertising are not allowed.
The re-launch schedule first started with a Pioneer Period which ran to 15 March 2024 and which was opened to organisations in certain categories (such as postal operators, private logistics and supply-chain service providers, etc) that were willing to commit to activating their .POST domain names by 25 April 2024. The next launch phases are as follows:
Sunrise Period: from 15 March to 15 April 2024
During this period, trade mark holders were able to apply for the corresponding domain names under .POST. As this is a re-launch, it was not necessary for applicants to have registered their trade marks with the Trade Mark ClearingHouse (TMCH).
General Availability: from 1 May 2024 onwards
As from this date, any legal entity will be able to register available .POST domain names on a first come, first served basis.
It is worth noting that submitted applications are published by the Registry for a minimum period of 30 days, during which objections or competing applications can be submitted. More information can be found on the Registry’s website here.
Authored by the Anchovy News team.
