SA domain names about to get pricier with tougher rules

If you own a website, your domain name is vital. Without it, you’re just a series of dots and numbers. And if you’re a business, having a regional domain can be pretty important too.

If you’re a large multi-national for instance, you can make sure people are directed to your presence in their country. But maintaining those different domains can be difficult, especially if every country’s playing with different rules.

That’s why the decision by the ZA Central Registry (ZACR), manages and administers the .co.za domain name space, to change its guidelines to reflect international guidelines is probably a good thing. That standardisation does, however, come at a cost. The annual domain registration fee will increase from R50 to R75. The expiry period for new domain names will also be shortened to 30 days, while domains will now expire 60 days after payment on them becomes due.

The new guidelines are meant to align the domain name registry operating system to international standards by implementing a registration system that is based on the Extensible Provision Protocol (EPP).

The motivation for the creation of EPP was to create a robust and flexible protocol that could provide communication between domain name registries and domain name registrars. These transactions are required whenever a domain name is registered or renewed, thereby also preventing domain hijacking.

You can check out the new guidelines on a dedicated site. Anyone interested can also attend iWeek (an annual meeting of stakeholders involved in the internet industry) between the 10-14 September 2012 where these policy changes will reportedly be discussed in greater detail.