DSTI/ICCP/TISP(2004)2/FINAL 

Accrediting Agencies. There is no geographical based requirement to register under 

.edu.  

On the other 

hand, registries sometimes launch services in one country ahead of others. The registry for 

.pro 

has 

established criteria for a launch in the United States ahead of other countries.

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 The 

.pro

 registry is 

exceptional in that most uTLDs, as opposed to sTLDs, are open to any registrants, irrespective of their 

original intended community. 

Table 1.  The list of existing gTLDs, March 2004 

The Original gTLDs (1) 

Type of gTLDs 

Purpose of gTLDs 

.com 

Unsponsored  

Unrestricted, but intended for commercial registrants 

.net 

Unsponsored  

Unrestricted, but intended for network provides, etc. 

.org 

Unsponsored  

Unrestricted, but intended for not for profit organisations 

.edu 

Sponsored  

For post secondary institutions that are institutionally accredited by an agency 

on the United States Department of Education's list of Nationally Recognized 

Accrediting Agencies 

.gov 

Sponsored  

For the United States governmental organisations 

.int 

Sponsored  

For international inter governmental treaty based organisations 

.mil 

Sponsored  

For the United States military  

New gTLDs approved in November 2000 

Type of gTLDs 

Purpose of gTLDs 

.biz 

Unsponsored  

Intended for business use 

.info 

Unsponsored  

Unrestricted use 

.name 

Unsponsored  

Aimed at individual registrants 

.pro 

Unsponsored  

For professionals such as accountants, lawyers, physicians (2) 

.aero 

Sponsored  

For the air transport industry 

.coop 

Sponsored  

For Co operatives 

.museum 

Sponsored  

For Museums 

(1) The TLD 

.arpa

 (Address and Routing Parameter Area) also exists but this is an infrastructure TLD and is designated to be used 

exclusively for Internet infrastructure purposes. 

(2) An individual who is currently licensed as 

i)

 a Certified Public Accountant, 

ii)

 a physician (including a medical doctor or doctor of 

osteopathy), or 

iii)

 an attorney at law, who is currently licensed in one of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia; or, an 

organisation, that provides accounting, legal or medical professional services, and has an employee who satisfies one of the above 

criteria and registers on behalf of such entity or organisation that provides accounting, legal or medical professional services, and 

has an employee who satisfies one of the above criteria and registers on behalf of such entity or organisation. Examples of such 

organisations include: accounting firms, hospitals, legal publishers, medical supply companies, or even the law department of a 

large company. Registrants outside the 50 United States (and District of Columbia) are initially eligible only for Defensive Name 

Registrations. Additional jurisdictions for domain name registrations will be added on a rolling basis.  

Source

: ICANN

2

 and Registries. 

TLD market size 

At the end of 2003 there were just under 56 million names registered under major gTLDs and the 30 

ccTLDs that correspond to OECD member countries (

Table 2

). This number was more than double the 

same total for July 2000. From the total number of registrations, at the end of 2003, close to 20 million 

were under ccTLDs, located in OECD countries, and 36 million were under gTLDs.  

The number of registrations under both major gTLDs and OECD ccTLDs has shown a fairly constant 

growth rate from July 2000 to December 2003. Registrations under OECD ccTLDs have had a much 

sharper increase than major gTLDs and the percentage of the number of OECD ccTLDs registrations in the 

number of total TLDs registrations, increased from 27% to 34% in the same period. 

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