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Domain Names
1.Eligibility Guidelines for a Name Within gov.uk
2.Eligibility
3.Guidelines for Choice of Domain Name
4.Naming Conventions
5.Additional Information
Eligibility
Guidelines for a Name Within gov.uk
These guidelines apply to all new requests for registration.
Some domain names were registered before the guidelines were laid down. Such names should be regarded as
exceptional, and not as setting a precedent.
Overall authority for defining naming rules in the .uk domain
rests with Nominet. These rules can be found at http://www.nic.uk/rules/rup2.html.
Eligibility
Registration is limited to UK government departments and
agencies, local government bodies (including town and parish councils), and other associated and
non-departmental public sector organisations. It is not for use by individuals or by associations
representing public sector staff.
Projects and local authority departments should generally
be treated as sub-domains of the parent body eg. housing.authority.gov.uk or project.department.gov.uk.
The acceptance of a name is conditional
on that name being used specifically and exclusively for the organisation on whose behalf
it is registered. The committee expect that the use of an approved name will lead directly
to the home page (or "under construction" trailer) for that organisation and not to that of
its ISP or any other agent. Abuse of this principle will result in the name being withdrawn.
Guidelines
for Choice of Domain Name
The principles for
determining what name an organisation may adopt shall be:
- No two character
names.
- The name requested
shall reflect the legal name or trading name of the organisation.
- The chosen name
shall minimise the risk of confusion with other similarly named organisation
and avoid the risk of inadvertent masquerading.
- Local authority bodies
should avoid using initials wherever possible, as these are generally reserved
for central government.
- Three and Four
Letter Acronyms (TLAs/FLAs) will be considered ONLY if:
- the customer
is a central Department of State (e.g. DSS); or
- the customer
is a central government body such that it is generally known by that
TLA/FLA within government and to the wider public; or
- there is no
reasonable and meaningful alternative.
The Domain Naming
Approvals Committee will be the final arbiter of what is considered to be
an acceptable TLA/FLA.
Project names may
be registered where they are pan-departmental and of national significance
to facilitate 'joined-up government'.
Generic names should
be avoided for local or intradepartmental initiatives, and used only for
genuinely pan-governmental activities sponsored by the Office of the e-Envoy
or the Prime Minister's Office.
Naming
Conventions
Requests for registration
stand a greater chance of quick acceptance if they follow the following
conventions:
- Civil Service
departments in Northern Ireland, because they mirror departments in
Whitehall, are required to use the suffix "-ni".
- Local authorities
may generally use the format "area.gov.uk", unless there is
the possibility of confusion with another authority (eg city and county).
- The following
optional suffixes may be used (with or without the hyphen):
- "-bc"
Borough Council
- "-cc"
County Council
- "-dc"
District Council
- "-mbc"
Metropolitan Borough Council
- "-pc"
Parish Council
- "-ra"
Regional Assembly
- "-tc"
Town Council
- Where towns or
districts have the same name a county identifier should be used eg town-county.gov.uk
- Certain types
of public sector organisation are REQUIRED to use a suffix (unless the
full title is used).
These are:
- Educational Networks
"-edunet"
- Embassies
"-emb"
- Excellence in Cities initiatives
"eic-" (prefix rather than suffix)
- Fire services
"-fire"
- Government
Regional Offices "GO-" (prefix rather than suffix)
- Housing Authority
Trusts "-hat"
- Joint Services
Units "-jsu"
- Learning and Skills Centres
"-lsc" (prefix rather than suffix)
- Local Education
Authorities "-lea"
- Local Government Associations
"-lga"
- Magistrates Court Committees
"-mcc"
- Magistrates Court Services
"-mcs"
- National Park
Authorities "-npa"
- Police Authorities
"-pa"
- Prisons
"-hmp" (prefix, followed by name)
- Probation Services
"-probation"
- Valuation Joint Boards
"-vjb"
Additional
Information
A number of requests
for registration have been initially rejected with advice because the
applicant has supplied misleading or inadequate information.
The name requested
must be linked to the organisation it is for, rather than the one hosting
the service.
Applications should
make clear how the status of the organisation qualifies it to be in the
UK government domain. In most cases this is straightforward (eg borough
council, central government executive agency). In the case of marginal
organisations it is helpful to know:
- the status of the
organisation;
- the role and
objectives of the organisation;
- the status of
the staff (eg civil servants, local government officials);
- the source of
funding;
- to whom the body
is accountable.
Any questions about
these guidelines, or specific candidate names, can be directed to naming@ogc.gsi.gov.uk.
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