Domain Names: features and operation

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Domain Names constitute a modern type of communication and advertisement on a global scale. They have this certain unique operational advantage of identifying electronic transactions in a customary manner. The competent authority dealing with domain names in Greece is none other but the National Committee of Telecommunications and Post Offices, with its operational branch being to that respect the Foundation of Technology and Research – Institute of Computing ) [art.12 par. 1 and 3 law 4072/2012], by adding the ending .gr

Please find below all necessary information with regards to:

1. Registration procedure of a domain name
2. Composition and shape of a domain name
3. Duration of a domain name
4. Renewal of a domain name, and
5. Cost

Respectively:

With regards to the registration procedure, this is only to take place after a certain application having being submitted by the interested party and according to which the governing principle is that of priority in time (aka, first come-first served basis) [art. 7 par.1 Regulation of the aforementioned Committee]. In particular, as of the day of registration the registrator as such gets to notify within one working day all the details of his/ her Registration to the Register of Domain Names by having added of course the ending .gr or, in Greek .ελ

That certain Registration gets a protocol number and it is thus recorded. According to this certain protocol number of the Registration with the Register the priority in time principle is consolidated. After those certain actions, i.e. the submission of the registration with the Register and the issuance of a protocol number, the Register activates temporarily the Domain Name, for a five-days’ period of time, period in which there is no right of revocation of the registration submission.

A necessary precondition in order to have the registration submission activate is not to be unsubstantiated, while it is also necessary that ate the time of submission there is no other application with regards to the same domain name.

The variable length of a domain name with an ending .gr or, .ελ is of two (2) and up to sixty-three (63) characters. With respect to these preconditions the endings .gr or, .ελ are not to be added, as well as the endings of the second level domain name which again read .gr

Regarding the domain names with an ending .gr which are comprised by alphanumeric characters of the Greek alphabet, that number of sixty-three characters is about the length of the domain name in the form PUNYCODE which is not of the same number of characters when the domain name is depicted in its Greek version.

Is it possible to have a domain name registered only with Greek characters and if yes, how?

Yes, that’s certainly an option of having domain names registered when the variable field is comprised by Greek characters, as for instance matina.gr, ματινα.gr, matina.ελ, ματινα.ελ. The necessary applications for submission regarding the registration of domain names are to be taking place by the competent Registrators.

What are the fundamental rules of bringing together a domain name only with Greek characters?

1. There is no option for a combination of domain names with both Greek and Latin characters simultaneously, e.g. myφως.gr – myφως.ελ
2. There is no distinction between the characters that read in Greek ”σ” και “ς”, e.g. φαροσ.gr – φαροσ.ελκαι φαρος.gr – φαρος.ελ
3. There is no distinction between small and capital Greek characters whether they bear an intonation or not, e.g. ματινα.gr, MATINA.GR, ματίνα.gr, ΜΑΤΊΝΑ.GR

What kind of form would the name take in the occasion of a domain name being registered with Greek characters?

Domain names bearing the ending  .gr ή .ελ with Greek characters are to be registered in plain form, the way they are depicted in the relevant application form (i.e. by form of intonation, or bearing other sorts of punctuation marks on top of Greek letters), as well without bearing any intonation at all.

I have been given the domain name ματίνα.gr (as well as its version with no intonation, i.e. ματινα.gr). Are there any versions of that certain domain name that are to be registered for me?

They are to be registered simultaneously with respect to a certain bearer of a certain domain name with Greek characters, and also to be activated after such a notice has been submitted to the aforementioned Committee via the Registrators, without any prior decision of the Committee:

• Domain names bearing punctuation marks on certain spots other than those of the small letters that the Registrator has submitted his/her notice, e.g. μάτινα.gr και ματινά.gr ή μάτινα.ελκαι ματινά.ελ
• Domain names of the same writing, i.e. domain names that bear identical marks with the given domain name, be them small or capital, with or without intonation, e.g. ΜΑΤΙΝΑ.gr (with Greek characters) and ΜΑΤΙΝΑ.gr (with Latin characters) or ΜΑΤΙΝΑ.ελ (with Greek characters) and ΜΑΤΙΝΑ.ελ (with Latin characters).

Which of the Greek characters are of the same writing like the ones of the Latin alphabet?

A domain name has been given for a period of two  -2- years from the moment it has been submitted in the form of an application to the Register.

If this is about a domain name that had been related to a certain other bearer (e.g. in terms of same writing or bearing certain differentiated punctuation marks), that 2- years period of time is to be initiated from the moment of that certain application being registered (or, as of the exact date of the last renewal of usage time) with regards to the domain name at hand, which is to be considered the date of proper registration, and not the one the domain name got actually activated.

Please note that after having obtained the domain name, someone is allowed to have it immediately renewed for consecutive periods of time.

In order to have a domain name renewed there has to be a relevant submission of such a notice to the registrator within fifteen days’ time from expiration date. As soon as the given domain name has been registered, any form of the given domain name gets renewed automatically as well as all its thereto related forms that had been also activated alongside the proper one. In case such renewal is not an option for the proprietor of the domain name, despite the fact that it might have been automatically renewed by itself, it so happens that the proprietor needs to express and make public his/her wish of having his/ her domain name deactivated.

A domain name having an ending of.gr or .ελ gets temporarily deactivated in each of the following cases, i.e.

either in case of a foreign court ruling that happens to be enforceable in Greece and according to which a temporary abstinence is enforced in terms of its use,

or in case of a decision reached by a competent public authority or a court here in Greece,

or even in case of a decision reached in terms of arbitration which also happens to be enforceable in Greece.

If any changes are to be taking place with regards to Name, be it a natural or a legal person, or any other of the fundamentals of a domain name bearing  an ending κατάληξη .gr or .ελ have to be notified both to the Registrator as well as to the Register as such, within thirty days’(30)  time as of the date of the actual change having taken place and which forms part of your notice. Non-Compliance to such an obligation as the one just mentioned could lead to a domain name deactivation, while in thirty (30) days’ time it could also lead to having that certain domain name deleted 

In order to make sure that a certain domain name has been given or not to someone else, a search could be made through the Application of Searching Domain Name Availability and with an ending of .gr or .ελ (via Web Whois). In addition, according to article 21 of the Regulation on Domain Names Management having an ending .gr, ή .ελ all information included within the Register of Domain Names with an ending .gr or or .ελ get to be published after the submission of such an application filed by an interested party, with the exception of all those applicants that have reserved and excluded in advance their personal data from such occasions.

Interesting tip: there is no reservation with regards to the amount of domain names one is allowed to reserve and obtain

1. Domain name procedural cost

Which are the actions that need to be taken and thus need to be paid for, and what is the actual fee for each and every one of them?

*The aforementioned values are the maximum possible, they do not include any VAT and they have to be taken into consideration for a period of two-years’ time

– the registrator may demand to be paid fees from the registered parties even if such a fee payment is not provided for by law

With regards to the aforementioned fees, the fee to be paid from the registrator to the National Committee of Telecommunications and Post Offices is also included [in Greek EETT].

The EETT imposes an annual fee of one-hundred euros (100€) to all registrators regardless of the number of domain names the latter have to handle. The said fee is automatically imposed as a negative amount of money to the sub-system of the Register every January 20^th to all the registered registrators to the Register. Also, the registrators are obliged to pay to the EETT all the provided for fees regarding Domain Names, according to Annex D of the present Regulation.

Is there any charge when the registrator is to be replaced and if yes, who is responsible to do so?

The new registrator may demand from the registered party the payment of fees with regards to the change of registrator procedure.

The proprietor of the domain name is protected by law, in particular according to the provisions of article 125 par.1 and 3 of law 4072/2012.

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