Ownership of .sk domains become clearer
The new rules for registering and managing the national .sk domains, approved by the Commission for managing the national .sk domain, and effective from May 31, 2017 (formerly from January 9, 2017) , will clarify ownership of Slovak domains. The changes to the rules for registering .sk domains, as a result of close cooperation with domain registrars, have a number of key aims. Under the new rules, SK-NIC, a.s. the national top level domain authority ("SK-NIC"), has been modernised in line with international standards. The new rules will allow for more effective protection against fraudster's and speculative domains, and provide greater comfort for domain holders and registrars.
From June 2017, only beneficial owners of websites will be able to operate Slovak domains. The new rules remove so-called "proxy domain holding", which currently allows domain registrars to hold a domain managed by another entity.Under the new rules, SK-NIC would also like to prevent or at least hinder the activities of domain speculators.
The new rules also allow foreign entities (legal or natural persons) to hold national domains. These persons may be from any country in the world, provided they have a correspondence address in the European Economic Area. The new rules also simplify the role of registrars. For example, all processes will soon be electronic.
The final major change will be a new way of resolving disputes through alternative dispute resolution (ADR) – creating an organisation that will consist of and coordinate critical experts. This entity will be the European Information Society Institute, which previously provided arbitration in the relevant field, i.e. intellectual property. These ADR rules are not arbitration pursuant national legislation regulating process of arbitration (the Act No. 244/2002 Coll. or the Act No. 335/2014 Coll.)
