Registrar Alliance launches competition for .ch
Swiss registrars have founded the Registrar Alliance and launched the competition for .ch. The cooperative aims to operate the .ch registry starting in 2015 through joint self-help efforts and to submit a corresponding application to Bakom.
The contract between Switch and OFCOM regarding the activities as registry operator for .ch expires at the end of March 2015. While Switch has so far performed the role of both registry and registrar, as far as we know today, OFCOM intends to split the two activities and only regulate the registry and possibly a fall-back registrar. The Registrar Alliance intends to apply to operate the registry for .ch.
According to the press release, it is not yet clear how high the level of regulation will be set by OFCOM. However, the new ordinance for domain names, which regulates both .ch and .swiss, is to be published for comment by interested parties in the near future. The Registrar Alliance is in favor of a low level of regulation. Only the security issues of national importance should be safeguarded by the legislator, as domain names are a critical infrastructure. In addition, the existing legal framework, in particular competition law, ensures that the market plays its part.
More information about the vision, goals and members of the Registrar Alliance can be found at Registar-Alliance.ch
