I'd like to register a .an TLD

February 8, 2011 12:10 PM

I'd like to register a .an TLD but there are a couple of issues. One, I don't live in the Netherlands Antilles and two, the Netherlands Antilles don't seem to exist any more.

How likely is it that the .an TLD is actually going to go away and if the answer to that is "not likely", how can I go about registering a TLD there?

posted by KirTakat to computers & internet (6 answers total)

It has been deleted and is in a "reserved" state for 5 years.
posted by bensherman at 12:22 PM on February 8, 2011

It's being phased out which means the likelihood it's going to go away is "very likely". In any case, I don't think that new registrations are being taken although http://www.una.an/an_domreg/ is less than helpful.
posted by turkeyphant at 12:24 PM on February 8, 2011

Start here:

http://www.una.an/an_domreg/

My dutch isn't so good... you can't get a second-level domain (what you mean by TLD I think) unless you are a company in the (former) antilles and the name probably has to match the company, it must be registered with the chamber of commerce, etc.

They seem to have .com.an for people who don't meet the requirements for a 2ld... you can get a 3ld.


From google translate:

Among other things, the applicant organization or entity that requires an effective official establishment on one of the islands of the Netherlands Antilles and registered with the Chamber of Commerce among others. For those entities or organizations which are not officially registered at the Chamber of Commerce, or those coming from abroad to register a domain, there is an opportunity created within the AN domain to a domain name registration. This is possible in the form of and so-called "third-level domain". These are usually of the form . com.an or . net.an or . org.an or . edu.an


As to what will happen going forward - whether you can still apply (the site is still up) or how long the domain will remain in existance, I have no specific knowledge.
posted by TravellingDen at 12:35 PM on February 8, 2011

Sorry for the double post - from some quick research - ICANN has yet to retire any ccTLDs - there has been discussion for years about how to handle this, but so far not a single ccTLD has been decomissioned as far as I can tell.
posted by TravellingDen at 12:38 PM on February 8, 2011

.cs was deleted. I wouldn't use .an.
posted by domnit at 1:37 PM on February 8, 2011

As a counterexample, .su is still around -- but I still wouldn't use .an.
posted by mendel at 7:22 PM on February 8, 2011