Auditing of Chinese domain names

Starting December 14th, the CNNIC, the organism in charge of the administration of the dot cn registry, will be “auditing” all new dot cn registrations.

Basically, upon registration, dot cn applicants will need to transmit through their registrar the following:

-A detailed application form with information on the domain owner, hosting company etc. The application should have the company seal on it.

-A copy of the business license of applicant

-A copy of the ID card/passport of applicant.

Indeed, one of the changes in the new regulations is that now only companies can register new dot cn domain names.

The new tougher registration signals a tremendous change in the direction taken by the CNNIC when it comes to the administration of the dot cn domain names. Indeed, so far the .cn has been pursuing a low pricing policy, with dot cns sometimes as low as 1 yuan, in order to push up the total number of dot cn registrations. This policy has been so far successful as the registry now ranks second worldwide just behind the dot com registry. This however has attracted loads of spammers and other illegal users, which has made the .cn one of the less secure domain registries available. The new measures therefore are an attempt to address this issue and improve the overall reputation of dot cn domain names.

The new regulations are not retroactive, meaning domain names registered previously are not affected and their owners do not need to file an application. Also I would not say that they are 100% safe, and nobody can guarantee that some time from now, especially when renewing, they will not be required to file some type of registration. Already there is a crackdown on existing domain names with “incorrect” information, with domain owners required to update their information or run the risk to lose ownership of their domains…