Administration and Assignment
of Internet Domain Names and Internet Protocol Addresses in Hong Kong
The need to internationalise the governance of the
Internet led the US Government to recommend the establishment of
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
as a non-profit corporation with global participation to manage the systems and protocols
that keep the Internet going. In October 1998, ICANN was formed as a
non-profit-making corporation that takes over, by
September 2000, the responsibility for IP address
allocation, protocol parameter management, domain name
system (DNS) management and root server system management
currently undertaken by the
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)
and others. It is hoped that through the input from the broad and growing
community of Internet users, ICANN will continue to facilitate the
development of sound, fair and widely accepted policies
for the management of DNS.
In October 1999, the
Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee (IIAC) decided that
a Task Force should be set up
with the objective to identify a framework which best
suits Hong Kong for administering and assigning Internet
domain names and Internet protocol addresses, having
regard to the initiatives and directions set by ICANN.
The Task Force completed its review on the administration and assignment of
Internet domain names and Internet protocol addresses in Hong Kong in May 2000 and
subsequently submitted a list of proposals to the IIAC.
A consultation paper
was issued on 5 June 2000 to invite comments from the public. The consultation
paper covered issues in respect of the proposed institutional arrangements
for the administration of Internet domain names and Internet protocol addresses in Hong Kong,
and the registration policy and dispute resolution mechanism for ".hk" domain names.
The consultation period ended on 16 July 2000.
The result of the consultation
recommended new registration policies such as multiple domain names, transfer of domain names to be allowed;
and that a new non-profit making, non-statutory and self-financing corporation to be established for assuming
the overall responsibility for Internet domain name administration in Hong Kong.
The new policies have been implemented in June 2001 with the establishment of
Hong Kong Domain Name Registration Company Limited (HKDNR).
In June 2001, a Preparatory Committee comprising representatives from the JUCC,
the IT, commercial and legal sectors, the Consumer Council and the Government, was set up to prepare for the
establishment of the new corporation as recommended in the Consultation Paper.
The new corporation is named as the Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation Limited (HKIRC). The HKIRC was incorporated on 14 December 2001 and its Board of First Directors was formed on 22 January 2002.
The transfer of the domain name administration functions was effected in March 2002 through the transfer of shares of the HKDNR from the JUCC to the HKIRC. An Inauguration Ceremony of the HKIRC was organised on 22 April 2002 marking the successful completion of the transfer of the Internet domain name administration functions from the local universities to a non-profit making corporation, the HKIRC, as proposed in the public consultation exercise conducted in June 2000. In the Inauguration Ceremony, the Government and the HKIRC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
for the Management and Administration of Internet Domain Names in Hong Kong through which the Government designated the HKIRC to manage and administer all Internet domain names under the ".hk" country-code top level domain (ccTLD).
Second-Level '.hk' domain names (2LD) and domain names ending with ".com.hk", ".org.hk", ".gov.hk", ".edu.hk" , ".net.hk" , ".idv.hk" , ".公司.hk", ".組織.hk", ".政府.hk", ".教育.hk ", ".網絡.hk", and ".個人.hk" are now available for registration.
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