This Regulation outlines the terms and conditions for registering domain names under the country
code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD) of
Saudi Arabia (".sa") with Saudi Network Information Center (SaudiNIC).
1 DEFINITIONS
For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:
1-1 SaudiNIC: Saudi Network Information
Center at King Abdulaziz City for Science and technology
is the registration authority of the domain name space for
the country code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD) of Saudi Arabia
(".sa"). Thus, SaudiNIC is responsible for the
registration of domain names under the second-level
domains (e.g., com.sa, org.sa, gov.sa, edu.sa, med.sa,
sch.sa, pub.sa and net.sa). This includes the operation
and management of DNS root servers for the Saudi (".sa")
ccTLD.
1-2 Applicant/Registrant: Any entity or person
that approaches SaudiNIC to register a new domain name or
modify the information of an already registered domain
name.
1-3 Regulation: It is this document (Domain
Name Registration Regulation In Saudi Arabia) which
consist of terms and conditions that define the relation
between the Applicant and SaudiNIC regarding the
registration of a domain name under ccTLD of Saudi Arabia
(".sa").
1-4 Official letter: It is a letter from the
Applicant addressed to SaudiNIC requesting to register a
new domain name or to modify the information of an already
registered domain name. The letter must be on an official
letterhead and signed by an authoritative person who holds
a managerial position in the Applicant. It should include
the domain name and the name of the Administrative
Contact. Individuals requesting registration of personal
names under "pub.sa" may submit the letter on a plain
paper.
1-5 Application form: A form exists for
registering a new domain name or modifying information for
an already registered domain name. It is available at the
SaudiNIC's web site:
1-6 Request: It is a process initiated by an
Applicant in which he requests SaudiNIC to register a new
domain name or modify the information for an already
registered domain name. This process starts when SaudiNIC
receives the Application form or the Official letter from
the Applicant.
1-7 Legal documents: Documents that are
needed from the Applicant to support his request such a
copy of their commercial registration, license, trademark
registration.
1-8 Administrative contact: A person who can
speak on behalf of the Applicant (e.g. general manager,
director of IT department) and he should be from the
organization requesting the domain name. He will be able
to contact SaudiNIC and change any information for the
registered domain name.
1-9 Technical contact: A person who maintains
domain name servers and zone files for a domain name.
1-10 Requester contact: A person that initiates
and/or follows up the request. Usually, he is the one who
fills the application form. He certifies that: (a) He is
authorized from the Applicant to fill out the Application
form; (b) He will inform the Applicant of the terms and
conditions outlined in this Regulation; (c) He will
provide SaudiNIC with his correct, valid and frequently
used email address; (d) He will inform the Applicant of
any messages he receives related to the request; (e) He
will be fully responsible for any violation of these
points.
2 GENERAL
2-1 SaudiNIC administers the name space for the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia ccTLD (".sa"), under which a number of second-level domains exists.
2-2 The Saudi ccTLD (".sa") domain hierarchy is based on general
category of organizations. The following are their definitions:
com.sa: Dedicated only for entities that provide commercial services with valid
Commercial Registrations from Ministry of Commerce (MOC) or any equivalent documents.
Also, registered trade names and marks with MOC can be registered as domain names under
com.sa.
edu.sa: Dedicated only for educational and training institutions, e.g., universities,
training institutes, etc., with valid licenses from official government offices.
sch.sa: Dedicated only for Kindergartens, elementary schools, secondary schools, and
high schools with valid licenses from Ministry of Education or from General Presidency
for
Girls Education.
med.sa: Dedicated only for entities that provides health services such as hospitals,
medical clinics, pharmacies, etc., with valid licenses from Ministry of Health.
gov.sa: Dedicated only for Governmental entities including ministries, authorities and
government organizations.
net.sa: Dedicated only for entities that provide Internet-related services, e.g.,
ISPs,
web hosting, portal sites, etc.
org.sa: Dedicated only for non-profit organizations including societies, charities,
clubs and public organizations.
pub.sa: Dedicated only for entities or individuals that do not fit with any of the
above
definitions, including personal names.
3 REQUIREMENTS
3-1 The Applicant or the requester contact should submit a domain
name Application form (by email) to SaudiNIC.
3-2 The Applicant should submit an Official letter (by mail or fax)
to SaudiNIC.
3-3 For-profit entities requesting names under the "com.sa",
"edu.sa", ?sch.sa?, ?med.sa?, or "net.sa" domains should submit (by mail or
fax) a copy of their Legal documents. For personal names under "pub.sa", a copy
of the Applicant?s Civil Affairs ID card is required.
3-4 For registering any trademark or trade name a copy of the
registration with the Ministry of Commerce in Saudi Arabia is needed.
3-5 In addition to the above, registering a domain name requires at
the time of application that the Applicant should have arranged at least two
operational domain name servers to the domain name in question. Such domain name
servers may be arranged through third party providers. One of them is the
primary name server and the others are secondary name servers. All need
permanent IP connectivity to the Internet. Each domain name server must be
capable of receiving queries for the domain name and responding thereto. It is
strongly recommended that the selection of the secondary name servers should
comply with RFC 2182, i.e. the secondary name server should be on a completely
separate physical network.
3-6 Domain name requests are kept in a pending state until all the
requirements are received from the Applicant and/or the Requester within three
weeks from the reception date. If no such requirements are submitted within this
period, SaudiNIC will contact the Applicant or the Requester asking them to
complete their request. If nothing is received within a week, SaudiNIC will
reject the request.
4 APPLICANTS
4-1 One of the following should be true for the Applicant:
4-1-1 Physically in Saudi Arabia.
4-1-2 Has a local representative.
4-1-3 Owning trademarks or trade names that are registered
in Saudi Arabia.
4-2 SaudiNIC has neither the resources nor the legal obligation to
screen requested domain names to determine if the use of a domain name by an
Applicant may infringe upon the right(s) of a third party. Consequently, as an
express condition of the grant of an Applicant's request to register a domain
name, Applicant represents, agrees and warrants as follows:
4-2-1 Applicant bears the responsibility of obtaining legal
permission to use the domain name which means that the use or registration of
the domain name by him does not interfere with or infringe upon the right of
any third party in any jurisdiction with respect to trademark, tradename,
company name or any other intellectual property right. And it is the
Applicant?s responsibility to secure a tradename or such to protect his right
to the chosen name.
4-2-2 Applicant agrees that the domain name will be only
used by the Applicant and it is not registered for the purpose of letting
other entities use it whether by selling, renting or just giving it away for
free. Doing so will result in all domains owned by the violating body to be
revoked immediately.
4-2-3 Applicant certifies that, to the best of his
knowledge the domain name is not being registered for any activities/purpose
not permitted under the Saudi law.
4-2-4 Applicant certifies that, all information contained
in the submitted Official Letter and Application form are complete, correct,
true and accurate.
4-2-5 Applicant agrees to inform SaudiNIC of any changes,
amendments or corrections to the information provided in the application form
as soon as such changes, amendments or corrections occur.
4-2-6 Any notices and notifications required to be given
under this regulation by SaudiNIC to the Applicant will be deemed to have been
given if delivered in accordance with the provided contact information.
4-2-7 Applicant is aware of that the information provided
to SaudiNIC related to a domain name such as the Registrant?s name, telephone
number, facsimile number, e-mail address and other contact persons? details
will be publicly accessible through SaudiNIC whois server or in any form or
media so deemed fit by SaudiNIC.
5 REGISTERING DOMAIN NAMES
5-1 A domain name should be at least 2 and no more than 63
alphanumeric characters (not case sensitive) per name within the following
character sets only: "A" - "Z", "0" - "9", and"-". And the first character
should be a letter and the first and last character should not be "-".
5-2 If a single personal name (e.g. Ahmad, Ali, Alfulani) to be
registered under ?pub.sa? then it should be followed by at lest 2 digits, e.g.,
ahmad72.pub.sa, alfulani01.pub.sa. Combining names together is allowed without
using digits, e.g., ahmadalfulani.pub.sa
5-3 A registered domain name does not confer any legal right or
ownership to that name. It represents a technical label to be used on the
Internet.
5-4 Applicant is allowed to register multiple domain names as long
as they are related to its names, activities or names of things they own (e.g.,
trade names, trade marks, agencies, ?).
5-5 Domain names that represent, including but not limited to,
country names, city names, religions, famous people, family, tribe or protocol
names (e.g., www, ftp, internet) will not be registered except for authorized
entities.
5-6 SaudiNIC registers domain names on first come, first served
basis.
5-7 Domain names must not contain obscene, scandalous, indecent, or
contrary to Saudi Arabia law or Islamic morality words, phrases nor
abbreviations.
5-8 SaudiNIC maintains the right to withhold specific domain names
if necessary for the public interest.
6 DOMAIN NAME CONFLICTS
6-1 Any disputes between parties over the rights to use a particular
domain name are to be settled between the contending parties using normal legal
methods. SaudiNIC exempts itself from all responsibility for the verification of
rights to a name. SaudiNIC cannot act as arbiter of disputes arising out of this
kind of conflict.
6-2 SaudiNIC will not be liable for any interruption of business, or
any indirect damages of any kind (including losses of profits) or otherwise.
6-3 SaudiNIC may suspend registration of a pending application for a
disputed domain name in case of a conflict with another pending application or
an already registered domain name until the conflicting registrants present a
signed and written settlement of the conflict.
6-4 Acceptance of an application and registration of a domain name
by SaudiNIC does not endorse approval or support to submitted names of natural
or legal identities, tradenames or trademarks.
7 APPLICATION REJECTIONS
7-1 SaudiNIC will notify Applicants of acceptance, rejection or
modification, by fax or email.
7-2 SaudiNIC reserves the right to reject any domain name to be
registered without giving any reason.
7-3 Reasons for SaudiNIC to reject domain name applications may
include:
7-3-1 Incomplete or incorrect entries in the Application
form.
7-3-2 Not submitting the required Official letter or Legal
documents.
7-3-3 The domain name is not correctly hosted in the name
servers.
7-3-4 The Applicant or his request does not match
SaudiNIC's regulations.
8.MODIFYING REGISTRATION INFORMATION
8-1 Modifications are done only to contact and server information.
8-2 Request to make any such modifications MUST come from the
Administrative Contact. SaudiNIC may take some additional measures to verify
information for administrative reasons.
9 TRANSFERRING A DOMAIN NAME
9-1 Domain names are non-transferable once registered to an entity
unless said entity is bought out or merges with another entity. If an entity is
dissolved, the domain names owned by that entity will be de-allocated.
10 DELETING A REGISTERED DOMAIN NAME
10-1 The Applicant may delete a registered domain name by sending an
Official letter to SaudiNIC requesting to delete the domain name. The request
MUST come from the Administrative Contact. SaudiNIC may take some additional
measures to verify information for administrative reasons. 10-2 SaudiNIC reserves the right to suspend or deregister a domain
name at any time in any of the following cases:
10-2-1 SaudiNIC finds any of the information supplied to
SaudiNIC to be incomplete, incorrect or inaccurate.
10-2-2 The Applicant violates any of the terms and
conditions in this Regulation.
10-2-3 If there is any dispute around a new/registered
domain name.
10-2-4 An order is received from a Saudi legal authority.
10-3 A deleted domain name will be put on hold for six months
before it becomes available for reuse to other applicants.
11 REGISTRATION EXPIRATION DATE
11-1 There is no expiration date for a domain name registration and thus there is no
need to renew the registration.
12 GOVERNING LAW
12-1 This Regulation shall be interpreted and construed under the laws of Saudi Arabia.
13 LANGUAGE
13-1 The Arabic language is the language of interpretation, correspondence and the
construction
of the Regulation or anything related to it. However, the parties may use the English language for
correspondence. In case of conflict between the Arabic and the English versions the Arabic version
shall prevail
14 CONTACT INFORMATION
Saudi Network Information Center (SaudiNIC)
Internet Services Unit
King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology
P.O.Box 6086 Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia
Telephone: +966 1 481 3955
Facsimile: +966 1 481 3950, +966 1 481 3254
Email: domreg@saudinic.net.sa
http://www.saudinic.net.sa
15 AMENDMENT
This Regulation and its terms and conditions herein are subject to change from time to time by SaudiNIC without any prior written notice to the Registrant and the revised terms and conditions as well as any additional terms and
conditions shall bind the
Registrant after 30 days from the date such change is effected. Your continued use of any domain
name registered with SaudiNIC
shall constitute your acceptance of the revised and new terms and conditions. If you do not agree to
any of such changes, you may
request that your domain name registration be cancelled. You acknowledge and agree that such
cancellation will be your exclusive
remedy and our sole liability if you do not wish to abide by any changes.
16 DISCLAIMER
THE APPLICANT/REGISTRANT AGREES THAT SAUDINIC WILL NOT BE LIABLE, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, FOR ANY
(A) LOSS OF REGISTRATION (B)
INTERRUPTION OF BUSINESS, (C) ACCESS DELAYS OR ACCESS INTERRUPTIONS TO SAUDINIC OR THE APPLICANT VIA
INTERNET, (D) ERROR IN THE
PROCESSING OF YOUR DOMAIN NAME APPLICATION OR YOUR REQUEST, (E) THE USE OF THE DOMAIN NAME, (F)
EVENTS BEYOND SAUDINIC'S REASONABLE
CONTROL, OR (G) APPLICATION OF ANY RELEVANT DISPUTE POLICY OR ANY SIMILAR GOVERNMENTAL OR SUCCESSOR
ORGANIZATION ADOPTED POLICIES.
SAUDINIC ALSO WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF
ANY KIND (INCLUDING LOST
PROFITS) REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF ACTION WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR
OTHERWISE, EVEN IF SAUDINIC HAS BEEN
ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
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