Finnish Transport and Communications Agency
 | |
| Founded: | 1986 |
| Headquarters: | Helsinki |
| Country: | Finland |
| Website: | Traficom.fi (English) |
The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (TRAFICOM) is the organization which manages the country code top-level domain of Finland, .fi.
According to legislation approved on November 6th, 2014, requirements have changed for .fi domain name application. Finnish persons living abroad, as well as private companies, may apply for .fi names, and requirements for obligatory name servers configured to domain names will be abolished. Nonetheless, trademark protections will remain unchanged, so that those applying for a domain name must ensure that they are not violating protected or trademarked names.[1]
History
The .fi domain was first delegated to the Tampere University of Technology in 1986. Over the ensuing decade, registry operations were managed by a variety of organizations, ending with KPNQWest Finland, a for-profit company.[2]
In 1997, "it became obvious that there was a conflict between commercial interests and neutrality,"[2], and the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (FICORA) took over administrative functions, establishing a new and stricter set of rules for domain registration.[2]. KPNQWest Finland continued to provide technical registry services, but declared bankruptcy in 2002. FICORA then assumed technical registry operations as well.[3]
In 2019, as part of a governmental reorganization, FICORA was consolidated into its supervising agency, TRAFICOM. TRAFICOM assumed registry operations for the .fi domain at that time.[2]
Policy Evolutions
An automated Domain Name Service was implemented in 2003, around the same time a new Domain Act liberalized .fi domain names so that they were available to companies for purchase.[3]
.fi launched IDNs in 2005, and in 2006, laws were changed so that .fi domain names became available for private persons.[3]
In 2014, the Finnish Parliament approved legislation known as the Information Society Code (previously the Code for Information Society and Communications Services). The legislation is intended to clarify the roles of FICORA and its registrars through the introduction of a registry-registrar model. Under the new operation model, acquisition and maintenance of domain names will be available through a "one-shop stop", where customers can acquire all services from one place.[1]
References