LusNIC

Founded:	2015
Headquarters:	Rua Latino Coelho, nº13 5º - 1050-132 Lisboa
Country:	Portugal
Website:	www.lusnic.org
Facebook:	[1]

LusNIC has brought together the competent entities responsible for the management, registry, and maintenance ofcountry code Top Level Domains (ccTLD) for Portuguese-speaking countries. These entities, also known as registries, represent:.br; (Brazil); .cv; .gw (Guiné-Bissau); .pt (Portugal); .st (São Tomé and Príncipe) and .ao de Angola.

HISTORY

The Portuguese language has approximately 280 million speakers with Portuguese being the 5th most spoken language in the world and the most spoken language in the southern hemisphere. Recent data have shown that on the Internet, Portuguese is the 5th most used language; on social networks – Facebook and Twitter – it ranks 3rd, with approximately 32 million Portuguese outside their countries of origin.

An expression of common necessity and will has brought together the entities responsible for the management of these registries – namely the Centro UNINET da Universidade Agostinho Neto(Angola); the Núcleo de Informação e Coordenação do Ponto BR – NIC.br; (Brazil); the Autoridade Reguladora Nacional das Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (ARN-TIC), (Guiné-Bissau); the Associação DNS.PT; (Portugal); AGER – Autoridade Geral de Regulação, (São Tomé and Príncipe) and the Ministry of Transport and Communications (East Timor) – assembled to reach an agreement on LusNIC’s formal constitution as a private law association whose object focuses on multi-lateral institutional cooperation amongst the Portuguese-language registries within the scope of their areas of operations.

There are approximately 260 ccTLDs worldwide. CENTR is the European organization of which .pt is a member and which comprises 52 registries in Europe. Also of note is the existence of other organizations of a more regional nature, such as the Latin American and Caribbean Association of ccTLDs (LACTLD), the Asia Pacific Top Level Domain Name Association (APTLD), and the African Top Level Domain Association (AfTLD), where the common objective of cooperation and development is achieved within a more common closer geographical framework.

This initiative came about on 23 September 2015 at a formal session organized within the scope of E-Show 2015. All the legal representatives from the aforementioned entities were present for the signing of the public title of the LusNIC constitution. This represents the first step in what is expected to ensure that productive work is accomplished in the areas of intervention described.

THE MISSION

• To promote and to collaborate in the defense of the interests of Portuguese-language ccTLDs;
• To encourage the use of the Portuguese language and of Portuguese-language content on the Internet;
• To cooperate in building and sharing of knowledge in the areas of intervention of ccTLDs with regard to technical, security, and legal matters and good practices, promoting these areas with actions focusing on training, exchange, and institutional visits;
• To promote the development of common policies and to disseminate them;
• To conceive of joint actions to advance the sustained growth of Portuguese-language top level domains, specifically, .pt, .br, .ao, .cv, .gw, .st and .tl;
• To analyze, coordinate and defend the interests of respective associates and affiliates as a way to create and defend common positions both within international forums and as they pertain to their respective competencies;
• To develop contacts and concrete initiatives for cooperation with other counterpart organizations, specifically as a way to establish synergies and create multi-sectorial networks for cooperation;
• To disseminate and to defend those common points of view which have been defined by and are considered to be of interest to associates and affiliates, both internally and externally and in dealings with the government, public and private entities, and public opinion;
• To organize forums, workshops, conferences, or any other type of event or initiative which promotes and ensures greater exposure to the Portuguese language on the Internet within the context of the activity developed by associates and affiliates;
• To write documents and reports with relevant information for the community to which it is directed, thus guaranteeing the broadest possible reach and scope.