.ae

.ae is the ccTLD for the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is managed by .aeDA, which is part of the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority of UAE (TDRA).

Delegation History

The .ae domain was originally delegated to UUNET. Recognizing the domain should be administered in country, the domain was transferred in 1995 to Etisalat, following a brief period of administration by the United Arab Emirates University. Then, Etisalat, through its division the UAE Network Information Center (UAEnic), became responsible for the operation of the .ae domain. On 31 July 2007, IANA received a ccTLD Modification Template that constituted a full redelegation of the .ae domain to the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). During January 2008, IANA officially re-delegated the .ae Domain to the TRA.

Rules and Regulations

Restriction Zone

Some domains fall under a "restriction zone", which means there are special rules to be followed for each:

.co.ae are Domain Names for commercial entities trading in the UAE. Registrants must either:

• have a valid trade license within the UAE;
• commercial entities licensed in the free zones within the UAE; or
• be an applicant for, or a registered holder of a trade mark in the UAE.

net.ae are the Domain Names for Information Technology (IT) Service Providers registered within the UAE. Such Applicants must meet the following requirements:

• have a valid trade license within the UAE including those licensed in free zones within the UAE specifically for providing IT services; or
• be the applicant for, or registered holder of a trade mark in the UAE for an IT

service or product.

The Domain Names applied for in "co.ae" and "net.ae". must be an exact match to, or an acronym of, or an abbreviation of, or closely connected to, one of the following:

• the name of a company in which the Registrant has a 50% or greater shareholding or which the Registrant controls;
• the trading name or trade mark of a company in which the Registrant has a 50% or greater shareholding or which the Registrant controls; or
• the name of an organization or association controlled by the Registrant.

org.ae are Domain Names for “Not for Profit Organizations” of the UAE , including the those published by the Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Culture, Youth & Community Development and General Authority for Youth & Sport Welfare:

• sporting organizations;
• charitable organizations;
• religious organizations;
• social organizations;
• cultural organizations;
• artistic organizations;
• diplomatic organizations present in the UAE; and
• a UAE branch of an International Not for Profit Organization.

Applicants for “org.ae” Domain Name must ensure the Administrative Contact is an employee or officer of the requesting organization and shall certify, through their acceptance of the Registrant Agreement, that they have delegated authority from the CEO, the organizations Board of Directors, Secretary, or the Chairman to Register a Domain Name on behalf of that organization. Applicants will also provide a copy of their Certificate of Registration or a letter to this effect from the competent authorities of the UAE.

The Domain Names applied for in "co.ae" and "net.ae". must be an exact match to, or an acronym of, or an abbreviation of, or closely connected to the name of the Registrant’s organization, company name or trading name, organization or association name or trademark.

sch.ae and ac.ae are the Domain Names for schools and academic organizations within the UAE, including universities, public and private schools, colleges and educational institutions. The applicants must ensure the Administrative Contact is an employee of the requesting organization and shall certify, through their acceptance of the Registrant Agreement, that they have delegated authority from the CEO, Chairman, or the Principal to Register a Domain Name on behalf of that organization.

• Applicants for “sch.ae” must provide a copy of their Certificate of Registration of a School or a letter to this affect from the Ministry of Education of the UAE.

• Applicants for “ac.ae” must be an academic institution or service provider licensed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of the UAE. They must provide a copy of their Registration of an institution or a letter to this affect from Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.

gov.ae is the Domain Name for Government Departments and Ministries of the UAE.

• The Registrant must be a Government Entity in the UAE.
• Domain Names with the Suffix "gov.ae" must only be used for the official business of the Registrant organization.
• Registrants must state the purpose of the website that will be associated with the specific Domain Name in respect of which a Domain Name License is sought, in the Application.
• The Administrative Contact must be an employee of the Applicant and shall certify,through their execution of the Registrant Agreement on behalf of the Registrant, that they have delegated authority from the relevant Minister, or Officer to Register a Domain Name on behalf of the Registrant.
• Applicants will provide a letter from the relevant Minister, or Officer authorizing the registration of that Domain Name.

mil.ae are Domain Names for military authorities of the UAE.

• The Registrant must be an organization established by the UAE Laws, or decree as a government department or agency, a statutory authority, or other defined government body as a military organization.
• Domain Names with the Suffix "mil.ae" must only be used for the official business of the Registrant’s organization.
• Registrants must state the purpose of the Domain Name in their Application.
• The Domain Name must be used specifically and exclusively for the stated purpose for the duration of the Domain Name License Period.
• The Administrative Contact must be an employee of the Applicant and shall certify, through their execution of the Registrant Agreement on behalf of the Registrant that they have delegated authority from the relevant Minister or Officer to Register a Domain Name on behalf of that organization.
• Applicants will provide a letter from the relevant Minister, or Officer authorizing the registration of that Domain Name.

Any Domain Name Registered immediately under the “.ae” ccTLD is a Domain Name Registered in the Unrestricted Zone, provided that it is:

• not one of the Domain Names that consists of a single Label under the ccTLD (ex: mydomain.ae) reserved by the .aeDA for use in registering the names with the suffixes mentioned above; and
• not used to offer or sell Domain Names that consists of two Labels under the ccTLD (ex: mydomain.co.ae) for the benefit of other parties other than the Registrant himself, unless exempted by the aeDA.

Characters

Domain Names must:

• have minimum of 2 and a maximum of 63 characters;
• begin with a letter or a number and end with a letter or a number;
• use the English character set and may contain letters (i.e., a-z, A-Z),numbers (i.e. 0-9) and dashes (-) or a combination of these;
• neither begin with, nor end with a dash;
• not contain a dash in the third and fourth positions (e.g. www.ab- -cd.ae); and
• not include a space (e.g. www.ab cd.ae).

Country code top-level domain