.br

Status:	Active
country:	Brazil
Language:	Portuguese
Manager:	Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br)
Registry Provider:	Registro.br
Date Implemented:	1989
Type:	ccTLD
Community:	No
More information:

.br is the country code top-level domain name (ccTLD) assigned to Brazil under the ISO-3166 standard. The Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) is the policy making body and over-all manager of internet services in Brazil, including the operations of the .br ccTLD. Nic.br serves as the executive arm of the Committee. It is responsible for coordinating the allocation of Autonomous System Numbers (ASN), IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, as well as the registration and maintenance of .br domain names. Registro.br provides back-end registry solutions.

.br & .бг

There has been ongoing debate over the multiple rejected applications by Bulgaria to ICANN to include its .бг in the IDN ccTLD Fast track process. ICANN staff has noted that .бг is confusingly similar to .br to latin users, and it has been countered that sites using full the full cyrillic alphabet, such as компания.бг, would rarely come into confusion with latin domains. ICANN has rejected the application on at least two occasions, in 2009 and 2010, and has also denied requests to provide further information on its reasoning and process in 2011. In July, 2012, after ICANN had rejected other IDN ccTLDs, notably involving the Greek version of .eu (.ελ), the GAC wrote to ICANN that it must explain its prior reasoning and reconsider its ruling on these apparently confusing IDN ccTLDs. The GAC believes that the organization is being "too conservative" in its rulings.

After .бг had been rejected for the second time in 2010, the Brazilian GAC member had praised the decision, saying "Brazil would like to express its support to the recent board’s decision about avoiding graphic similitude between new country codes and current country codes in Latin. This is particularly important inasmuch as any graphic confusion might facilitate phishing practices and all the problems related to it."

Country code top-level domain

Internationalized Domain Name

Governmental Advisory Committee. Considers and provides advice on the activities of ICANN as they relate to concerns of governments, particularly matters where there may be an interaction between ICANN's policies and various laws and international agreements or where they may affect public policy issues (ICANN Bylaws).