.fk

Status:	Active
country:	Falkland Islands
Manager:	Falkland Islands Government
Registry Provider:	Falkland Islands Development Corporation
Date Implemented:	1997
Type:	ccTLD
More information:

.fk is the ccTLD for the Falkland Islands. It is managed by the Falkland Islands Government (FIG).

Delegation History

In June of 1997, IANA approved a request for the establishment of the .fk ccTLD, which was delegated directly to the Falkland Islands Government.

The Communications Ordinance (2017) gave the Regulator responsibility for the .fk domain. The responsibility for administering the domain was moved from Regulatory Services at this time. Falkland Island Development Corporation (FIDC) was responsible for the administration of the Domain up until 2012 when responsibility transferred to Regulatory Services. As domain administrator, FIDC's role was reduced to checking validity of the applications and ensuring that they comply with the agreed FIG policy, the criterion being that .fk domains are only available to Falkland residents or those with a connection to the Falkland Islands. Considering the technical part of Domain Management, Cable and Wireless (C&W) assumed responsibility for the technical management of the Domain and resolved many of the technical problems. C&W’s technical responsibilities then transferred to Sure SA Ltd. No formal agreement had been made between FIG and Sure regarding the technical administration of the .fk domain. This did not form part of the negotiations for the license and continues to be undertaken by Sure without any formal agreement with FIG. In 2018, the Regulator was in correspondence with IANA, who is fully aware that the Falklands does not meet the topological diversity requirement and has waived the requirement on the basis that plans are made to expand the diversity of nameservers. These plans have been part of wider ongoing discussions between Sure and the Regulator and were resolved in January 20.

The Communications Regulator is appointed by the Governor and is independent of the Falklands Island Government.

Rules and Restrictions

When the Regulator receives an application from the Domain Technical Authority, the Regulator will be checked for any issues which might be considered a trademark infringement or inappropriate in any way.

The following criteria should be met for a Domain Name application to be approved:

• .fk names are only available to applicants either resident in the Falkland Islands or having some obvious Falkland Islands-linked reason for * .fk name. Examples of the latter could be an application from an overseas-based website host who is the administrator of a Falkland Islands-related website. Another example could be an overseas-based company that trades in the Falkland Islands. For example Standard Chartered Bank.
• .fk names should not be approved for an applicant that has no apparent link with the islands.
• the requested name must contain a second-level Domain Name of either: ".co.fk", ".gov.fk", ".ac.fk", ".net.fk", ".nom.fk" or ".org.fk".
• the requested name should ideally identify the user in some way. For example: "narrowsbar.co.fk", "zap.co.fk", "conservation.org.fk" or "fig.gov.fk".

Country code top-level domain