.lk

.lk is the ccTLD for Sri Lanka. It is managed by the Council for Information Technology, LK Domain Registrar.

Rules and Restrictions

Domain names are, in general, registered to organizations (Statutory bodies, Corporations, firms and Associations etc.). However, individuals may also register names. .lk enables both companies registered in Sri Lanka as well as the international firms, who do not have a local presence, to register their domains in .lk.

The following names will not be registered under .lk:

• if the name implies patronage of the President of Sri Lanka or any connection with the Government or any Government Ministry, Department, Municipality, or other Local Authority, or with any society or body incorporated by an Act of Parliament, unless the applicant provides evidence that use of such name has been approved by the relevant Government Authority;
• personal names. These may only be registered for those who need to use their name with regard to their profession such as professionals, artists, political candidates;
• country names;
• names of Towns, Provinces and abbreviations and codes thereof (e.g. colombo.lk, western.lk, cmb.lk);
• names that are offensive, obscene, or grossly misleading to any accepted religion, gender, race, culture, or tradition of Sri Lanka;
• names denoting Internet Services (e.g. internet.lk, mail.lk, www.lk, web.lk, ftp.lk, etc.);
• sports: only the relevant authorized body/Ministry will be allowed to register;
• names which indicate an activity for which a Government License is required. In such instances the name will be allowed on production of the license (banking, insurance, liquor, gambling);
• names which include trademarks of other parties or words which are not permitted in business names, unless the applicant is legally entitled to use such words;
• names that may confuse or grossly mislead the public;
• any name which may infringe on the rights of another person or organisation;
• names which may not be conducive to the public interest.

Exceptions:

It may be possible to register some domains names which are not permissible under .lk, under open second level domains. Domains in the above categories may also be registered to organizations or associations that represent the relevant industry as a whole. Domains may also be registered by adding a prefix or suffix (e.g. e-) to a generic name.

Second-level Domains

The following open second level domains are available for registration under the .lk domain:

• .com.lk: suggested for commercial organizations;
• .org.lk: suggested for non-profit organizations;
• .edu.lk: suggested for educational organizations;
• .hotel.lk: suggested for hotels;
• .web.lk: suggested for websites.

Certain second level domains are reserved for use by only certain types of users:

• .sch.lk are reserved for use by schools only;
• .gov.lk has been allocated to the Government of Sri Lanka. Only Government organizations and Departments are allowed to register domains under this category;
• .ac.lk has been allocated to universities and academic institutions in Sri Lanka.

Characters

• Names should comprise only letters a-z, (no distinction between uppercase and lowercase characters), digits 0-9 and hyphens (-);
• names should not begin or end in a hyphen;
• names with hyphens will be regarded as separate entities. (i.e. abc-def.lk and abcdef.lk will be two separate domains).
• the domain string must contain at least two letters;
• names cannot start with "xn –".