.zw

.zw is the ccTLD for Zimbabwe. It is managed by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ).

History

The .zw ccTLD was created on 6 November 1991. The first domains in Zimbabwe including ".zw", ".co.zw" and ".ac.zw" were managed and registered through Prof. John Sheppard of the University of Zimbabwe.

Nowadays, there are no more registrations directly under .zw. The very first domains in Zimbabwe were registered using the .zw ccTLD: "mango.zw" and "healthnet.zw". The first is the only remaining domain of this kind.

Rules and Restrictions

Second-level Domains

According to a 2016 source, POTRAZ subdivided the ".zw" into segments to ZISPA, UZ Computer Centre, Telone and GISP as follows:

The UZ Computer Centre manages the administration of the ".ac.zw" domain registry. The .ac.zw domains are reserved for academic institutions only.

The government parastatal Telone manages the ".org.zw" domain registry through it’s Comone division. The ".org.zw" domains are reserved for organisations like churches, non-profits, associations and the like.

The Government Internet Service Provider (GISP) manages the domain registries for ".gov.zw" domains (for government departments and parastatals) and ".mil.zw" domains (for military departments).

The Zimbabwe Internet Service Providers' Association (ZISPA) is responsible for the administration and management of the ".co.zw" domain registry.

.co.zw

There are the rules and policies of ZISPA for ".co.zw" registrations.

Unlike most registries, "the '.co.zw' registry is not an open registry such as '.com' where it is simply a matter of first come, first served.' Registrations are vetoed according to the following:

• known companies or organisations names will not be registered without authority from the body concerned. For example, "yahoo.com.zw" would not be registered without authorisation from Yahoo. In case of doubt, proof of company registration may be requested;
• names of schools, clubs, churches, etc. must be registered in the name of those organisations, not of individuals;
• Zimbabwean place names are reserved for the use of the corresponding national or local government authority;
• cyber-squatting is not acceptable, and it the registry actively tries to prevent attempts at registering domains for that purpose.

Also,

• the applicant must have a bona fide intention to use the domain name on a regular basis on the Internet;
• the use or registration of the domain name must not interfere with, nor infringe the right of any third party in any jurisdiction with respect to trademark, service mark, tradename, company name, close corporation name, copyright or any other intellectual property right.

Country code top-level domain