.zuerich

Status:	Proposed
country:	Zuerich, Switzerland
Registry Provider:	KSRegistry
Type:	GeoTLD
Priority #:	1653
More information:

.zuerich is a geographical TLD proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant is the Government of Zurich.

Application Details

The following is excerpted from the applicant's response to question #18:

"The Canton of Zurich is one of the largest of Switzerland’s 26 Cantons, or national districts, and is home to the city of Zurich, which is the largest city in the country. The city has throughout its long history played an important role in the cultural and historical development of the Swiss Confederation and the country’s national identity.

Today, the city and the canton of Zurich are Switzerland’s economically strongest region and home to a vast number of Swiss national and international businesses, investment houses and corporations, and house several world-famous museums, including the Kunsthaus, the Zurich Museum of Art, and the Swiss National Museum. The city maintains twenty universities and higher education institutions, and hosts the SIX Swiss Exchange. Zurich is consistently cited in renowned international rankings as maintaining one of the highest quality of life standards in the world. Naturally, with so many business and cultural opportunities available, the Canton of Zurich routinely experiences a high volume of Internet traffic to its current online locations, and with this application seeks to expand its ability to communicate with the interested public.

In June 2011 the Canton of Zurich, the City of Zurich and Zürich Tourismus (Tourist Organization) jointly launched a new branding concept known as ISDM (Integriertes Standort-und Destinationmarketing) for Zurich, introducing new logos and taglines. The goal of this project is to increase the brand value of Zurich, both domestically as well as internationally, in accordance with the “Legislaturziele” (legislature goals) for the years 2012- 2015 of the Canton of Zurich. By launching these new logos and taglines, that will be used across cultural, public and business events, the Canton, the City, and the Tourist Organization of Zurich are seeking to establish a common brand for Zürich, which will enable businesses, organizations, and the government to attract investments to the area, and to foster and support new cultural events.

The TLD “.ZUERICH” will be an expression of self-understanding and autonomy for the local state of Zurich and is anticipated to promote local industry, scientific interests, tourism and marketing, and to highlight the high standard of living in the Zurich region in a globally-visible and easily recognized format.

Long term, effective marketing of the “.ZUERICH” TLD is an important part of this plan, which will be effectuated through the careful and well-orchestrated cooperation of the city of Zurich, the Zurich Tourism office and the Canton itself. The key elements of the ISDM strategy include: i) unique and permanent positioning of the new “.ZUERICH” TLD, ii) preserving and enhancing the reputation of the space, iii) maintaining the well-regarded reputation of the Zurich brand, and iv) development of a common entry site for the name space (see Attachment 1 to our response to Question 48).

The applied-for TLD string, “ZUERICH,” represents the phonetic pronunciation of the German-speaking Canton. In German, the spelling of the Canton is “Zürich”. The Umlaut over the “u” in the word produces a “ue” sound, leading to the pronunciation of “Zuerich”, corresponding to the proposed TLD text. Thus, it has become standard amongst Swiss Internet users, when typing, to replace “ü” with “ue.” The logical TLD for the Canton is therefore “.ZUERICH.”

A. The Mission and Purpose of the “.ZUERICH” space

The new gTLD “.ZUERICH,” is intended to support the new branding project of Zürich on the Internet.

The “.ZUERICH” TLD shall provide a comprehensive vehicle through which the Canton may communicate not only with citizens, companies, and organization within its region, but even with individuals and companies worldwide who, in one way or another, interact with the Canton of Zurich.

Initially, the Canton will reserve all domain names under “.ZUERICH” to itself, and may later elect to license domain name registrations under “.ZUERICH” to its affiliates such as, but not limited to i.e., Cantonal and city governmental departments and municipalities, cultural and artistic organizations, or transportation authorities. The Canton may further decide to license the use of second level domain names to other affiliates.

The Canton of Zurich will oversee all registrations for the space, and will be the only authorized registrant of domains. This provision will be made clear in, and enforced via, the applicable Registry-Registrar agreement. All registrars offering “.ZUERICH” domain names for registration will be aware of this requirement, and will be provided with sufficient information to enable them to verify whether a potential applicant for a domain name is in fact the properly authorized entity. The single-registrant nature of the space will provide the Canton with necessary monitoring opportunities, to ensure that the TLD is used only for appropriate purposes and to display relevant content.

The Canton anticipates benefitting from this new space by providing a single comprehensive and helpful location where interested parties can learn more about the opportunities available in Zurich. Visitors and long-time residents alike will come to view gTLD “.ZUERICH” as the natural “go-to” for information about the area. Used in this way, the Canton expects the gTLD “.ZUERICH” to play an important role in its new branding project for Zürich."

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