.бг

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Status:	proposed
country:	Bulgaria
Language:	Bulgarian Cyrillic
Translates to:	Cyrillic for .bg
Manager:	UNINET
Registry Provider:	Register.BG
Type:	IDN

.бг is an internationalized country code top level domain name (IDN ccTLD) for Bulgaria. After two unsuccessful application attempts, .бг was added to the Root Zone on 5 March 2016 and delegated to Imena.BG Plc. The ICANN Board approved the delegation on 25 June 2019.

In Bulgarian (script: Cyrillic), .бг is the transliteration equivalent of .bg, Bulgaria's original ccTLD. Its registry provider is Register.BG, which is also responsible for .bg.

ASCII and Unicode Representation

ASCII

The domain was delegated at the DNS root level as .бг, which is represented by the ASCII compatible encoding xn--90ae under the IDNA specification.

Unicode

The individual Unicode points that represent this string are U+0431 (б) and U+0433 (г).

History and Controversy

Shortly after ICANN launched the IDN ccTLD Fast Track string selection process in 2009, Register.BG and the Bulgarian Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications (MTITC) engaged in a series of multistakeholder discussions to select the Cyrillic string(s) that would be used for the Bulgarian domain. The group reached consensus that MIITC would act as the applicant for the .бг (.xn--90ae) Top-level Domain.

On 19 February 2010, MTITC applied for the string using ICANN’s “IDN Fast Track” process. The string was rejected DNS Stability Panel string review process as being confusingly similar to .br, the ccTLD for Brazil.

During a meeting between the ICANN Board and the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), the representative of the Brazilian government commended ICANN's decision to reject .бг, and stated that avoiding graphic similarities between new IDN country codes and current country codes in Latin is important because confusion might facilitate phishing practices and other related problems.

In July, 2010, the Bulgarian government conducted a public survey asking its citizens to choose and share their opinions on the four possible IDN ccTLD alternatives if ICANN will not change its decision. The four options include:

• .бгр
• .българия
• .бя
• .бъл

In December 2010, MTIT encouraged Cyrillic experts and its citizens to support its IDN application and send letters to encourage ICANN to re-evaluate its decision. In addition, Uninet, Bulgaria's domain name registrar association filed a Documentary Information Disclosure Policy request to ICANN in order to prepare its appeal. Uninet asked ICANN to publish the reasons and the criteria used by the DNS Stability Panel in its decision to reject .бг.

In January, 2011, ICANN rejected Uninet's information disclosure request. ICANN explained that the request "falls under the multiple defined conditions of non-disclosure set forth in the the DIDP," which covers internal communications and trade secrets. from the Bulgarian government. Bulgarian government Technology Minister Alexander Tsvetkov later announced that they intended to file a reconsideration request with ICANN.

In December 2011, Rod Beckstrom, ICANN CEO at the time, advised the Bulgarian government to apply for a different IDN string. According to him, " the initial application for .бг was unsuccessful. The job of ICANN, the organization, is to implement the policies that are developed by the global communities. Those communities did not allow the initial application to go through because of potential visual confusion."

In October 2014, the Extended Process Similarity Review Panel (EPSRP), conducted a second review of the string and issued a report concluding that “The candidate string is not confusingly similar to any ISO 3166-1 entries.” Between the time of the EPRSP's decisions and March 2015, the MTITC convened a working group of local Internet stakeholders to choose a sponsoring organization to manage the domain, with a public expert council to review and approve the decisions of the group.

On 1 July 2015, a open call for applications to become the sponsoring organization for .бг was announced by the working group.

On 11 December 2015, Imena.BG AD was established as a publicly limited company by several founding member organizations including Register.BG, the current sponsoring organization of the .bg ccTLD. Igmena.BG was chosen to manage the domain on 16 December 2015. Then, on 26 February 2016, Imena.BG AD officially sent a request to ICANN for the delegation of .бг as a top-level domain.