.бг

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

.бг is the Cyrillic translation for .bg country code top level domain name ccTLD and it is proposed as the Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) for Bulgaria. The application for proposed string was submitted to ICANN by the Bulgaria's Ministry of Transport Information Technology (MTIT) on February 19, 2010. The string was rejected by ICANN on May 2010 due to its close similarity to .br, the Brazilian ccTLD. On December, 2010, MIIT encouraged Cyrillic experts and its citizens to support its IDN application and encourage ICANN to re-evaluate its decision by sending letters to the internet governing body. 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. According to Uninet, the Bulgarian government is ready to challenge ICANN's decision once the internet governing body moves to change the existing IDN ccTLD Fast Track program to create an appeals process. On 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. The internet governing body advised Uninet to get the information from the Bulgarian government. According to the Bulgarian government Technology Minister Alexander Tsvetkov, they will file a reconsideration request to ICANN.

Reaction from Brazil

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

Suggested Options

On 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

ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom 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."