.arab
| Status: | Proposed |
| Manager: | The League of Arab States |
| Registry Provider: | Telecommunications Regulatory Authority UAE |
| Type: | GeoTLD |
| Category: | Culture |
.arab is a proposed new geo-cultural TLD in ICANN's new gTLD program. It is a project that has been associated with the IT ministries of Bahrain, the UAE, and the Arab Telecommunications and Information Council of Ministers; it was applied for by the League of Arab States, which is the only applicant.[1] In 2009, the International Telecommunications Union came out as a supporter of the bid, and also made promises to help any approved entity to apply for the extension, and even offered to act as a "temporary operational entity" should the Arab League need time to create their own viable management entity.[2]
The project and those involved are also linked to a .عرب bid, which is the Arabic IDN equivalent of ".arab".[3]
About the League of Arab States
The League of Arab States is an organization composed of 22 member states in the Arab Region (North and Northeast Africa and Southwest Asia or Middle East). Its main objective is to strengthen the relationship of its member states, coordinate their economic, political, cultural, health and social welfare, communications and other activities and to protect their independence, sovereignty and the general affairs and interests of Arab countries. The original members of the League of Arab States included Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon, Transjordan (Jordan) and Syria. The current Secretary General of the league is Dr. Nabil El Araby. [4] [5]
Application Details
Excerpted from response to Question 18:
"The Registry shall register domain names in one or both Arab TLDs through any Registrar requested by any:
(i) undertaking having its registered office, central administration or principal place of business within the Community, or
(ii) organization established within the Community without prejudice to the application of national law, or
(iii) natural person resident within the Community, or
(iv) any of the above who has associated one of the contacts relating to the domain name registration, which contact is residing or established in the Community.
The term “Community” will be deemed to include the territories of the Member States of the League of Arab States.
The League of Arab States defines the word “Arab” as “a person whose language is Arabic, who lives in an Arabic speaking country, who is in sympathy with the aspirations of the Arabic speaking people”.
Despite the above language the application is not filed as an Community TLD.[6]