Rules for Domain Names Registration under .tz ccTLD
Effective from 1st January 2009.
1. INTRODUCTORY PROVISIONS
1.1. This document presents the rules for registration and delegation of the second-level
Domain Names under .tz ccTLD.
1.2. The terms used in this document have the following meaning:
1.2.1. “Central Register” - a database of Domain Names, their holders and other persons
administered by tzNIC. The Central Register is the source for Domain Name
delegation into the tz zone administered by the primary nameserver.
1.2.2. “tzNIC” - an authorized organization for .tz domain space management with a
certificate of incorporation No. 58303 of 2006.
1.2.3. “Delegated Domain Name” - a registered Domain Name for which tzNIC
maintains a record on the primary nameserver (“tz zones”).
1.2.4. “Day of Registration” - the day when the registration of the Domain Name in the
Central Register occurs.
1.2.5. “Day of Expiration” - the day following the day on which the expiration of the
registered Domain Name occurs.
1.2.6. “.tz ccTLD” - country code Top Level Domain (top-level domain, also called the
national domain) of the United Republic of Tanzania.
1.2.7 “SLD” – Second Level Domain which may be .go.tz; .ac.tz; .mil.tz; .ne.tz; .or.tz;
.co.tz; .sc.tz and any other that may be created under tzNIC rules and regulations
1.2.8. “Domain Name” - third-level domain consisting of a combination of permissible
characters.
1.2.9. “Holder” - natural person or legal entity who registered the Domain Name; if
the name of the company or organization is not included in the record, the person
who submitted the request for the Domain Name is considered the Holder; if the
name of the company or organization is included, it is considered to be the Holder.
1.2.10. “Contact” - the record of a specific person (natural or legal) maintained in the
Central Registry. A Contact may be administrative, technical or in the Holder’s role.
Page 2 of 18
1.2.11. “Rules for Dispute Resolution” - a document published by tzNIC, containing
the Holder’s public proposal of dispute resolution, which forms an integral part of
the Rules for domain name registration.
1.2.12. “Rules for Registration” - the document “Rules of Domain Names Registration
under .tz ccTLD” published by tzNIC.
1.2.13. “Registrar” - a subject entitled to access in a defined way the Central Register and
submits requests for the changes of records administered by the Central Register.
All changes of the Central Register can be done only through a Registrar.
1.2.14. “Key Set” - a record file containing at least one DS (Delegation Signer)
record according to RFC4034 intended for secure delegation of the domain
name by means of the DNSSEC technology and at least one technical Contact.
1.2.15. “Nameserver Set” - a record file containing at least 2 nameservers and at least one
technical Contact.
1.2.16. “Accredited Registrar” – A legal entity that has been accredited by tzNIC to register,
delete, add, modify or change domain names under .tz domain space.
1.2.17. “System Registrar” – an accredited registrar who can conduct domain name
registrations with zero credit.
1.2.18. “Appointed Registrar” - the Registrar for a specific Domain Name appointed by the
Holder, for a specific Contact appointed by the Contact concerned, for a specific
Nameserver Set appointed by the technical Contact of the nameservers, or for a
specific Key Set appointed by the Contact of the Key Set concerned. A single
Appointed Registrar is set for every registered Domain Name, Contact,
Nameserver Set and Key Set.
1.2.19. “Applicant” - a natural person or legal entity submitting a request for registration of
a Domain Name.
1.2.20 “Bad usage of a domain name” – Bad usage (bad faith) of a domain name may be
demonstrated where:
(a) the domain name was registered primarily for the purpose of selling the domain
name to a party holding a right validly recognized or established in Tanzania;
Page 3 of 18
(b) the domain name has been registered in order to prevent the holder of a validly
recognized or established name in Tanzania from reflecting this name in a
corresponding domain name;
(c) the domain name was registered primarily for the purpose of disrupting the
business of a competitor;
(d) the domain name was intentionally used to attract Internet users, for
commercial gain, to a web site by creating a likelihood of confusion with a name
corresponding to a right validly recognized or established in Tanzania, such
likelihood relating to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of the
web site; or
(e) the domain name registered is a personal name for which there is no
demonstrable link between the holder and the domain name registered.
2. DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION
2.1. Domain Names are registered through an accredited Registrar including tzNIC who
is the system registrar.
2.2. The Registrar is obliged to obtain the consent of every Applicant to the current
version of the Rules of Registration as a condition of the Domain Name
registration. This consent is obtained only if the up-to- date version of the Rules of
Registration was accepted by the Applicant, so that the consent of the Applicant
to the contents of the Rules of Registration is apparent. The following is
considered to be a valid consent:
2.2.1. A Domain Name registration order has been placed,
2.2.2 The price has been paid for the Domain Name registration or, if relevant,
for any other service that the Registrar may connect with registering the
Domain Name,
2.2.3. The Holder has begun to use a Domain Name, or
2.2.4. The Holder has effected any other act toward the Registrar or tzNIC,
provided that such an act pertains to changing records on the given Domain
Name that are kept in the Central Registry.
2.3. The individual giving consent to the current version of the Rules of
Page 4 of 18
Registration on behalf of the Applicant in connection with an application for
Domain Name registration at the same time declares that he or she is authorized to
act on the Applicant’s behalf in this matter.
2.4. Registrars are obliged to make available and document at any time by request of
tzNIC the consent of the Holder to the current version of the Rules of Registration
on the date of registration, according to article 2.2. tzNIC is entitled to make
available and document such information to any relevant state authority for the
purposes of legal, administrative, criminal or any other proceedings.
2.5. tzNIC registers the Domain Names according to the order in which the
individual registration requests submitted through the Registrars were delivered.
tzNIC files the records of every received registration request.
2.6. The Domain Name is registered always for an entire year beginning with the Day of
Registration of the Domain Name, up to a max. of 5 years.
2.7. Upon the registration of a Domain Name, the Domain Name is reserved for the
Holder for the specified period of time.
2.8. tzNIC will register the Domain Name if:
2.8.1. the registration request form does not contain any imperfections
preventing it from further processing;
2.8.2. the existing Domain Name has been assigned with an existing Contact in
the role of the Holder;
2.8.3. all required information has been properly filled in;
2.8.4. the Applicant agreed with the current version of the Rules of Registration
and Rules for Dispute Resolution;
2.8.5. the requested Domain Name is not, at the time of processing of the
request, registered by the Central Register;
2.8.6. the requested Domain Name conforms to the regulations for the creation of
Domain Names (see Article 10), and
2.8.7. applicable payments of appropriate prices are settled concurrently
with the registration.
Page 5 of 18
3. DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION RENEWAL
3.1. Domain Name registration may be renewed by means of the Appointed Registrar.
3.2. Domain Name registration may even repeatedly be renewed for whole multiples of
a year, yet for no more than 5 years. tzNIC will renew a registration if:
3.2.1. tzNIC receives a request for registration renewal at the latest on the day on
which the period for which the Domain Name was registered elapses
(this is without prejudice to the possibility to renew a Domain Name
registration during the protection period according to Article 6.2);
3.2.2. the Holder agreed with the current version of the Rules of Registration on
the date of the registration renewal, whereas the provisions in Articles 2.2,
2.3 and 2.4 are used similarly;
3.2.3. applicable payments of appropriate prices are settled concurrently.
4. DOMAIN NAME DELEGATION
4.1. tzNIC delegates a registered Domain Name, to which just one Nameserver Set is
assigned.
4.2. tzNIC is entitled to conduct periodic technical inspections of nameservers in the
Nameserver Set and of DS (Delegation Signer) records in the Key Set assigned to
the Domain Name.
4.3. When a Domain Name registration is cancelled, the Domain Name delegation is
terminated without further ado. When the assignment of a Nameserver Set to a
Domain Name is canceled, the Domain Name delegation is canceled with further
ado. Under the terms and conditions defined by these Rules of Registration, a
Domain Name delegation may also be canceled if a Nameserver Set is still assigned
to it.
5. DOMAIN NAME TRANSFER
5.1. tzNIC will register a change of the Domain Name Holder (a Domain Name
transfer) upon request submitted through the Appointed Registrar of the given
Domain Name. The Appointed Registrar may submit a request for a change of the
Domain Name Holder upon written request of the Holder and the future Holder.
5.2. The Registrar is obliged to acquire the consent of the future Holder to the current
Page 6 of 18
version of the Rules of Registration and the Rules for Dispute Resolution on
the date of the transfer of the Domain Name, while the provisions in Articles 2.2,
2.3 and 2.4 are applied similarly.
5.3. No entitlement to a refund of the paid price or any part thereof arises for the Holder
from its Domain Name transfer.
5.4. The transfer of the Domain Name does not affect the latter’s Day of Expiration.
6. TERMINATION OF THE DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION
6.1. tzNIC will cancel the registration of a Domain Name upon request submitted by
domain holder through the Appointed Registrar of the Domain Name. No
entitlement to a refund of the paid price or any part thereof arises from canceling
the registration of a Domain Name.
6.2. If a Domain Name registration is not renewed before the Day of Expiration (Article
3), then on the Day of Expiration the Domain Name enters a “protection period” of
45 days.
6.2.1. The Domain Name registration may be renewed in compliance with Article
3 hereof retroactively from the Day of Expiration.
6.2.2. If the Domain Name is not renewed in the first 30 days of the protection
period, tzNIC is entitled to terminate the Delegation of the Domain Name.
In such a case, the Domain Name delegation cannot be renewed, not even
by changing details in the assigned Nameserver Set or by assigning a
different Nameserver Set to the Domain Name concerned.
6.2.3. The registration of a Domain Name expires when the protection period has
elapsed unless the Domain Name registration is renewed during the
protection period.
6.3. If the agreement between an Appointed Registrar and tzNIC is terminated, based
on which the Appointed Registrar enjoyed the Registrar status, the registrations
of Domain Names registered through the Appointed Registrar will not be
terminated. The Holder may designate another Appointed Registrar at any time
afterwards.
Page 7 of 18
6.4 A registered domain name shall be subject to revocation, where that name is
identical or confusingly similar to a name in respect of which a right is recognized
or established by national laws; or where;
(a) such name has been registered by its holder without rights or legitimate interest
in the name; or
(b) has been registered or is being used in bad faith.
7. REGISTRATION OF CONTACTS
7.1. A single Contact can be used for more than one Domain Name (Contact in the role
of a Holder or an administrative Contact), Nameserver Set (a technical Contact) or
a Key Set (a technical Contact).
7.2. Contacts are registered by means of a Registrar. By filing an application in this
respect, the given person expresses its consent to these Rules of Registration by
means of the Registrar.
8. CHANGES AND THEIR AUTHORIZATION
8.1. The wording of a Domain Name cannot be modified.
8.2. The Registrar, who requested the change, is responsible towards tzNIC for
authentication, authorization and validity of such an instruction.
8.3. tzNIC will change data in the Central Registry upon request by the persons that are
stated for each of the Domain Names, Contacts, Nameserver Sets, and Key Sets, as
the persons authorized to make such changes, provided that the request is submitted by
means of the relevant Registrar.
8.4. For a Contact that is a legal entity, apart from the person stated in the Contact record,
acts may also be effected by a person or persons authorized to act on behalf of the
legal entity. In such a case, an officially certified signature is required for the
authentication. The officially certified signature shall also be accompanied by an
original or certified copy of an excerpt from the relevant authority. The name of the
legal entity in the official excerpt must be identical with the legal entity’s name stated
in the Contact in the field meant to show the name of the company or organization; the
confirming person(s) must be authorized to act on behalf of the legal entity in line
with the official excerpt. If the authorized person is represented, then appended
to the confirmation must also be a Power of Attorney with an officially
Page 8 of 18
authenticated signature.
8.5. If multiple persons are entered in the Central Registry that are competent to make
the same change, then the change can be made upon request by any of these persons.
8.6. Changing Domain Name information.
A request for changing Domain Name data may only be made by means of the
Appointed Registrar except for changing the Appointed Registrar itself; this type
of change can only be made by means of a new Appointed Registrar.
Item name Contact entitled to confirm the change
Domain Name Can’t be changed
Holder Contact in the role of Holder
Administrative Contact Holder, Administrative Contact
Appointed Registrar Holder, Administrative Contact
Nameserver Set Holder, Administrative Contact, Technical
Contact for the existing Key Set
Key Set Holder, Administrative Contact, Technical
Contact for the existing Key Set
Transfer Holder and the new Holder
Termination Holder
8.7. Changing Contact information
Contact data may be changed by means of the Appointed Contact Registrar.
Item name Contact entitled to confirm the
change
Identifier Can’t be changed
Other data (exclusive of Identifier) Relevant Contact
8.8. Changing Nameserver Set information
Nameserver Set data may be changed by means of the Appointed Registrar of the
Nameserver Set.
Page 9 of 18
Item name
Contact entitled to confirm the
change
Identifier Cannot be changed
Technical Contact
Technical Contact
Nameserver Technical Contact
Termination
Technical Contact
8.9 Changing the Key Set data
Item name Contact entitled to confirm the
change
Identifier Can’t be changed
Technical Contact Technical Contact
Delegation Signer (SD) record Technical Contact
Termination Technical Contact
9. PRICE AND FEES
9.1. The price of domain name registration by the Registrar to the Holder is set
by an agreement between the Registrar and the Holder and shall not exceed
the published amount.
9.2. The price of individual domain name registration provided by tzNIC to the
Registrars can be found in the tzNIC price list which is available to
Registrars.
9.3 Administrative or maintenance fee
9.3.1 The annual administrative or maintenance fee for local registrars
will be Tshs 250,000.00
9.3.2 The annual administrative or maintenance fee for accredited
registrars residing out of The United Republic of Tanzania will be
Usd 1,000.00
Page 10 of 18
9.4 tzNIC may review the price and fees and make changes from time to time.
10. RULES FOR CREATING A DOMAIN NAME
10.1. Domain Names must conform to regulations RFC 1034, 1035, 1122,
1123 and any regulations superseding or amending these. This concerns
especially the following conditions:
10.1.1. Domain Name may contain only characters [a-z,0-9,-];
10.1.2. The maximum Domain Name Length is not more than 63 characters;
10.1.3. A Domain Name must not begin or end with “-“ character;
10.1.4. A Domain Name must not contain two characters “-“ in sequence.
10.2 In addition to article 10.1, the current policies governing the registration
under third level domain category are as follows:
10.2.1 .<name>.co.tz
Only for registered company or business entity as defined under
national laws.
10.2.2 .<name>.or.tz
Only for none profit making organizations.
10.2.3 .<name>.go.tz
Only for formal Tanzania Governmental entities as recognized
through parliament or on production of a letter from relevant
Permanent Secretary of the relevant government Ministry where the
registrant belongs.
10.2.4 .<name>.ac.tz
Only for formal tertiary academic or technical institutions with
relevant accreditation.
10.2.5 .<name>.ne.tz
Only for addressing the network of people and hardware.
10.2.6 .<name>.mil.tz
Exclusively for Tanzania Military entities recognized by the
Ministry responsible for Defense;
10.2.7 .<name>.sc.tz
Page 11 of 18
Only for schools that are elementary, primary and secondary level
institutions; and
10.2.8 Any other third level that may be established.
10.3. tzNIC may cancel the registration of a Domain Name that is worded
contrary to the rules for domain name creation.
11. PERSONAL DATA AND CENTRAL REGISTER DATA PROTECTION
11.1. The Central Register is kept by tzNIC or an entity authorized by it. tzNIC
is the administrator of personal data kept in the Central Register. The
Registrar is a processor of such data.
11.2. A person submitting an application for the registration of a Domain
Name, Holder or Contact, or an application for changing data pertaining to
a Domain Name, Holder or Contact
11.2.1. grants by lodging such an application his/her consent with
processing his/her personal data specified in the application
for the purpose of maintaining and administering the Central
Register, as well as with making such data public through the
mediation of the Internet within the framework of information
services rendered by tzNIC.
11.2.2 is liable for the correctness of all data specified in the
registration application pertaining to persons mentioned in such an
application, and declares that these are not cover names, that such a
person has obtained consent from all persons whose personal data
are to be recorded in the Central Register on the basis of the
application, and undertakes to obtain such consent in the event of
any changes of such persons or data pertaining to such persons.
11.2.3. is obliged to report any changes of the data submitted to tzNIC
through the mediation of the Registrar without any undue delay.
11.2.4. is obliged to act in such way that in consequence of his/her
doing no duplicate records of Contacts arise, and no identical
Contacts differing only in the identifier are kept in the Central
Page 12 of 18
Register.
11.3. Appendix No. 1 states what pieces of information used in the Domain
Name records, Contacts and Nameserver Sets are compulsory.
11.4. tzNIC is entitled to call on the Holder, or the person concerned, to provide
any information essential for the identification of these persons, in the case
that providing such information is necessary for unambiguous
identification within the framework of a legal, arbitrary, administrative or
criminal or any other proceedings in progress; tzNIC is entitled to provide
such additionally acquired information for the purpose of such proceedings.
11.5. Appendix No. 1 states what pieces of information used in the Domain
Name records, Contacts and Nameserver Sets can be marked as hidden. In
the case that such a piece of information is marked as hidden, it means that
it is not published through the public information services (WHOIS), but
the right of tzNIC to keep such information in the Central Register and
to provide it for technical reasons necessary for running the Central
Register to the Registers remains unaffected.
11.6. tzNIC is entitled to provide information marked in the Central
Register as hidden to the state administrative bodies and to other relevant
authorities, in compliance with the law and within the framework of their
official activity. Therefore, it is possible to provide only information related
to the specific Contacts or specific Domain Names. Under the same
conditions, tzNIC is also entitled to provide information about historical
data, if available.
11.7. tzNIC is entitled, at its discretion, to optimize the information kept in the
Central Register. For this purpose tzNIC is entitled to merge Contact
records differing only by the identifier of the Contact. In the case that
tzNIC performs such a merger, all links of the merged Contacts to the
Domain Names, Nameserver Sets, and Key Sets will be preserved so that
these links are transferred onto the Contact with which the other Contacts
were merged with. The affected persons will be notified by tzNIC of such
a merger.
Page 13 of 18
12. RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF tzNIC
12.1. Duties
12.1.1. to perform the Domain Name registration and maintain such a
registration in compliance with defined conditions,
12.1.2. to keep record of a registered Domain Name in the Central Register,
12.1.3. to keep a record of the delegated Domain Name in the tz zone; and
12.1.4. to make every effort that may be reasonably required to ensure a
fault-free and smooth operation of the Central Register and the
primary nameserver.
12.1.5 to review these Rules and other related documents for better
carrying its functions.
12.2. Rights
12.2.1 tzNIC has the right to terminate, at its discretion, a Domain Name
registration if:
i. the information kept in relation to the Domain Name in the
Central Register is untrue, incomplete or misleading,
ii. no additional information is provided according to the article
11.4 within 15 days after sending the notice,
iii. facts, on the basis of which the Domain Name was
registered, change, for example if the Holder ceases to exist
without any legal successor or dies without any heirs,
iv. consent to the Rules of Registration or Rules for settlement
of disputes was not granted in compliance with these
documents,
v. such right arises from other provisions of the Rules of
Registration.
12.2.2. tzNIC is entitled to accept technical measures aimed especially at
limitation of the direct online operation endangering the stability of
tzNIC systems, even if such measures lead or may lead to limitations
Page 14 of 18
of availability of the tzNIC services, functioning of the registered
Domain Names, name servers etc. tzNIC does not bear any
responsibility for the damages incurred, but it is obliged to make
every effort that may be reasonably required to terminate such
measures as soon as possible.
12.2.3. The cancellation of a Domain Name carried out by tzNIC
pursuant to the Rules of Registration does not constitute any title
to the return of any fulfillment accepted by tzNIC from the Holder
or any other person in relation to the Domain Name whose
registration is to be cancelled.
13. LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES
13.1 The Domain Name, its registration or use may infringe or cyber-squat third
parties’ rights to other Domain Names, registered trademarks, trade
names, names, business names, or legal regulations dealing with unfair
competition, protection of person etc. Submitting an application for a
Domain Name registration, the Holder confirms that being aware of the
potential infringement of the above-specified rights and legal regulations,
he/she has made every endeavor to a reasonable extent so as to make sure
that no such rights and legal regulations are infringed by the registered
Domain Name.
13.2. The Holder shall be liable for damages caused to tzNIC by stating
incorrect or misleading data or using a Domain Name contrary to the
Rules of Registration or in a manner infringing third parties’ rights.
13.3. tzNIC is not in authority to assess the justice of any application for a
Domain Name registration in terms of third parties’ rights or justified
interests.
13.4. The Holder understands that the registration of a Domain Name does not
constitute any protection against third parties’ objections to the registration
or use of the Domain Name concerned.
13.5. tzNIC does not bear any responsibility for use or non-use of the registered
Domain Name, or the way the Domain Name is used. tzNIC, in particular,
does not bear any responsibility for the violation of copyrights,
Page 15 of 18
trademarks, names or trade companies of third parties resulting from the
registration or use of the Domain Name.
13.6. tzNIC does not bear any responsibility for the functioning of the delegated
nameservers assigned to the Domain Name.
14. MUTUAL COMMUNICATION
14.1. Communication between tzNIC and the Holder of the Domain Name is
carried out through the Appointed Registrar.
14.2. Communication between tzNIC and the Registrar is carried out in the way
specified by the trading terms for Registrars.
14.3. Written communication according to these Rules of Registration is
considered as preserved if carried out by wire or electronic means
enabling the receipt of the content of such communication and
identification of the persons conducting the communication.
15. RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES BETWEEN HOLDER AND tzNIC
15.1. In the event of any dispute between tzNIC and domain holder, the dispute
shall first be referred for mediation and Arbitration as provided under the
laws of Tanzania
15.2 Where such dispute is not resolved amicably, the parties will be at liberty to
refer such dispute to the normal courts or judicial proceedings under the
laws of Tanzania
15.3 The award in article 15.2 is final and binding for both parties.
16. RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES BETWEEN HOLDER AND THIRD
PARTIES
16.1. The Holder is obliged to make every effort that may reasonably be required
from him to achieve an amicable settlement of disputes concerning Domain
Names and/or their registrations that might arise between the Holder and
other persons.
Page 16 of 18
16.2 Where the litigants do not settle the dispute in an amicable way under article
16.1, they are free to settle their dispute within the scope of Tanzania
legal procedures.
16.3. Upon request by all disputing parties, tzNIC may act as a mediator in
pursuit of an amicable settlement of their dispute.
16.4. tzNIC will cancel the delegation and/or the registration of a Domain
Name, transfer the Domain Name to a different person and suspend the
option to transfer the Domain Name to another person if this is stipulated
in an executable court order or administrative decision even if tzNIC
has not participated in the proceeding in which such a decision was made.
16.5 The decision under article 16.4 shall be presented to tzNIC in its original
or officially certified copy with a clause attached that certifies its legal
effect and enforceability (such a clause is not required in the case of
injunctions).
16.6 No act of tzNIC effected according to articles 16.4 and 16.5 shall give rise to
an entitlement to a refund of any payments received by tzNIC from the
Holder or any other person in connection with the Domain Name, to which
such an act pertains.
17. DOCUMENTS CHANGES
17.1. tzNIC is entitled to change the Rules of Registration as well as other
relevant documents at any time. Current version of these documents will be
available at http://www.tznic.or.tz.
17.2. tzNIC is obliged to make public any changes of the documents stated in
Article 17.1 at least 1 month before the effective date of such changes by
publishing the change at http://www.tznic.or.tz.
Appendix 1: Obligatory and concealable information in the records of the Domain Names,
Contact, Nameserver sets and Key Sets
Domain
Name
Data name Data description Obligatory Concealable
Name Domain Name Yes No
Registrant Holder’s Identification Yes
No
NSSet Nameserver Set
No No
Admin Administratice ID
Contact (list)
No No
KeySet Key Set
No No
Contact
Data name Data description Obligatory Concealable
Org Name of company or
organization
Yes No
Name Name Yes No
Email Email Yes Yes
NotifyEmail Email notification No Yes
Voice Telephone No Yes
Fax Fax No Yes
Vat VAT (Tax Identifier) No Yes
Addr Address – street (list of 3
items maximum), city,
Country code
Yes No
Ident Identification – a pair
(type and number of the
identifier)
No Yes
Nameserver Set
Data name Data description Obligatory Concealable
DNS DNS list (2 min,
9 max)
Yes No
TechAdmin Tech Contact
(list)
Yes No
Key Set
Data name Data description Obligatory Concealable
DS Delegation
Signer record
according to
RFC 4034
Yes No
TechAdmin Tech Contact
(list)
Yes No