FAQ

What's the business of the dotSaarland GmbH (nic.saarland)?

The dotSaarland GmbH (nic.saarland) is the registry for .SAARLAND domains and organizes the domain registration within the .SAARLAND name space. The company is also responsible for the secure management of .SAARLAND domains in accordance with the ICANN guidelines. In addition, it coordinates the marketing of the .SAARLAND domain names.

nic.saarland is a member and initiator of the non-profit dotSaarland Association and actively supports the activities of the association. In its statute, the dotSaarland GmbH guarantees the association the establishment of an Advisory Council. The Advisory Council will allow the social and economic institutions of the Saarland to participate in the design and development of the TLD .SAARLAND – in the interest of all users.

dotSaarland GmbH is part of the CentralNic Group PLC.

What's .SAARLAND?

.SAARLAND is one of the so called „new top level domains“ and the new internet extension for all Saarland people and Saarland friends.

To whom should I address when I have questions about my .SAARLAND domain?

The dotSaarland GmbH is the registry for .SAARLAND and neither a registrar nor an internet provider. So we can not support you during your ordering process. Generally your domain registrar is the best contact to address when you have questions about your .SAARLAND domain. Please feel free to contact us when you have general questions concerning the concept, the vendors or the launch phases of .SAARLAND.

What's a registry, a registrar, a registrant?

The term registry, also Network Information Center (NIC), refers to the organization responsible for the allocation of domains within the name space of one or more top level domains. Thus, a NIC also administers a part of the resources needed for the technical operation of the Domain Name System (DNS). The registry takes care of the operation of the name servers, the administration of the name space and the operation of the whois server with the data about the domain owners. The registry doesn`t assign domains directly to end customers. This is handled through so called registrars and their resellers.

A registrar is an organization or a company, which executes the registration of domains on customer request. The registrar functions as a gateway between the registrant/reseller and the registry and is at the same time the sole contract partner of the consumer or reseller.

A registrant is a person or organization which registers a domain through a registrar or a reseller at the responsible registry for a dedicated time period. The registrant purchases the domain either for himself or for another domain owner.

What in fact is a top level domain?

Abbreviation: TLD, viewed from the right hand side, the first character group (.COM) and thus highest level of the domain name (www.example.com). Domain names are composed of a sequence of characters separated by points. Those character groups match hierarchically arranged name spaces. The hierarchy of the character groups declines from right to left.

What's the need of new TLDs?

Despite the huge number of existing internet extension there is a lack of available domains. Many attractive domain names in existing gTLDs as .COM (>110 m domains) or ccTLDs as .DE (>15 m domains) are already taken. Therefore in Summer 2008 ICANN decided to release new TLDs.

How can I get my .SAARLAND domain?

.SAARLAND domains can be obtained from registrars accredited with the dotSaarland GmbH or a reseller of these accredited registrars.

What's the price for a .SAARLAND domain?

The costs for .SAARLAND domains depend on your provider. The dotSaarland GmbH does not sell domains to customers because of ICANN specifications. Only ICANN accredited registrars and theirresellers are allowed to do this.

Who can register a .SAARLAND domain?

Any natural person or entity is eligible to register domain names in the .SAARLAND TLD. Different eligibility requirements may apply for registrations in limited registration phases such as the Founders Program and the Sunrise A/B Phase. For further information we refer to our overview of the launch phases and the corresponding registration guidelines.

Which registration rules apply for .SAARLAND domains?

All polices for the registration of .SAARLAND domains can be found here.

How can I make sure that my .SAARLAND domain is available?

All interested parties can request information about registered .SAARLAND domains to find out if a domain is available for registration or who the holder of a registered domain is by using a Whois query. You can also check the domain availability via your provider.

Are there .SAARLAND domains, that cannot be registered?

Certain .SAARLAND domain names cannot be registered or aren`t available for registration at the moment. You can find further information here.
The so called premium domains are available at a later date for example. To receive the latest news about the allocation of premium domains we recommend you to subscribe to the nic.saarland newsletter. Therefore please write an e-mail with the subject "Newsletter" to: info@nic.saarland.

Why does my domain provider inform me that my per-ordered .SAARLAND domain has been deleted from the reservation list?

When changing the non-binding pre-orders into binding and charged registrations, .SAARLAND domain registrars are currently checking whether your requested .SAARLAND domain is on the list of reserved names. In case of this your pre-order will be deleted by the registrar.

Which and how many characters are allowed for use in a .SAARLAND domain?

You can compose your domain with all numbers between 0-9 as well as letters from A-Z, and hyphens. The domain name cannot have two consecutive hyphens (“--”) in the 3rd and 4th positions, except when preceded by “xn” and followed by a string that corresponds with an IDN string. Underlined characters are not allowed. .SAARLAND domains must have a minimum length of 1 character but cannot exceed 63 characters, the domain name cannot consist of 2 characters according to ICANN Policy.