Fee for Registration of Domain Names

The policies for Domain Names allowed is described in a separate document "Domain Name Dispute Policy".

IMPORTANT! Until further notice, educational, research, and governmental organizations of Latvia can register one domain name per organisation free of any charges.

1. Introduction

Originally, the Internet began as a research experiment and network known as the ARPANET, which supported the exchange of files and data among government contractors and researchers. As the TCP/IP suite was developed in the early 1980s, the Domain Name System (DNS) emerged as the replacement system to the original ARPANET hosts.txt mechanism. The high-level structure of names used by DNS eventually evolved into five world-wide generic domains ("COM", "ORG", "NET", "EDÜ, and "INT"), two U.S. only generic domains ("MIL" and "GOV"), and country code domains (e.g., "US" for the United States, "AÜ for Australia, "LV" for Latvia, etc.)

The exponential growth of the Internet, due mostly to the connecting of commercial organizations to the Internet over the past couple years, has had a directly proportional affect on the registration activity of the Registrar. The increased activity, with the corresponding growth of operating costs, have resulted in increase of funding requirements. In addition, it is appropriate that Internet users pay the costs of domain name registration services. Accordingly, the Registrar will begin charging a fee for the registration and maintenance of domain names in the Top Level Domain of Latvia "LV" and its generic subdomains "COM.LV", "EDU.LV", "GOV.LV", "ORG.LV", "MIL.LV", "ID.LV", "NET.LV", "ASN.LV", "CONF.LV".

2. Definitions

Applicant

The party or organization, such as a company or service provider, that is applying for a new domain name.

Domain

A Top Level Domain of Latvia "LV" and its generic subdomains "COM.LV", "EDU.LV", "GOV.LV", "ORG.LV", "MIL.LV", "ID.LV", "NET.LV", "ASN.LV", "CONF.LV".

Contact

The person responsible for a particular domain or aspect of a particular domain. There are three types of contacts: administrative, technical, and billing contacts. These contacts are listed in the InterNIC's WHOIS database. Communication with contacts is via the email address that is listed in this database.

Domain Name

The operational name used by TCP/IP applications that identifies an organization connected to the Internet.

DNS

The Domain Name System handles mapping from hostnames to Internet addresses. Configuration information from the Registration Services database is released into DNS three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)

WHOIS

A database utility that allows queries of domain records which include company, contact, and operational information from the InterNIC Registration Services database.

New Domain Name

Names that have not yet been entered into the Registration Services database, or names that have expired and have been removed from the database and made available for reissue to an applicant at a later time.

Existing Domain Name

Names that are registered within the Registration Services database and accessible through WHOIS and DNS.

Internet Service Provider

Commercial companies that provide connectivity between the domain name holder and the Internet, and that assist with domain name registrations.