ICANN has announced plans to retire the .su domain, a legacy country code belonging to the former Soviet Union, by 2030. The decision was communicated to the domain’s operator, managed by the Russian Institute for Development of Public Networks, through a letter from Public Technical Identifiers (PTI) on February 6.
Currently, around 100,000 domain names are registered under .su, and the namespace remains open for new registrations. This move aligns with the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) retirement policy that was approved by ICANN’s board in 2022. According to this policy, when a territory is removed from the ISO 3166-1 standard, the corresponding country code domain must be retired after a specified transition period.
Although .su was removed from the ISO 3166-1 standard in 1992, ICANN had postponed any retirement actions while the ccNSO developed a formal policy. Now, with over two years since the policy’s approval, ICANN is taking steps to phase out the domain.
ICANN initially intended to deliver a formal Notice of Removal on February 13, which would trigger the start of the five-year countdown to retirement. However, it appears that this notice has not yet been issued. The retirement process will officially begin once the notice is sent, unless PTI and the .su administrator agree to an extension.
There is a possibility for policy changes that could allow .su to remain active, but this would require approval from the ccNSO. The timing of this decision is sensitive due to ongoing geopolitical tensions involving Russia, raising concerns that it could attract scrutiny towards ICANN.
This development may also set a precedent for other country code domains. For example, the UK is planning to transfer control of the British Indian Ocean Territories to Mauritius, potentially leading to the removal of the corresponding IO domain from the ISO list, thus starting its retirement process as well.
As ICANN initiates this procedure, it will be crucial to observe how the situation unfolds and whether the pressure of the retirement process will inspire any changes.
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