Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications

The national domain .бг in Cyrillic was approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, ICANN. A report has been prepared within the process of registration of national domains with alphabets different from the Latin, and it specifies that the combination of letters that will symbolize Bulgaria on the Internet, namely .бг, does not look like any other existing domain.

On the occasion the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Nikolina Angelkova commented: “The use of the Bulgarian alphabet on the Internet is a significant step towards the protection of the language and strengthening our cultural identity”. She recalled that 400 million users around the world use Cyrillic. “The national Internet address in Cyrillic is an opportunity for ever more people to use the World Wide Web both for communication and for work. Spelling web page names entirely in Bulgarian will facilitate the use of regional sources of information that matter mainly to local users. Those who are not familiar with the Latin alphabet will easily tackle their work on the Internet”, added the Minister.

The topic of the .бг domain was brought up during the talks with the international organization when ICANN President Fadi Chehadé visited Bulgaria in August. Back then he held a meeting with Minister Angelkova when the issue with the Bulgarian request was discussed. They also discussed the opportunities for closer cooperation and as a result an Agreement for Cooperation between MTITC and ICANN was signed today. The document sets the common activities in the development of Internet names in Europe as well as training of Bulgarian Internet governance experts. Fadi Chehadé commented on the signed document: “This partnership acknowledges ICANN’s mission and shows the support for participation of all stakeholders in Internet governance. We look forward to continue our cooperation with Bulgaria in the field of Internet policies”.

Five years after the submitted request , ICANN approved the registration of the .бг domain. The next step is to receive notification from ICANN on its readiness to include it in the domain names system. In order to use the national address a registry of the names in .бг is needed. In the weeks to come the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications will initiate meetings with all stakeholders – the business, NGOs and academic institutions, so as to discuss the methodology for the selection of an organization to register Internet names in Cyrillic. The registry will be select  by the Bulgarian government following an agreement on the criteria and the selection procedure.

Background of the .бг registration

Bulgaria was the first state to officially claim registering a Cyrillic Top -level domain. ICANN announced a Fast Track  procedure for registration of national domains in Cyrillic and other alphabets different from Latin, on 16 November 2009. MTITC organized two public consultations in November 2009 – on the registry of the domain and the symbols that were to be used in the national domain.  The request  was sent by MTITC on 19 February 2010 by specifically indicating that the .бг is related directly to the name of the country and it stands for the “Bulgarian” in people’s minds. On 18 May 2010 the registration was not approved with the argument that the Bulgarian proposal is visually similar to other already existing domains in Latin. Back then the procedure couldn‘t  be appealed and reviewed.

In the period July – August 2010 MTITC held new public consultation to look into the opinion of the Bulgarian Internet users on a new Cyrillic name. Over 65 % indicated that they do not want a name that is different from .бг and MTITC took the commitment to protect the choice of the Bulgarian community.

The approval in October 2014 is within the framework of the possibility announced by ICANN in December 2013 for a final assessment of the Bulgarian proposal for symbols of the national Cyrillic Internet address .бг.