Introduction
This guide sets out the national rules and principles for registering
and managing government domain names.
Follow the steps:
Be aware of the conditions of use for a .gov.uk name.
Determine if you qualify to register a domain name.
Review the naming conventions and ensure that your proposed name
complies.
Review the information required to successfully apply for a
registration.
These guidelines apply to all new requests for registration. Some domain
names were registered before these current rules were published. Such
names should be regarded as exceptional, and not as setting a precedent.
Domain names are not automatically issued and not on a first come first
served basis.
Follow the procedure on the JANET website to apply for a new domain
name.
If you have any questions about these rules or specific candidate names
direct them to naming@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk
Applications for registration must not be sent to this email
address.
Background to .gov.uk
The global system of internet domain names exists to make internet
services more accessible for ordinary users. A set of addresses ending
in .uk has been created for organizations and individuals who want to
publish material associated with the United Kingdom. Within this .uk
domain, called a Top Level Domain (TLD), a set of addresses, called
Second Level Domains (SLD), has been reserved for use by the public
sector. These include .gov.uk, .mod.uk, .nhs.uk, judiciary.uk and
.police.uk. These are administered as follows:
.gov.uk – Government Digital Service through the Naming and
Approvals Committee is responsible for maintaining this guidance which
acts as the policy governing the SLD. JANET(UK) administers the SLD on
behalf of the Cabinet Office, providing the name submission, name
modification, approval and registration systems.
.mod.uk (and .mil.uk) – these SLDs are reserved exclusively for
the Ministry of Defence and the UK Armed Forces. Ministry of Defence
domains should follow the guidelines for .gov.uk domains, for example
in Naming Strategy. Further queries should be directed to the
Defence Interoperable Network Services Authority (DINSA):
E-Mail:
DESISSSolsDINSARegistration@mod.uk
Telephone: 01225 81 3657
.nhs.uk – this SLD is reserved exclusively for NHS organisations
and services within the UK. It is administered by NHS Health and
Social Care Information Centre
.judiciary.uk – Government Digital Service through the Naming and
Approvals Committee is responsible for maintaining this guidance which
acts as the policy governing the SLD. JANET(UK) administers the SLD on
behalf of the Cabinet Office, providing the name submission, name
modification, approval and registration systems.
.police.uk – this SLD is reserved exclusively for UK police
services and organisations. The registry (operating and administering
authority) is the College of Policing www.college.police.uk.
Naming and approvals process
The Naming and Approvals Committee (hereafter, the Committee) consists
of representatives from the following sectors:
central government
local government
the devolved administrations
government security
NHS
JANET (UK)
To request a new domain name:
The Internet Service Provider (ISP) representing the organisation
submits an application on the JANET(UK) website.
The Committee assesses the application against the criteria set out in
this document.
Within 5 working days, a decision is communicated to the ISP, either
an approval or a rejection with the accompanying reason.
At any time following the rejection of a request, an organisation may
appeal the Committee’s decision.
To appeal the decision:
The ISP representing the organisation provides JANET(UK) with the
extra information that should taken into account.
The Committee assesses the appeal in light of the new information
provided.
Within 5 working days, a final decision on the application is
communicated to the ISP, either an approval or a rejection with the
accompanying reason.
The Committee meets bi-annually to review this guidance and to discuss
any matters arising.
The conditions of use for a .gov.uk name
There are conditions and conventions attached to the .gov.uk domain
and the following paragraphs are intended to guide you on acceptable
use of that name.
The applications (Web, email, etc) using a .gov.uk domain name must
comply with current UK legislation and support channels that provide
accessibility for disabled people, members of ethnic minorities and
those at risk of social/digital exclusion. Legislation includes
Copyright, Data Protection Act, Disability Discrimination Act and
Welsh Language Act. Specifically, all public sector websites must
comply with Cabinet Office guidance.
The minimum level of accessibility for government websites is Level
Double-A of the W3C guidelines. Websites owned by central
government departments must have plans in place by December 2008 and
satisfy this requirement by December 2009. New websites must comply
immediately.
Website code (markup and style-sheets) must validate with respect to
its selected vocabularies (e.g. XHTML 1.0 and CSS 2.0).
The acceptance of the name is conditional on that name being used
specifically and exclusively for the organisation on whose behalf it
is registered. The Committee expects that the use of an approved
domain name on a web server will lead directly to the home page for
that organisation and not to that of its ISP/hosting service or any
other agent, particularly a page on a non-public sector domain.
Abuse of this principle will result in the name being withdrawn.
In practice this means that if you have a .gov.uk domain name it
should be your principal domain name and not as a redirect to a
non-public sector domain (eg, .co.uk, .org.uk, .info, .com). Of
course the protective registration of a name in other Top Level and
Second Level Domains that redirects to your .gov.uk name is common
and the accepted practice.
Having a .gov.uk domain name means you (the Registrant) have
exclusive right to its use. Your organisation does not own the
domain name outright; periodical renewals have to be undertaken to
retain the right to use it.
If after registration the original status of your organisation or
project changes to, for example, charity, voluntary or commercial
status, then your eligibility for a .gov.uk address ceases. You must
inform us at naming@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk and negotiate a timescale for termination of the
name.
Protectively marked information must not be published under your
domain name, unless release of the information is under Freedom of
Information.
A registration fee is paid by your ISP to JANET. This covers a
period of two years, after which a renewal fee is payable for each
subsequent two year period.
Registering a domain name does not mean that it is automatically a
trademark. Refer to the Patents Office website at
www.patent.gov.uk/about/ippd/issues/domain.htm
When your website goes live you must inform the .gov.uk Naming and
Approvals Committee directly by email to
naming@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk confirming (a) the .gov.uk URL of your home page,
(b) the date that it went live as a public website, and (c) confirm
that your website complies with and will continue to comply with all
mandatory standards. Failure to comply with this may result in the
name being withdrawn.
It is recommended the managers of individual .gov.uk domain names
establish and maintain a generic website team email address, for
example, webteam@***.gov.uk or postmaster@***.gov.uk.
Central government departments, executive agencies and
non-departmental public bodies must follow the Transformational
Government strategy. No new websites will be permitted for
Departments, Executive Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies
unless approved by collective Ministerial decision. Other audience
specific information and services will also converge on a few
selected remaining sites.
Eligibility
To preserve the integrity of the .gov.uk namespace,
registration/ownership is limited to:
UK government and devolved administration departments and
agencies;
executive and advisory non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs); and
local and regional government bodies (including town and parish
councils).
The following are not eligible for a .gov.uk domain:
individuals (included elected representatives);
associations representing public sector staff;
public sector pension funds;
standalone ‘arms length organisations’ where staff are not public
servants, eg, they are employees of a private or public company;
charitable, voluntary and privately owned organisations;
companies and organisations registered by Companies House
that is, private companies (limited by shares or guarantee),
private unlimited companies and public liability companies;
public, privately owned or charitable organisations undertaking
work or programmes within the public sector;
public, privately owned or charitable organisations undertaking
work or programmes targeting the public sector;
internet management and network related companies, including
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and hosting companies;
British overseas territories and international
organisations.
Transformational Government
As part of the implementation of the Government’s Transformational
Government Strategy, Ministers have asked Departments, Executive
Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies to reduce the overall
number of websites they own. Citizen and business facing information
will be converged on GOV.UK.
As a general rule, each Department should have one corporate website
for information that relates to the workings of the Department (eg.
Policy, Ministerial and PSA targets) and should use GOV.UK for
customer information, self-service transactions and campaign
support.
No new websites will be permitted for Departments, Executive
Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies unless approved by the
Minister for the Cabinet Office.
You are strongly advised to consult your Director responsible for
website rationalisation (e.g. Director of Communications, Director
of Information etc.) regarding exceptions to the above guidelines.
Failing this, contact Pauline Ferris – Secretariat Manager,
Government Digital Service, at:
pauline.ferris@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk.
Naming strategy
Organisations with, or planning to have, an Internet presence should
adopt and exercise a centralised approach to planning the
acquisition, management and use of appropriate domain names. A
domain name is intellectual property and has both financial and
strategic value.
Central government bodies must use the appropriate name within
.gov.uk as their primary domain. Use of non-government domains
(e.g. .co.uk, .org.uk, .org etc.) must only be for defensive
purposes and must be redirected to the primary government domain.
Domain names must not point to anything other than your
organisation’s home page on the .gov.uk domain or to your home page
if it is held on one of the other public sector domains.
Naming principles for central government departments
Government URLs can be confusing, inconsistent and not easily
guessable by members of the public. With machinery of government
changes, URLs can become difficult to manage. The following set of
principles:
define what government URLs should be;
help people to get what they expect when they type an address into
a browser; and
help government organisations prepare for change by requesting the
appropriate .gov.uk URLs in advance.
In line with this guidance, suggested names will be proposed by the
Cabinet Office; where Departments wish to have an alternative this
should be discussed with their department’s director of
communications and then contact the Naming committee at
naming@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk
Use real words
To improve readability, URLs should use real words rather than
abbreviations or acronyms. Hyphens and underscored spaces should not
be used. Existing examples include www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk
and www.justice.gov.uk. (Note that the guidance for local
government permits the use of hyphens to describe the type of
organisation e.g. ‘-tc’ for town councils and ‘-pc’ for parish
councils.)
Describe the primary purpose
URLs should describe the primary purpose of the website or its
primary focus so that users know what to expect from the website.
Examples include www.communities.gov.uk and
www.culture.gov.uk.
Be consistent with existing naming conventions
Where there are several acceptable alternatives, preference should
be given to a URL consistent with existing ones so that it is easier
to remember. For example www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk is
consistent with www.homeoffice.gov.uk and
www.ofsted.gov.uk is consistent with www.ofgem.gov.uk.
Use commonly known or brand names
Where an organisation is commonly known by a particular acronym or
brand name, use that as the primary URL because it will be easier to
remember. Brand names should be used particularly where the real
word URL is long or unwieldy. Examples include www.gchq.gov.uk
and www.ofsted.gov.uk.
Strip out unnecessary words
Where an organisation name contains frequently used words such as
prepositions or conjunctions, these may be stripped out for
simplicity. Examples include www.nationalschool.gov.uk and
www.commonsleader.gov.uk.
Use short URLs
URLs should be short so that they are easy to type and therefore
reduce human error. Shortened forms such as acronyms and
abbreviations are preferred where the alternative real word form is
unwieldy. Examples include www.ecgd.gov.uk and
www.dfid.gov.uk.
Use sayable URLs
URLs should be ‘sayable’ or easy to say so that they are easily
understood when communicated verbally and to reduce human error. In
particular, avoid the use of hyphens or underscores in URLs. (Note
that the guidance for local government permits the use of hyphens to
describe the type of organisation e.g. ‘-tc’ for town councils and
‘-pc’ for parish councils.)
Name handles in social media services
Many departments run associated digital channels using social media
tools, for video (e.g. YouTube) and short messages (e.g. Twitter).
These also have name handles for which some consistency both with
the Department’s website URL and across departments would help the
citizen.
Use of third party services – corporate services
Microblogging, photo- and video-sharing and other social media
services take the name of the host channel for the URL and then
should use the preferred form of the Department URL and add govuk
onto the end. For example: www.twitter.com/transportgovuk
(with the hashtag #transportgovuk);
www.flickr.com/photos/dcsfgovuk;
www.youtube.com/bisgovuk.
Use of third party services – team engagement
Microblogging, photo- and video-sharing and other social media take
the name of the host channel for the URL and then should use the
preferred form of the team or initiative and add govuk onto the end.
Use of corporate website for social media communication – corporate services
Where a departmental blog or other social media service is hosted on
the departmental site the blog should take the preferred use form of
the URL incorporating blog. For example
http://www.fco.gov.uk/blogs.
Use of corporate website for social media communication – team engagement
Where a campaign, policy or intiative blog or other social media
service is hosted on the departmental site the blog should take the
preferred use form of the URL and add the team blog name. For
example www.coi.gov.uk/blogs/digigov.
Defensive registration
As part of a defensive strategy, you should consider registering
other, closely related domain names, for example, generic top-level
domains (gTLDs) – .com, .org, .info and in the .uk second level
domains (SLDs) – .co.uk, .org.uk.
The objective of defensive registration is risk management – to
avoid or reduce occurrences of:
typosquatting (common misspellings of your domain name);
cybersquatting (registration of domain names reflecting or
similar to the names of existing organisations with the intention
of selling the names back to you or for using them for bad faith
purposes); or
cybersmearing (where anonymous authors set up web sites that
spread alternative, false or disparaging information).
Directories and sub-domains
Departmental, agency, regional and local authority departments,
branches, services, initiatives, projects and microsites, should be
treated as top-level-directories of their parent or sponsoring body.
For example, when agency and NDPB websites are moved to their parent
department’s site, it will be expected that they have the form
[domain/NDPB], such as www.bis.gov.uk/csr
Part of the goal of Transformational Government is shared
infrastructure. New infrastructures that support all of the required
functionality should be developed in preference to use of
sub-domains.
The use of sub-domains (e.g. petitions.pm.gov.uk) is strongly
discouraged and is only acceptable in the following circumstances:
For corporate intranet sites available only to employees,
contractors etc. working within the organisation’s internal
network. This may also include development/test systems and
back-end servers.
For corporate extranet sites aimed at specific stakeholder
audiences, usually under password control (e.g. eProcurement,
transfer of data from frontline bodies or suppliers to the
centre etc.) where technical reasons force the use of a
sub-domain;
Where the technical architecture of the system behind an online
service means it must operate in a separate subdomain. (For
example, where the organisation has procured a packaged
line-of-business system with its own web front end and this
system cannot be installed on the main web server.)
Where the organisation has outsourced an online service to run
on an externally-hosted system, but wishes to reassure the
public that the outsourced service is “official” by allocating a
subdomain of its own domain to that service. (This may include
straightforward third-party hosting and cloud services.)
In cases (3) and (4), subdomains must only be used where technical
constraints require them; they must not be used for promotional or
editorial purposes.
Subdomain names should never be used in public advertising or promotion.
The advertised URL should be of a folder within the top-level domain
that then redirects to the sub-domain. For example, a local authority
has an online library catalogue on its website. The catalogue is
generated directly by the council’s library management system which
resides at http://librarycat.councilname.gov.uk. The advertised URL for the catalogue should be
www.councilname.gov.uk/librarycat (or similar), which then redirects the user to the
subdomain.
Communicating URLs
The preferred case is always to use the
[domain/top-level-directory] for example
www.direct.gov.uk/actonCO2
It is acceptable and some organisations may find it preferable to
drop the www for marketing purposes (e.g. direct.gov.uk). If
so, this should work when entered into a browser address box
(‘resolve’).
However, the domain name with www in front (e.g.
www.direct.gov.uk) must work as an address. The form with www
should be used as the preferred Unique Resource Identifier and cited
as links in official documents.
Sub-domain URLs should never be marketed or advertised.
Campaigns
Taking the above guidance, campaigns should be advertised using the
form without the www. and with a top-level-directory, e.g.
direct.gov.uk/studentfinance
However, references and citations in official documents should use
the form www.direct.gov.uk/studentfinance
The use of different levels of directories and sub-directories in
the construction of the website will result in the URL becoming
longer or shorter. The naming of directories should therefore be
carefully considered. For example, your top-level directories may
reflect organisational brands, projects or the editorial focus of
the website. They should also be unambiguous when spoken and easy to
type. As with domain names, there is a need to avoid infringing
trademarks and third party business names. Using the names of
well-known people may also present difficulties.
The use of sub-sub-directories should be avoided in campaigns and
marketing material, for example [domain/team/project].
Using sub-domains of GSi
The Government Secure intranet (GSi) is managed by
OGCbuying.solutions. An application for an approved GSi name must be
routed through your local ICT staff. General queries can be directed
to the GSi Team at
gsi@ogcbs.gsi.gov.uk
Naming conventions
Names must not imply a national (UK-wide) activity when in reality
it is focused on or limited to a regional/geographic responsibility
or activity.
Names must reflect the legal name or registered ‘trading name’ of
your organisation.
Names should minimise risk of confusion with similar organisations,
geographic areas or similar registered names and avoid the risk of
inadvertent masquerading.
Generic names should be avoided for local, regional or
intradepartmental initiatives, and used only for genuinely
pan-governmental activities sponsored by the Prime Minister’s Office
or the Cabinet Office.
Domain names must:
contain only standard ASCII alpha numeric characters A to Z;
numerals 0 to 9 and/or hyphens;
not begin or end with a hyphen (-);
not coincide with internet protocols, such as, www, ftp, dns,
whois;
not include postal codes, or pseudo abbreviations, such as, ltd,
plc, gov;
not contain more than 64 characters.
One and two letter domain names will not normally be used.
Exceptionally they may be permitted for generic online services
which are intended to apply to all of government or the .gov.uk
community and for
which a very short domain name is essential for end-user
convenience. Exceptions will require the personal approval of the
Director for Digital Engagement on behalf of the Permanent
Secretary, Government Communications and the Government CIO.
Internationalised Domain Names are currently not supported. Where
names contain letters that cannot be reproduced in standard ASCII,
the conventionally accepted spelling should be used.
When registering any name you should be aware of the need to avoid
infringing existing trademarks, trade names and third party business
names. These can sometimes mistakenly be used as generic terms.
Apart from giving unnecessary publicity there is a risk of it being
illegal. Where a trade name, trademark or business name is to be
used then written proof of your authority to use the name or mark
must be submitted. It may be useful to check the UK Intellectual
Property Office
and the searchable Company Names Index
from Companies House.
Using abbreviations or acronyms
A small number of three and four letter acronyms may be considered
as ‘household names’, for example, BBC, HSE, ITV, OFCOM, No10,
However, to the broad majority of users acronyms are meaningless.
Web managers should favour a user-centred approach and register
accordingly. For example, host names like education.gov.uk,
environment.gov.uk and defence.gov.uk may be considered intuitive
and unambiguous to a general user.
Three and four letter abbreviations or acronyms should only be used
if:
the domain name owner is a central Department of State (for
example FCO); or
the domain name owner is a central government body that is
generally known by that abbreviation within the public sector, and
to the wider public (for example MOD, NHS); or
it can be shown that there is no reasonable and meaningful
alternative.
Local government bodies should avoid using initials, wherever
possible, as these are generally reserved for central government.
Use of unapproved names
You must not use a .gov.uk domain name on promotional material,
printed material or other media until it has been correctly applied
for and formal approval given by the Committee.
The Committee will not be responsible for any project costs incurred
by breaching this rule. Failure to secure approval prior to printing
or communication errors is not a ground for appeal if the name is
rejected. Project teams and their Internet Service Providers must
ensure that approval is secured before authorising the use of a
name. If a typographic error is made on promotional material the use
of a temporary domain name may be approved for use until the error
is corrected.
British overseas territories and International organisations
In order to avoid confusion a number of geographic and geopolitical
areas have their own country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD). For
example:
Channel Islands – .gg for Guernsey .je for Jersey
Isle of Man – .im
Falkland Islands – .fk
Gibraltar – .gl
South Georgia – .gs
Pitcairn – .pn
Their administration departments, agencies and associated public
sector organisations must not use the .gov.uk Second Level Domain.
Using other languages
The Welsh Language Board advise that Departments required to provide
a service to the public in Wales should, where there is a difference
between their English and Wales names, consider registering Welsh
language domain names.
The use in a domain name of a transliteration of an ethnic minority
language must be avoided.
Devolved administrations
Scotland. Civil Service departments, agencies and services
within Scotland, frequently mirror national departments and services
in Whitehall. In order to minimise the risk of confusion to the
public and to avoid inadvertent masquerading then geographic
clarification must be considered.
For example: www.transportscotland.gov.uk
Gaelic language – In accordance with the Gaelic Language
(Scotland) Act 2005, departments, councils and agencies providing a
service to the public in Scotland may, where there is a difference
between their Gaelic and English names, consider registering the
Gaelic language equivalent. Applications for Gaelic language domain
names must provide, for information, the English language
equivalent.
For example: www.gaidhealtachd.gov.uk
and www.highland.gov.uk
Northern Ireland. Civil Service departments and agencies within
Northern Ireland are required to use a geographic/regional
indicator, for example the suffix ‘-ni’ (with or without the
hyphen).
For example: www.niproperty.gov.uk
www.property-ni.gov.uk
Wales. Domain names should be in English. In order to minimise
the risk of confusion and avoid inadvertent masquerading then
geographic clarification must be considered by departments, councils
and agencies providing a service to the public in Wales.
For example: www.welshhousing.gov.uk
www.housing-wales.gov.uk
Welsh language – this is the current exception for domain names.
Welsh Language Board advise that departments, councils and agencies
providing a service to the public in Wales should, where there is a
difference between their Welsh and English names, consider
registering the Welsh language equivalent. Applications for Welsh
language names must include information on the English language
equivalent.
For example: www.anglesey.gov.uk
and www.ynysmon.gov.uk
Where the full Welsh language title is not used the following
suffixesmay be used (with the hyphen):
‘-cb’ Cyngor Bwrdeistref (Borough Council)
‘-cs’ Cyngor Sir (County Council)
‘-ct’ Cyngor Tref (Town Council)
‘-wcc’ Cyngor Cymuned (Community Council)
Local authorities
Local authorities generally use the format ‘area.gov.uk’, unless
there is the possibility of confusion with another authority or
service (for example, national, devolved, regional, county or city)
then geographic clarification will be necessary.
For example: www.berrow-somerset-pc.gov.uk
Where districts or towns have the same name then county/geographic
clarification is required, for example town-county.gov.uk
Where the full title is not used the following suffixes
may be used (with the hyphen):
‘-bc’ Borough Council
‘-cc’ County Council
‘-dc’ District Council
‘-mbc’ Metropolitan Borough Council
‘-ra’ Regional Assembly
Parish/town councils – where a domain name is to be operated by a
‘higher authority’ for collective website or email management of,
for example all the parish/town councils on a county-wide or other
clearly identified geographic area then the following suffix can
be used ‘…parishes.gov.uk‘ – with no hyphen.
For example: www.kentparishes.gov.uk
Individual Town Councils – unless the full title ‘towncouncil’ is
used the following suffix is required with the hyphen ‘-tc’
For example: www.bideford-tc.gov.uk
Individual Parish Councils – unless the full title ‘parishcouncil’
is used the following suffix is required with the hyphen ‘-pc’
For example: www.madeleyparishcouncil.gov.uk
Welsh Community Councils – unless the full title ‘communitycouncil’
is used the suffix ‘-wcc’ must be used.
Scottish Community Councils – unless the full title
‘communitycouncil’ is used the suffix ‘-scc’ must be used.
Community Councils in England – unless the full title
‘communitycouncil’ is used the suffix ‘-ecc’ must be used.
Using suffixes
Certain types of public sector organisations are required to use a
suffix (with or without the hyphen). These are:
Associations of Local Councils/Authorities
‘-alc’ or ‘ala’
Association of Parish and Town Councils
‘-aptc’
Business Improvement District
‘-bid’
Centre for Procurement Excellence renamed as Centre of Excellence
‘-cpe’ ‘-ce’
Combined Authorities
‘-ca’
Community Councils in England
‘-ecc’
Criminal Justice Boards
‘-cjb’
Crown Prosecution Services region(s)
‘-cps’
Digital Interactive Television
‘-tv’
Economic Prosperity Boards
‘-epb’
Educational networks
‘-edunet’
Electoral Registration Office(r) s
‘-eor’
Electronic voting
see under prefixes
Embassies
‘-emb’
Fire and Rescue Services
‘-fire’ or ‘-frs’
Government Regional Offices
see under prefixes
Housing Authority Trusts
‘-hat’
Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority
‘-ifca’
Integrated Transport Authorities (Please Note: This suffix replaces ‘pta’ – Passenger Transport Authorities. If Transport authorities wish to change their domain name from -pta to -ita, this will be acceptable.
‘-ita’
Internal Draining Board
‘-idb’ for an individual board, ‘-idbs’ for a consortium or can use the full title ‘drainageboards’
Joint Services Units
‘-jsu’
Learning and Skills Councils
see under prefixes
Library and Education Boards (Northern Ireland only)
‘-leb’
Library Services
‘-library or libraries’
Local Education Authorities
‘-lea’
Local Government Associations
‘-lga’
Local Safeguarding Children Boards
‘-lscb’
Magistrates Court Committees
‘-mcc’
Magistrates Court Services
‘-mcs’
Mobile services
‘-mobile’
Museums
‘-mus’ or ‘museum’ or ‘museums’
National Park Authorities
‘-npa’
National Trails
‘-way’
Parish/Town councils (collective)
‘parishes’
Passenger Transport Executives
‘-pte’
Police etc (excluding Police Authorities)
‘-police’
Police and Crime Commissioner (Please note: That it is preferable to use the full name of the geographic area rather than an a shortened one, even if this is locally recognised e.g Framptonshire Police and Crime Commissioner should use framptonshire-pcc.gov.uk rather than framp-pcc.gov.uk
‘-pcc’
Police Crime Panels (Please note: That only one council will be able to have a Police and Crime Panel site per Police and Crime Commissioner site in their region. Councils would need to collectively agree amongst themselves which council will take this suffix on)
‘-pcp’
Port Health Authorities
‘-pha’
Public Health Observatory
‘-pho’
Prisons
see under prefixes
Probation and related services
‘-probation’
Record Offices
‘-ro’
Sea Fisheries Committees
‘-sfc’ or ‘-seafish’
Single Non Emergency Number
‘-snen’
Street Works Registers
‘-swr’
Valuation Joint Boards
‘-vjb’
Virtual Private Network/system
‘-vpn’
Waste Disposal Authorities
‘-wda’
Using prefixes
Certain types of public sector organisations are required to use a
prefix (unless the full title is used). These are:
| Excellence in Cities initiatives | ‘eic-’ |
| Government Regional Offices | ‘go-’ |
| Learning and Skills Centres | ‘lsc-’ |
| Prisons | ‘hmp-’ |
| Voting electronically | ‘vote-’ |
How to apply for a .gov.uk name
Your application for a domain name must be submitted through an
approved Internet Service Provider (ISP), who will act as your
registration agent with JANET Customer Services, using the appropriate
templates.
Accuracy is important. You need to give your ISP sufficient
information as a number of applications are being initially rejected
with advice because the applicant has not read the rules, used the
wrong template, or supplied misleading or inadequate information.
What does the name represent? Please provide name of the
project, initiative or organisation for which the domain name is
being used. This is not necessarily the same as the domain owner,
which must also be provided.
Entries for Organisational Contact must be the name/address of
the person or contact point designated to receive communications
from the Registrar/ Committee related to the administration of the
domain name. This person must be an employee of the proposed domain
name owner.
Entries for ISP Contact must be name/address of the person or
contact point designated to handle hosting issues associated with
the domain name. This person must be an employee of the proposed
ISP.
Your application must describe your organisation
The application will automatically be rejected if the information
requested below is not provided,
To be considered for a UK government domain name you mustclearly
describe the status of your organisation (as domain owner) and the
purpose of the domain name for which you are applying. Include:
the status of your organisation (for example, central government,
executive agency, borough council, parish council);
the role and objective of your organisation;
the status of your staff (for example, civil servants, local
government officials or employees) ;
the source of your funding (for example, central taxation, CMF,
council tax);
to whom your organisation is accountable (for example, Secretary
of State for…).
Purpose of the domain name- you must outline the primary purpose
and planned content of your proposed domain name, for example:
an information website
a transactional website
a campaign website
an educational website, eg, aimed at children/schools
a redirect page
Who is the audience for your website? You must identify your
primary audience (eg, educationalist, pensioners, general public,
council tax payers etc).
Using abbreviations within your application. Not everyone on the
Committee may know what your abbreviations stand for. Spell them out
when you first use them within your application.
The Committee reserves the right to check the details you provide
and to contact named individuals about any individual application.
Appealing against rejection of your application
If your application is rejected, it will be with advice explaining
why the Naming and Approvals Committee has taken this decision.
You have the right to appeal against the decision, to do so please
contact JANET on naming@ja.net. Your appeal
should include new information on why you feel you should have the
name you originally requested. Simply repeating your original
application is inadequate.
Failure to secure an approved domain name prior to, for
example, printing publicity and similar material, is not a
ground for an appeal.
Many applications are rejected because they are made on the wrong
template, or inadequate information is supplied. In these cases an
appropriate resubmission is required not an appeal.
Using an approved Internet Service Provider (ISP)
The .gov.uk domain is not a commercial operation. Its management and
registration are centralised, but the Cabinet Office’s Naming and
Registering Service does not provide advice on who is a suitable
ISP. These are commercial activities trading in a competitive
environment.
Details of JANET’s approved ISP scheme
A list of ISPs on JANET’s scheme
How to make changes to or cancel your .gov.uk name
To make changes to your registration such as ownership details or
hosting arrangements, the ISP who will be hosting the domain name
must request a DNS modification using the template on the JANET
website. In addition, you must fax a letter authorising the changes
to JANET on 0870 850 2213. Information regarding changes to a
registered domain name,
including a link to the modification request template, is available
on the JANET website.
To cancel a registration, the ISP who currently host the domain name
must request this via email to
naming-admin@ja.net. In addition, you
must fax a letter authorising the cancellation to JANET on 0870
Information regarding cancelling a domain name is
available on the JANET website.
Withdrawal of a .gov.uk name
The following summarises conditions that may result in withdrawal of
a .gov.uk domain name.
Non-conformance with any of the above principles and practice of
the rules and conditions.
Persistent failure to maintain an accessible and functional
website. For example, obsolete and de-commissioned domains –
where there is persistent delivery of, for example, a code 404
page.
Persistent failure to meet the minimum technical standards for
government websites, including accessibility and coding
standards.
Failure to renew the name.
Change of status of the organisation or project that the domain
name represents or change of status of the domain name owner.
Please contact [naming@digital.cabinet-office.
gov.uk](mailto:naming@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk) to negotiate a suitable timescale for
withdrawal.
See Appendix A – Process for withdrawal of a .gov.uk name
Appendix A – Process for withdrawal of a .gov.uk name
The following is our code of practice on the withdrawal of and right to
use a previously approved .gov.uk domain name
Renewal not confirmed:
We assume that all .gov.uk domain owners will wish to renew and be
active in ensuring services will be continued. Therefore we restrict
the effort we put into chasing an ISP for domain name renewal before
using our right to terminate it. We will attempt to obtain
confirmation of renewal twice over a 90-day period before withdrawal
of the DNS entry.
Charges not paid:
ISPs, upon joining the JANET’s Approved ISP Membership Account agree
to accept the responsibility to pay their JANET invoices in a timely
manner. When registration/modification/renewal charges are not paid
within 60 days of the date of the invoice we reserve the right to
suspend the DNS entry and within another 30 days withdraw the DNS
entry.
Where the ISP has indicated that it is not willing to accept
responsibility for the renewal payment then within 60 days we will
suspend the DNS and take reasonable steps to contact the named domain
owner for instructions on a ‘way forward’. If this is also
unsuccessful then within another 30 days we will withdraw the DNS
entry.
Decommissioned or faulty website:
The minimum number of times and period over which we should attempt
checking a domain name (a) for which we have received public
complaints about its accessibility or the number of broken links, (b)
that consistently appears to be decommissioned and/or (c) delivers
nothing to the user, for example, a 404 page, three times over a 90
day period, then the DNS will be withdrawn.
Not conforming to the ‘principle and practice’:
If a domain name is not conforming with the principle and practice
(e.g. it being a commercial ISP holding page), we would attempt
checking a minimum of twice over a 60 day period before withdrawing
the DNS.
Ineligible organisationThe period of time that a .gov.uk domain
name may continue to be used by any organisation or project after
undergoing a change of status that makes that organisation or project
ineligible for a government domain name should be negotiated with the
.gov.uk Naming and Approvals Committee. Around 90 days as a redirect
to the new domain name before the DNS is withdrawn, should be seen as
an average.
Definitions:
Suspension is taken to mean that the name will be switched off
but after appropriate action or payment the domain name can be
re-instated (re-delegated), usually with 24-48 hours.
Withdrawn is taken to mean that the DNS has been removed. To
have it restored the registrant has to make a new application that
will be subject to the rules and charges current at the time of the
new application. This point is particularly important for local
authorities where the use of suffixes is now mandated.
Appendix B – .gov.uk Naming and Approvals Committee
.gov.uk Naming & Approvals Committee
The .gov.uk Naming & Approvals Committee (hereafter referred to as
‘The Committee’) is responsible for approving or rejecting all requests
for:
New .gov.uk domain names
Change of ownership of .gov.uk domain names
Appeals against the above decisions
Current membership
The Committee’s current membership is as follows:
Evans Bissessar, Cabinet Office (Committee Chair)
Giovanni Sorenti, JANET (UK)
Derwen Hinds, CESG
Tony Glenholmes, NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre
Aeddan Davies, Welsh Assembly Government
William Paul, Scottish Government
Geraldine Devine, Northern Ireland Government
Andy Key, Local Government
Committee Meeting Minutes and Agendas
Attached documents contain the minutes and agendas from past committee meetings.