Out of respect for history and tradition, OpenNIC will not establish any Top-Level Domains (TLDs) which would conflict with a TLD existing and in continual operation since before OpenNIC was formed (2000-06-01). OpenNIC will also not accept a TLD which conflicts with one established by another registry which has signed a memorandum of cooperation with OpenNIC which commits them to not establishing TLDs which conflict with those run by OpenNIC.

If you know of others who pre-date OpenNIC, and which we should thus avoid, or others who would be interested in joining the cooperative agreement, please contact us.

The DNS system was once a single united tree, controlled by IANA, and the extension of that system is now under the control of ICANN and NSI/Verisign. They operate the Legacy TLDs.

There have been many attempts to set up new namespaces independant if the main tree, the IANA and now ICANN/NSI system linked above. These are the ones which we've found and begun discussions on building a cooperative agreement between the alternative namespaces.

• Here are the namespaces about which OpenNIC has formed an "official" opinion.
• Here, on the other hand, are the namespaces whose claims or status are currently being evaluated by OpenNIC.

OpenNIC will respect the TLDs listed above, and any others which can be shown to have been publicly established and actively serving prior to and on 2000-06-01, without any action needed by their registrars. OpenNIC will also respect all two-character TLDs as being reserved for ISO designated countries. In order for any TLDs established after this date to be respected, however, the registrar for that TLD must sign a memorandum of cooperation with OpenNIC containing the following points:

• that registrar will respect all TLDs appropriately declared to be administered by OpenNIC
• all new TLD declarations will be given a minimum of one month public discussion period prior to their declaration
• the registrar declaring a TLD will be given first opportunity to establish it, provided they are prepared to accept registrations within 1 month of the end of the discussion period
• the registrar will, in good faith, work with the OpenNIC to establish and maintain a global DNS system which guarantees equal access and influence to all people on the Net
• any person or organization prepared to supply the necessary resources to administer a TLD may, by signing the Momorandum, establish a new registry to be respected by all signatories