Published on February 09, 2021
Changes to the LBDR Policies and Procedures:
- The LBDR changed its operation mode from Registry Centric to a Registry/Registrar Operation Mode. Accordingly, since February 1, 2021, applicants requesting the registration of new domain names under the .lb ccTLD and domain name holder “Registrants”, cannot anymore register and maintain the domain name registrations directly via the registry they will have to register via LBDR Accredited Registrars (LBDR-AR) or Registrars that are in the pre-accreditation phase.
- The LBDR services were provided to the benefit of the Lebanese Internet community completely free of charge since the LBDR was established in 1993 and until now. Unfortunately, the LBDR cannot continue to offer its services free of charge. The LBDR will starting February 01, 2021 charge the Registrars registration and yearly renewal fees to cover its operation expenses.
- The LBDR Registration System, DNS infrastructure and online servers are hosted on industry specific cloud infrastructures and charged in USD. Until now, the LBDR failed to reach to a solution with its bank and the Central Bank to treat the LBDR services as critical Internet infrastructure services. The consequence of that is that the LBDR is not eligible to benefit from the official exchange rate and the fees should be collected from the Registrars in USD.
- It is anticipated that the Registrars will pass the charges to their clients (applicants and registrants) in USD. Registrars will also charge their clients for their services.
- In compliance with law 81/2018 clauses 81, 82, 83 and 84, the domain name requester/Registrant is fully responsible for registered name, and the Registry and Registrars do not hold any responsibility and are not parties in domain name disputes. Consequently, the registration of a domain name does NOT require a trademark certificate anymore. On the other hand, the LBDR will continue to protect domain names registered before 01/02/2021 based on a Lebanese Trademark under class 35 (Internet domain). The meaning of that, is that the LBDR will not permit the transfer or registration of such domain names to third parties unless if the domain expired and was parked for 365 calendar days from the domain registration expiry date.
- The LBDR was unique at the second level domain (SLD). The LBDR dropped the SLD uniqueness restriction. Domain name requesters can register the same domain name under many .lb ccTLD SLD zones if they fulfill the zone requirements and do not infringe on the name rights of others.
- The Registrars will manage the collection, filing and archival of the “LBDR Domain Name Request & Agreement” (LBDR-A form) and supporting documents. The registrar will be responsible to produce such documents in case they are requested for LBDR compliance audits or by law enforcement or for legal proceedings.
- The Registrars will validate and enter the domain name requester data and maintain the domain name data on the LBDR Registration System. The Registrant contact person will be notified via email of critical changes affecting the domain name and it is the Registrant’s responsibility to report to the Registrar and Registry errors in the information and/or suspected fraudulent or domain hijacking incidents.
- Registering under gov.lb is restricted to Registrars that are accredited to register under that zone and the registration follows a special validation procedure and workflow.
- The domain name requesters/Registrants should carefully read the “LBDR Domain Name Registration Policy & Procedure” and must agree to the policy and accept to abide by the policy terms to activate and or renew the domain name registration.