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I registered a .cd (Democratic Congo Republic) domain in the past and it's now up for renewal in a couple of weeks. It seems, for some reasons (maybe political?) there have been changes and I'm unsure how to get some solid information.

Previously, domain name registration was delegated to a company called Conic at http://conic.cd/. Email was sent from admin@nic.cd. This company has now moved to http://conic.africa. My account still works with them and they assured me they are still responsible for the management of that domain name. I've had a good relationship with them for the last six years or so.

However, on http://nic.cd/ which I have to consider the authoritative site, there is only a very rudimentary message regarding the fact that Conic (and others) are no longer authorized to handle .cd domains. As this site is more often down than up, I've taken a screenshot (see below). So, they have the official domain name, but don't appear serious.

Here's a screenshot of the site nic.cd when it was up

I've contacted the email account mentioned (support@nic.cd) to get some clarification, but nobody has ever replied.

As the domain name I have is a really short one (just two characters) it's also quite expensive. I don't want to potentially lose that money.

This is why I'd like to ask what I could do to get some more authoritative information. Thanks!

jfix
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2 Answers2

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The authoritative data on who manage .CD domain names, at the registry level, is here: https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/cd.html

It seems indeed to be http://www.nic.cd/

It is unfortunate is the registry does not reply to your requests. Try first with the other email addresses available on the page at IANA.

If you still do not get any reply, try one level up, that is directly iana@iana.org

UPDATE

These articles may shed some light on what is happening:

In short, as stated previously I would advise not to rely on .CD domain names for now. The .CD zone has various problems right now (http://dnsviz.net/d/cd/WlON0A/dnssec/), and nic.cd does not resolve at all (http://dnsviz.net/d/nic.cd/WlON2A/dnssec/)

Patrick Mevzek
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    I've sent a message to the other two accounts listed and will report back when/if I get a reply. – jfix Nov 27 '17 at 08:11
  • I've just sent a message to iana@iana.org as I haven't heard anything from the support@nic.cd account (delivery has been given up by the mail agent). – jfix Nov 30 '17 at 18:36
  • @jfix see my update with some links. I would consider for now .CD domain names as a lost cause, unfortunately.... – Patrick Mevzek Jan 08 '18 at 15:38
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I wrote to IANA and received the following answer last night:

Thank you for contacting us. The contact information in the IANA WHOIS database is the most up-to-date information we have for the .CD domain. We reached out to the .CD contacts and received a response from the technical contact. He told us that he has responded to your inquiry and referred you to the administrative contact for assistance.

Please note, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) does not accredit registrars or set registration policies for country code top-level domains (ccTLDs), such as .CD. While policy for global top-level domains such as .com and .info is managed through ICANN's global policy framework, policy for ccTLDs is based on the principle of subsidiarity. Managers are appointed within the country, under local laws, in conjunction with significantly interested parties and local government. ICANN has no power to be involved in how these operations are conducted.

In the meantime I also received a response from someone at contact@nic.cd who told me that my domain was renewed. As of now, I have now idea how to make sure this is indeed the case. Also, I haven't received an invoice yet. I will update this answer as I receive more information.

jfix
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  • Thanks to have informed of the followup. It is unfortunate the registries is not more "consumer" oriented as it could be, but I am not overly surprised by what you experience. As unfortunate as it may be, except if you have a need of very strong commitment to this domain name in this TLD, I would recommend you to do your business with some other registry, even if it has the sad consequence of needing you to buy another domain name. The only other recourse will be to gain enough "political" power, specifically inside the concerned country, to try having things be changed. – Patrick Mevzek Dec 26 '17 at 17:43
  • The original idea of ccTLDs, especially doing the Postel area, was that each registry should be set up for the benefit of the local community, and basically be run by it (even if technical operations could be outsourced to some companies). I think that the idea is that the local community is strong enough to be able to tilt the registry towards the direction they need, like deciding who can register in this TLD and so on. In an ideal world in case of structural long term problem the local community would be able to change things at the registry... – Patrick Mevzek Dec 26 '17 at 17:46
  • I'm still not sure what's going exactly. The domain is still up (as mentioned by the new registry contact), however, I've received two notices regarding payments being overdue by the old registry. And I still haven't received an invoice from the new one (with the old one, I knew at least how much it cost, with the new one it's still completely unclear). I guess political powerplay is responible partially, especially when looking at the current political situation in this country. Changing the domain is not actually feasible for me. – jfix Dec 27 '17 at 17:58
  • Your domain seem really and unfortunately be at the mercy of some political powerplays indeed. Take precautions to safeguard your business around it if you can not change it as the situation is muddy. Good luck. – Patrick Mevzek Dec 27 '17 at 18:04