More than one sunrise phase for .vlaanderen and .brussels

DNSBelgium, the registry provider that will launch the new extensions .vlaanderen and .brussels in less than one year, has announced that they will offer multiple sunrise periods. This means that you don’t need a trade mark registered in the TradeMark ClearingHouse to be able to participate in one of the sunrises.

The very first phase is the sunrise phase that is obligatory for every new TLD and allows only holders of a trade mark registered in the TradeMark ClearingHouse to register their domain name. But for .vlaanderen and .brussels there is an extra restriction: the trade mark registered in the ClearingHouse needs to be valid in Belgium (which means it should be registered either with the Benelux or European trade mark office).
This is followed by a sunrise restricted to governmental bodies (including national, regional, local and European governments).
In the next phase, DNSBelgium gives other Belgian right holders that couldn’t or didn’t want to register in the TradeMark ClearingHouse an opportunity to register a domain name. Just like during the very first phase, holders of a Benelux registered trade mark may apply, but also Belgian company names and trade names can be registered.
And then there is a last sunrise phase during which any Belgian citizen can register his or her full name or last name under .vlaanderen or .brussels.

If multiple requests are received during the same phase, then it will be auctioned to the highest bidder, except for the last phase which is “first come, first served”.

The sunrises will be followed by a landrush phase after which domain names that where requested more than once will also be put into an auction. From the landrush an onwards, there will no longer be restrictions ons the origin of the holder of a .vlaanderen or .brussels domain name and anybody in the world will be able to register such a name.

More information on the different phases can be found on the website of dnsBelgium.be.

DNSBelgium is still shopping around for a partner to guide the different sunrise phases. Pricing also hasn’t been announced yet. The .brussels and .vlaanderen extensions are expected to be activated by ICANN around September 2014 at the earliest, but ICANN’s timing has already proven to be very unpredictable.