Go to Content

We are the flag of Portugal on the internet

Preamble

PREAMBLE

Associação DNS.PT, hereinafter DNS.PT, is the entity responsible for the management, registration and maintenance of the ccTLD.pt. The ccTLD.PT was technically and administratively delegated to Fundação para a Computação Científica Nacional, hereinafter FCCN, at the end of the 80s. On 9 May 2013, Associação DNS.PT succeeded FCCN in the rights and obligations pursued by the latter until then in the context of the delegation by IANA – Internet Assigned Numbers Authority on 30 June 1988 (RFC 1032, 1033, 1034 and 1591) and, in particular, in its responsibility for the management, registration and maintenance of domains under the .pt ccTLD (country code Top-Level Domain), the top-level domain corresponding to Portugal, as per the legislative decision contained in Decree-Law No. 55/2013 of 17 April.
Associação DNS.PT is a private not-for-profit association and its members are currently FCT, IP - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, IP (FCT), Associação da Economia Digital (ACEPI) and Associação Portuguesa para a Defesa do Consumidor (DECO).
The object of the Association is the management, operation and maintenance of the registration of the top-level domain corresponding to Portugal, .pt, abiding, to this end, by the law, the principles of transparency and publicity, its Articles of Association and the best applicable technical, administrative and strategic national and international recommendations. In addition to this comprehensive mission, the Association is entrusted with other more operational duties, among which the following should be highlighted: the technical and administrative management of .pt with high standards of effectiveness, transparency and publicity; ensuring implementation of an out-of-court dispute resolution procedure through ARBITRARE - Centro de Arbitragem para a Propriedade Industrial, Nomes de Domínio, Firmas e Denominações (the Arbitration Centre for Industrial Property, Domain Names, Corporate Names and Denominations), as a specialist Centre qualified to resolve disputes concerning domain names, (www.arbitrare.pt); acting in accordance with best international practices in respect of the stability, security and resilience of the DNS service; and maintaining certification under the ISO9001 standard.
Only domains directly registered under .pt or the classifier domains .org.pt, .edu.pt, .com.pt and .gov.pt shall be deemed official .pt domains. Since 1 January 2005, it has been permitted to register domain names with special characters of the Portuguese alphabet, in line with international recommendations in the sense of multilingual use of the Internet.
Internationally, DNS.PT continues to actively participate, as both a member and a participant, in meetings and working groups of organisations accredited within the context of the Internet, such as ICANN – Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and CENTR – Council of European National Top-Level Domain Registries.
In addition to what is contemplated in its Articles of Association and in recommendations issued by the aforementioned entities, the technical and administrative management of .pt must include:
• accurate configuration and operation of the primary server of the DNS pt zone, as well as of the other authoritative servers;
• maintenance of a database of registered domains, accessible via the Internet;
• supply of statistical data on the registration of .pt domains;
• operation of an autonomous unit with functions of consultation, support and participation in the definition of the development strategy of DNS.PT's object, whose composition and duties are described in article 9 of Associação DNS.PT's Articles of Association.
DNS.PT is further committed to promoting partnerships with entities on an ongoing basis, with a view to streamlining the domain registration management, by acting as registrar, with proprietary rights and duties and eased rules of access.
Finally, one of the missions of DNS.PT, clearly stated in its Articles of Association, is to develop work addressed to the domestic Internet community, pursuant to the wording of article 2(2)(m), combined with article 7(1)(h). In this sense, RFC 1591 states: "(...) These designated authorities are trustees for the delegated domain, and have a duty to serve the community."
Upon adoption of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and the Council of 27 April 2016, on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, the GDPR, it has become necessary to adjust the wording of the Rules on .PT Domain Name Registration in effect.
Accordingly, articles 5(a) and 5(b), 6, 7(2) and 7(3), 25, 29(1), 32(d), 33 and 36(2) and 36(3) have been amended. A new article 37 has been inserted, causing the amendments to the former articles 37(2), 38(6), 41(1) and 41(2) and 44 to be currently reflected in articles 38(2), 39(6), 42(1) and 42(2) and 45. The Schedule "WHOIS' Policy on the .PT top-level domain” has also been amended.