On Friday 6, September 2019, the Legal and Technical Secretariat of the Nation’s Presidency issued Resolution 43/2019; motivated by the need to introduce multiple necessary changes for the competitiveness of Internet domain registration under “.ar”, in order to guarantee the best possible administration by the National Directorate of Internet Domain Registration. We proceed to highlight the most important changes:

Article 13 provides for the possibility of registering domains anywhere from one (1) and fifty (50) characters, leaving behind the limitation of presenting domains of at least four (4) characters, which hindered the use of abbreviated domains for shortcut links, as well as inhibiting the use of short words and names – even when their registration has being widely used in domains such as “.edu” and “.com”, and which will now be possible under the domain “.ar”–.

Article 22 grants NIC Argentina the power to extend the renewal grace periods described in its article 20. According to latter, at the end of the domain’s year of validity, thirty (30) days are granted (while the domain is still available) to request its renewal, and after these, an additional period of fifteen (15) days is granted (although the domain would not be available for use). Any of these grace periods can be extended while maintaining ownership over the registration to be renewed, given there are technical reasons to justify such extension.

In its article 4, the distinction between resident holders and non-resident holders is introduced, as well as the asked requirements to operate as holders of “.ar” domains. Although it does not specify what type of residence is required to apply, it does indicate that the applicant must have CUIT/CUIL/CDI and also Fiscal Password Level 2 or higher provided by the AFIP. For non-residents, it is requested to obtain an identification number “ID” provided by the NIC Argentina.

In its article 5, it allows the designation – by the holder – of one or more agents, to whom he or she might delegate the administration of one or several registered domains (either just part of their faculties, or all of them). Regarding the death of the owner of a domain, article 27 allows the transfer of the domain registration to any person who proves his or her status as a successor, although he or she shall be held accountable and would be responsible for the damages to any third parties. In that same fashion, Article 8 imposes the annual obligation to update the data related to the identity of the owners, and / or of the records in question.

For more information, please contact Celia Lerman, partner at Lerman & Szlak, at info@lermanszlak.com.