Prague, 1 September 2011 – The popularity of the domain registration business continues to grow. The number of firms in the Czech Republic offering this service has nearly tripled since the beginning of 2008. In addition to price wars benefitting the customer, this trend also increases the disorder in the overall offer on the market. The CZ.NIC Association, the administrator of the Czech national domain, has therefore introduced a registrar certification project aimed at providing those interested in domains a basic overview of the level of services offered by individual registrars and at defining the ideal qualities and functions of the registration system and related services.

“Certification is voluntary, and a registrar can apply at any time. The evaluation takes into account criteria such as the possibility to register the .CZ domain, the quality of help and documentation as well as the technical functionality of the system and additional services. A registrar can earn up to five stars depending on their level. Registrars with at least one star are authorized to use the designation Registrar Certified for Retail,” explains Martin Peterka, operations director of CZ.NIC and the person responsible for the Association’s cooperation with .CZ domain registrars.

As the evaluation project is intended for registrars focused on end customers, the assessment criteria are defined according to the needs of this type of client.

The registrar tabs at www.nic.cz will also change as part of the project; from now on registrars of .CZ domains will be listed on the basis of their evaluation results. Also appearing with individual registrars are IPv6, DNSSEC and mojeID icons indicating that the given registrar supports this technology or service; there are also instructions on how to register the .CZ in the fastest and best way.