Participate and follow the changes in .LV policies

NIC.LV plans to make changes to the .LV domain name documents, and invites You to submit Your suggestions via email to legal@nic.lv by August 12. The proposed changes will:

• Provide an alternative out-of-court dispute resolution procedure;
  
• Introduce global protective blocking (GlobalBlock - a global project to protect trademark holders’ interests in various country code and generic top-level domains);
  
• Increase the domain name’s price.
  

NIC.LV has prepared

1. Amendments: Policy for acquisition of the right to use domain names under the top-level domain .lv (PDF, .DOCX). Amendments in Clauses 1.4., 1.13., 1.15., 2.1., 5.4., 5.7., 8.5., 9.2., 9.4., 12.3., 13.4., 14.2.6., 14.10, 15.1.2, 15.1.3;
2. Amendments: The Price list and payment policy of NIC.LV (.PDF, .DOCX). Amendments in the Clause 2.
3. New policy: .LV Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (PDF, .DOCX);
4. New policy: Rules for .LV Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (PDF, .DOCX).

THE BASIS FOR CHANGES

The changes are made following the Cabinet of Ministers Regulation No. 553 of September 6, 2022, “Requirements for the holder of the top-level domain “.lv” registry and the electronic numbering system and the procedure for its recognition”:

1. Paragraph 7.5 establishes the duty for the Registry to create, in cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization, an alternative out-of-court dispute resolution procedure to resolve third-party claims against domain name holders;
   
2. Paragraphs 18.5. and 18.6 determine that the Registry develops the procedure for registration, renewal, and termination of the agreement concluded with the domain name holder and provides information on the procedure for resolving disputes regarding the right to use domain names;
   
3. Paragraph 10 stipulates that the Registry ensures the participation of society and interested parties in developing the documents mentioned above.
   

SUMMARY

The alternative dispute resolution for domain name disputes will ensure the following:

• global jurisdiction;
  
• time and cost efficiency for dispute resolution;
  
• fully electronic dispute resolution;
  
• direct and fast execution of decisions at the Registry level;
  
• predictable/ foreseeable jurisprudence (publicly available decisions).
  

Service providers with expertise in dispute resolution in the field of domain names and intellectual property rights, will provide alternative dispute resolution services. At the end of 2023, the procedure will be available to any third party whose intellectual property rights are infringed by a domain name registration. The alternative dispute resolution will complement the existing procedures for resolving domain name disputes in general jurisdiction and arbitration courts. In addition, the global protective reservation is introduced in the Policy for acquisition of the right to use domain names under the top-level domain .lv, which will be available to the customers of the external service provider. The Policy also contains clarification of the English translation.

For the .LV Registry to ensure its operation and development, the quality and security of services, as well as the improvement of the service in the long term, this year, after evaluating the cost of the service, industry trends, the increase of the expenses of the energy and other resources, NIC updates the service prices in line with the actual costs, while maintaining discounts for Registrars and state and municipal institutions.

NIC.LV greatly value participation of our registrars and domain name holders in the policy development. Therefore, we launch the public consultation, which will last until August 12, 2023. We invite you to send input to legal@nic.lv; we will review each submission and provide clarification if necessary. We will also submit the documents to the Ministry of Transport of Latvia for evaluation.

Amendments, dispute policy, and rules will enter into force on September 1, 2023. The out-of-court alternative dispute resolution procedure will be available after the approval of a service provider with expertise in resolving domain name and intellectual property rights disputes.