Domain system overseer plans to retire .su in 2030.
ICANN has notified the operator of the legacy Soviet Union country code domain, .su, of its plans to retire the domain in five years, Domain Name Wire has learned.
The .su namespace, which remains open for new registrations and currently has around 100,000 domain names, is managed by the Russian Institute for Development of Public Networks.
On February 6, Public Technical Identifiers (PTI), the entity responsible for Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) operations under ICANN, sent a private letter to the domain’s administrator, informing it of the planned phase-out by 2030.
The decision follows the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) retirement policy, which was developed by the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) and approved by ICANN’s board in 2022. According to this policy, when a country or territory is removed from the ISO 3166-1 standard, its corresponding country code domain must be retired following an orderly transition period.
By default, this period is five years, though ccTLD operators can request an extension of up to another five years.
Although .su was removed from the ISO 3166-1 standard back in 1992, ICANN had delayed any retirement action while the ccNSO developed its current formal policy. Now, more than two years after approving the policy, ICANN is moving forward.
According to PTI’s letter, ICANN planned to issue a formal Notice of Removal on February 13, making the decision public and officially triggering the five-year countdown. However, it appears that this notice has not yet been sent. [UPDATE: In the Public Forum at ICANN 82 on March 13, ICANN’s CEO said the “formal notice” has not been sent.]
Once the process is officially underway, .su will be set for removal by 2030, unless the operator and PTI agree to an extension.
The letter also acknowledges the possibility of a policy change that could allow .su to remain, but this would require approval through the ccNSO.
PTI’s decision comes at a particularly sensitive time, given ongoing geopolitical tensions involving Russia. The move could draw unwanted attention to ICANN.
The handling of .su could set precedent for another country code domain. The United Kingdom currently plans to hand over control of the British Indian Ocean Territories to Mauritius. This could result in the removal of IO from the ISO list, triggering the retirement process of the popular .io domain name.
Now that PTI is triggering the process created by the ccNSO, it will be interesting to see if the pressure of an actual removal forces any changes.
.io extension is next.
.su iis the test run for the new rule.
I wouldn’t advise any company to build their unicorn dreams on .io.
Dotcom is safety.
Andrew — do you know how many .io regs there are? Thanks.
As a ccTLD they don’t have to publish zone files, but DomainNameStat shows 1.7 million and DomainTools shows closer to 1 million.
Any idea how the Russians “protect” their ccTLDs by labeling them as national? Maybe that’s what’s holding PTI back.
I would suggest South Sudan to have its country code in the ISO 3166-1 list changes from .ss to .su, so that the country can finally get a decent ccTLD, while saving .su.
*changed
Was there a similar case? Technically possible. NIC-RU can even save its face. ICANN should have pressed the registry to stop registration (which they did not), so .SU was growing all those years putting end users in danger of Russian roulette.
This is not possible because SU is exceptionally reserved
There are 100k domains operational in SU. ICANN must consider having “historical” domains, because some of web servers are not actively maintained anymore, still having information there whilst internet archive does not save everything and is not accessible by broad audience.
Despite SU does not exist, it unites more people than existing EU domain which is not adopted widely.
Hahaha, it unites people but putting the guys to the their necks. So sick…
Errata: ***guns***
Today at the public forum at the ICANN meeting, someone asked if .SU is being dropped. The ICANN CEO said no.
Perhaps you should check your rumors more carefully.
I’ve seen the letter. They informed them they are dropping it. Whether they change their mind, I can’t say for sure.
ICANN’s ccNSO should revisit the ccTLD Retirement Policy’s reliance on the ISO-3166 list. Using the ISO list for additions make sense, but not deletions.
Instead, it should consider an EBERO-type model to ensure registrant stability. (https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/ebero-2013-04-02-en)
The current retirement Policy inserts IANA/ICANN into geopolitical issues that it should stay out of.
source?
A copy of the letter that was sent
can you share it?
ripn said they haven’t received anything
https://ripn.su/news/razyasnenie-o-statuse-domena-su/
My translation suggests they are saying they did not receive official notice. What I am referring to is a pre-notice that was sent to the organization. DomainIncite discusses the language discussed in the ICANN meeting: https://domainincite.com/30895-no-timeline-to-retire-soviet-union-from-the-dns
Thanks for debunking fake news.