FAQ: General

• You can register only a Domain which is available, ie. only a Domain which does not exist and is also not blocked, eg. because of an ongoing court proceedings and it is not listed in the list of Domain Names that are not allowed to be registered. You can verify whether a Domain is available for registration through the WHOIS service.
• The Domain name can be maximum 63 characters long. It can contain the letters of the alphabet without punctuation and numbers. It can also contain the “-” character (hyphen), which, however, cannot be at the beginning, at the end of the Domain Name and doesn’t contain two hyphens „-“ positioned consecutively.
• The Registrar may have their own web interface where you can perform the requested action in an automated way.
• For more information we recommend that you read the Terms and Conditions, point 4.1.

• In order to register a Domain it is necessary to choose a specific Registrar from the List of all registrars, published on the SK-NIC website and contact them.
• You will conclude a contract with the Registrar where you will define:

– what services you will be using with the Domain (eg. e-mail, web hosting etc.), and

– the prices for these services.

• The Registrar may have their own web interface where you can register a Domain in an automated way.
• For more information we recommend that you read the Terms and Conditions, points 4.2.1 and 3.1.

• In case of any change of the personal or contact details it is necessary to ask the authorised Registrar of the contact details and they will perform the requested change.
• In case of any change it is necessary to immediately update the contact details (especially e-mail and phone number). By updating his/her contact details the user will prevent information problems in case of a third parties’ interest in any manipulation with the Domain.
• The Registrar may have their own web interface where you can perform the requested changes in an automated way.
• For more information we recommend that you read the Terms and Conditions, points 2.2 and 3.4.

• If the Domain holder (Registrant) wants to transfer the Domain to another user, he/she will ask the authorised Registrar of the respective Domain and they will perform this change. Since the Registrar of the Domain is responsible for such a change, they can require that the original and new Domain holder (Registrant) conclude a contract on the transfer of the rights for the Domain.
• It is possible that a Registrar has their own web interface where you can perform this renewal in an automated way.
• More information about changing the domain holder (registrant) can be found in the Terms and Conditions, point 4.3.1.

• It is possible to become a Domain holder (Registrant):

– either directly by registration of a non-existing Domain, or

– by transferring an already registered Domain from the original Domain holder (Registrant) to a new Domain holder (Registrant) through the Registrar of a Domain.

• More information can be found in the Terms and Conditions, points 3.1 and 4.3.4.

Only such entity may become and be the Registrant of a third-level domain under the “org.sk” Domain that is a User under the Terms and Conditions and that has a seat or place of business in the Slovak Republic and is a legal entity:

which has not been established for the purpose of making profit and, simultaneously, it is

a) a civic association;
b) a foundation;
c) a non-investment fund; or
d) a non-for-profit organisation that provides services of general benefit (“n. o.”).

• The renewal of a Domain is performed by the authorised Registrar of the respective Domain. The renewal is possible only in whole years. Maximum registration period of a Domain is 10 years.
• The Registrar may have their own web interface where you can perform this renewal in an automated way.
• For more information we recommend that you read the Terms and Conditions, point 4.2.4.

• In case you are interested in changing the Registrar of a Domain, it is necessary to ask for an AuthInfo code (transfer code) from the current Registrar of the Domain and provide it to the new Registrar of the Domain so that the new Registrar can then perform the change in the system.
• When changing the authorised Registrar of a Domain its registration period is automatically extended (renewed) by at least 1 year. There is an exception in a situation when the Domain is at the moment of the change of the Registrar already renewed for a maximum, ie. 10 year period. In this case the change of the Registrar is performed without renewing its registration period.
• The Registrar may have their own web interface where you can perform this change in an automated way.
• For more information we recommend that you read the Terms and Conditions, points 4.1, 4.2 and 4.4.

More information about a Domain can be found through the WHOIS service. If the Registrant (holder) of a Domain is a natural person (not entrepreneur) only his/her ID will be shown so as to protect his/her personal data, while his/her name and surname, address, phone and e-mail will be anonymised.

• If the holder is a person, only his / her ID will always be displayed for privacy reasons, while the surname, address, phone, and email will be anonymised, independently from any public policy setting.
• If the holder is a legal entity, email, phone & fax on contact type legal person may be published. Registrar might unhide it.

Pursuant to Section 2.1 of the Rules: A User may be any physical or legal person that has a postal address (address to receive physical paper forms of communication) in any of the European Union member states, or a state within the European Economic Area, or a member state of the European Free Trade Association or in the United Kingdom.

This means that anyone, and hence the future .sk Domain owner, can come from any country but must have a delivery address in one of the states under this condition. That means some kind of legal presence or representation in this territory, not just a P.O.BOX.

The user may not have this address listed in his or her data at the time of registration (although this is definitely recommended for the removal of any other issues) but must demonstrate this fact after being invited to comply with Section 2.1 of the Rules.

The list of all states that meet this condition is listed in the following table.

EU – European Union
EEA – European Economic Area
EFTA – European Free Trade Association

In view of the commitments made by the European Union, it is also stipulated that a User cannot be someone who is on a list, owned or controlled by a sanctioned individual or entity on any list published by the United States government (this includes the list of specially designated nationals (SDNs) published by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)), or an individual or entity on the list of sanctioned or restricted parties published by the applicable jurisdiction, including Slovakia and the United Kingdom. Currently, these include Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Sudan, and the Crimea region of Ukraine.”

The registration fee for the Domain is redeemed at the time of Domain registration itself or when prolonging its registration period. The minimum period for registering a Domain is 1 year. Extending the Domain registration period is possible sometimes and even more (for Registrars: directly via the feature in the Domain details), but up to the maximum aggregation of the registration period of 10 years (ie if the domain is registered for 3 years, it is possible to extend it for a maximum of +7 years, Ie together 10).

When changing the Domain Registrar (this is always initiated by the new Registrar), it is normally necessary to extend the registration period by at least 1 year (up to a cumulative maximum of 10 years). The exceptions are when the Registrar is changed at the time the Domain is registered for 10 years. In this case, an extension of zero is required. The second exception is the change of the Registrar, when the new Registrar becomes SK-NIC.

Yes, in this case, it is referred to as “auxiliary” Domain contact (by editing the data of that domain). Only one auxilliary contact can be assigned to a Domain. However, in the case of proof of delivery, it is up to the Registrant to perform the service – if it is not possible for the Registrant to deliver traditional postal or postal delivery to that address. An official consignment will not fulfil the condition for its existence (point 2.1 of the new Rules) and may lose the Domain.

WHOIS is a publicly available service, that provides basic data relevant to the so-called “life cycle” of an Internet Domain.

The data in WHOIS are logically grouped, i.e. the data for a Domain are below the Domain, the data for a User of a certain type are below the Domain, all clearly separated by a space. Thus, the first part of the WHOIS listing in the example below refers to the Domain itself, the second part refers to the domain Registrant, and the third part to the Registrar i.e. the intermediary through which the Domain was registered.

As can be seen in this illustrative case, the Domain was registered on June 10, 2003 (second line from the top, “Date Created:”). The current status of the Domain can be checked in the fifth line from the top.

If the domain is protected by DNSSEC, this information will be displayed in the last line of the first section.

Note: The system distinguishes between a natural person and a legal entity, therefore if the Registrant of the Domain is a natural person, due to personal data protection rules, only its ID will be displayed, while the first and last name, address, phone number and e-mail will be anonymized.

It is important to keep in mind that the current system for managing and registering .sk Top Level Domains was launched on September 1, 2017. Therefore all active Registrars prior ti that were re-registered from the old system on that date. That’s why their records in the current system show the date 2017-09-01 or later.

A domain must always have at least one of the following states assigned to it:

• For more details, we recommend reading RFC 5731 Domain Name Mapping, point 2.3.

You can find out the Domain Registrar by using the publicly available WHOIS portal, after entering your Domain in the search window. After searching for the Domain, you will also see the contact details of the Registrar, e.g. email or telephone contact.