CORE will select and allow registration of a maximum of 90 .сайт Pioneer Names and 90 .онлайн Pioneer Names. Such Pioneer Names will be selected by CORE from among the eligible applications, based on a criteria of visibility, notoriety and commitment to the promotion of the .сайт and .онлайн TLDs.

Any party, individual or legal entity, which complies with the eligibility requirements set forth below and demonstrates dynamism and interest associated with the Cyrillic-script and the Cyrillic community may participate.

3.1    General eligibility requirements.

The Pioneer Name applied for must comply with the general eligibility criteria for all .сайт and .онлайн domain names. Specifically:

a.i. The .сайт and .онлайн Pioneer Name applied for must be a second-level domain in Cyrillic script (mainly for Belorussian, Bulgarian, Russian and Ukrainian) according to the IDN Tables published at http://www.iana.org/domains/idn-tables/tables/xn--80aswg_cyrl_1.0.txt and http://www.iana.org/domains/idn-tables/tables/xn--80asehdb_cyrl_1.0.txt and

a.ii. The use of the Pioneer Name by the applicant must be generally accepted as legitimate, as well as commensurate with the role and importance of the registered domain name.

3.2    Specific eligibility requirements.

In addition to the general eligibility criteria, the following Specific eligibility requirements must be fulfilled:

a.i. The named applied for as Pioneer Name must be identical to either:

(a)    Applicant’s trademark in Cyrillic script registered in Belarus, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine and/or as EU Community Trademark at the Office of Harmonization for the Internal Market (“OHIM”); or

(b)    The Name of a Public Authority in the geographical areas where Cyrillic script is used with some type of official status (as defined below), provided that the applicant is the Public Authority with legitimate right to use that name under local law. Names of Public Authorities would also include any clear variations and/or abbreviations thereof; or

(c)    The Names of a Public Services of the geographical areas where Cyrillic script is used with some type of official status (as defined below), provided that the applicant is the Public Authority exercising control over that public service under local law; or

(d)    A Geographical name (including names of local landmarks) in the geographical areas where Cyrillic script is used with some type of official status (as defined below), provided that the applicant is a Public Authority exercising control over that place or local landmark under local law; or

(e)    The name of an individual, group, or team which is considered to be, according to CORE, a well-known public figure or celebrity in an areas where Cyrillic script is used with some type of official status (as defined below) in any field including but not limited to sports, entertainment, literary, business, politics etc. and the applicant has proven its legitimate right to the use of that name; or

(f)    Any other name which the applicant has the right to use according to local law (e.g. denominations of origin).

For the purposes of this Program, the “Areas where Cyrillic script is used with some type of official status” are: Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan. Macedonia, Montenegro, Mongolia, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. “Public Authorities” means international, national, regional, local and municipal governmental agencies, departments or other public entities, including cities, counties, governmental departments, consortiums, commissions, and other administrative divisions.

The fulfillment of this eligibility requirement will be carefully and individually checked by CORE. Self-declaration will not be sufficient.

a.ii. In addition, applicant must be ready to demonstrate technical ability to announce the working website, which must be totally or partially written in Cyrillic-script, no later than one (1) month after the signature of the Pioneer Agreement, and to comply with the other requirements of use of .сайт and .онлайн Pioneer Names. See how .сайт and .онлайн Pioneer Names must be used.

Selected Pioneer Names are expected to contribute to the promotion, development and adoption of the .сайт and .онлайн TLDs. To this end, until the General Registration period begins, Pioneer Name holders will be required to:

a.i. Set-up and maintain an active website for each Pioneer Name selected;

a.ii. Actively use such website to promote the services and/or products associated with the Pioneer Name. The website using the Pioneer Name must not redirect to other web pages.

a.iii. Have all or a substantial part of the content published in such website written in language(s) using Cyrillic-script.

Pioneer Name holders must contribute to the development of the relevant TLD by either:

5.1    Financial Contribution:

paying a Pioneer Fee of 1,000 Euros per domain name; or

5.2    In-kind Contribution:

making an in-kind contribution consisting of investing at least 2,000 Euros to the promotion and development of the .сайт or .онлайн TLD, whichever applies. The parties interested in this form of contribution must specify their interest in the in-kind contribution in their proposals. Moreover, they must also describe with sufficient detail in what areas the amount will be invested and how they expect such investment will benefit the visibility or public awareness of the .сайт and/or .онлайн TLD, whichever applies. CORE will decide, at its sole discretion and on a case-by case basis, whether a proposed in-kind contribution is accepted or not. If it is not accepted, the applicant will still be given the opportunity to register the .сайт Pioneer applied for with pre-payment of the 1,000 Euros Pioneer Fee.

Once a .сайт and/or .онлайн Pioneer Name has been selected by CORE, final registration of that Pioneer Name will be subject to:

a.i. ICANN’s approval of this Pioneer Program. If ICANN does not approve this Pioneer Program in due time for the program to fulfil its purposes, CORE will notify the applicants and the Program will end without any applicants being selected;

a.ii. Prior payment of the Pioneer Fee of 1,000 Euros per Pioneer Name or formal commitment previously approved by CORE to make an In-kind Contribution of at least 2,000 Euros in the promotion of the relevant TLD; and

a.iii. Acceptance of the terms and conditions of the Pioneer Contract, including the submission of the applicant to a Pioneer Name Challenge Procedure.

Registration of the selected Pioneer Name will be carried out through an accredited registrar. The terms and conditions applicable to the registration of these domain names are the general registration terms and conditions for .сайт and .онлайн domain names. These terms and conditions will be communicated to the selected applicants in due time.

CORE invites any potential .сайт registrants to submit their proposals for .сайт and/or .онлайн Pioneer Names. Proposals must be sent by email to pioneers@corenic.org and must include the following information:

a. Name of the applicant. If the applicant is a Public Authority of an area where Cyrillic script is used, this must be clearly specified.

b. Pioneer Name(s) proposed. This portion must specify whether the proposed Pioneer Name is identical to:

b.i. Applicant’s registered trademark in Belarus, Bulgaria, Russia and/or Ukraine; or

b.ii. The name of the Public Authority which applies for the Pioneer Name, as the case may be; or

b.iii. A service rendered by the Public Authority which applies for the Pioneer Name, as the case may be; or

b.iv. A geographic names of the areas where Cyrillic script is used;

b.v. The name of the public figure or celebrity which applies for the Pioneer Name, as the case may be; or

b.vi. Any other name which the applicant has the right to use according to local law (e.g. denominations of origin).

c. Brief description of the content, products, and services which the applicant is ready to offer on the website using the selected Pioneer Name, should it be selected by CORE. This portion must indicate the expected date at which the content or services will go live;

d. Statement that all or good part of the contents of the website using the selected Pioneer Name will be written in Cyrillic script; and

e. Only when the applicant is interested in offering an In-kind contribution, the proposal must include a statement of the exact amount and valuation of the proposed in-kind contribution (no less than 2,000 Euros).

In case that the application does not contain all required information, CORE may request additional information. If the information remains incomplete thereafter, CORE may discard the application.

Yes. Intellectual property right owners may challenge .сайт and .онлайн Pioneer Applications. The challenge will be decided by CORE under grounds set forth in the Pioneer Name Challenge Procedure available here. If the challenge prevails, the Pioneer Application will be rejected and the Pioneer Name applied for will not be delegated to the applicant. If no other Proposal has been submitted for that same Pioneer Name, and if the domain is not otherwise reserved based on the Reserved Names Policies, the domain will be available for subsequent Start-Up Phases.