Rules for .sy domains

01General Provisions

• The .sy and .سورية top-level domains are managed by the National Authority for Information Technology Services (NAITS). Horanos Tech LLC (“Horanos”) is a registrar authorised by NAITS: you apply for a domain through Horanos, and NAITS registers it
• Submitting a service request is limited to the following categories:
• – A natural person holding Syrian nationality
• – A legal entity that has an effective place of management or conducts ongoing activities extending to the Syrian Arab Republic
• – An owner of a trademark or trade name registered in the Syrian Arab Republic
• The customer guarantees the accuracy of the information provided; neither NAITS nor Horanos is responsible for verifying its correctness
• Priority for registration is determined on a first-come, first-served basis according to the date the application is received, without discrimination or exception between applications. The information recorded in the .sy registry is the reference for the date and time
• Neither NAITS nor Horanos is a party to any legal dispute arising from the content of the domain
• Accepting a domain name registration request does not imply endorsement or validation of the documents submitted with the application
• The use of the website is prohibited for any content that violates commonly accepted public morals and values, or that offends religions, countries, cities, or natural or legal persons

02Domain Name Registration Rules

• The customer may register a domain name under the .sy or .سورية top-level domain, provided it does not conflict with the terms set out in this document
• The domain name must be related to the applicant and must not be registered in bad faith for the purpose of infringing on the rights of others
• NAITS may suspend the registration of a domain name if it is registered by a person with no connection to that name and it corresponds to a registered trademark or a well-known name (such as a celebrity’s name), unless written consent is obtained from the rightful owner
• Registration of names containing words with inappropriate meanings (in any language), or those that conflict with religions, customs, or the applicable laws and regulations in the Syrian Arab Republic, is not permitted
• The customer may choose to register a domain name either without activation (without specifying name servers) or with activation (by specifying name servers)
• A customer who has registered a domain name and specified name servers may register subdomains at the next level under the registered domain at no additional fee, provided that it is for the customer’s own use only and not for registering such subdomains on behalf of other customers
• NAITS defines a list of names with special significance that may not be registered as second-level domains except under specific conditions (see «Names of special significance»)
• NAITS sets rules that determine cases of visual similarity between domain names registered in Arabic script. NAITS assesses the degree of similarity and may refuse to register a domain name if it causes confusion with other registered domain names (see «Variants of a domain name in Arabic script»)
• NAITS designates certain general domain names that customers may not register, and sets the conditions for registering third-level domain names under them (see «General domain names»)
• Registered domain names must follow the following format:

03A: Domain names under .سورية (Arabic script)

The specification and recommendations for Arabic domain names (RFC 5564) are the reference for forming domain names under “.سورية”. In particular, the following conditions must be observed:

• It must contain only Arabic letters
• It must begin with a letter, must not end with a hyphen (-) , and must not contain consecutive hyphens (--)
• The number of characters in the name must not exceed 63 and must not be fewer than 2 characters
• Words must not be concatenated, and the name must not contain spaces; hyphens (-) may be used in place of spaces
• The name must not contain the shadda ّ or any diacritical marks
• The name must not contain the tatweel (kashida) character ( ____ )
• The digits zero (0) and one (1) must not be used as separators between words

04B: Domain names under .sy (Latin script)

• It must consist of Latin characters (A–Z), be case-insensitive, and may include digits (0–9) and hyphens (-), or any combination thereof. The use of characters from other languages is not permitted
• It must begin and end with a letter or a digit (A–Z, 0–9), and spaces between the characters of the name are not allowed
• The number of characters in the name must not exceed 63 and must not be fewer than 2 characters

05Customer Obligations

• The customer is responsible for the accuracy and correctness of all information provided during the registration process and must inform Horanos of any changes to this information
• The customer undertakes not to use the registered domain name or the content of the associated website in violation of the terms set out in this document, or in breach of applicable national or international laws
• The customer undertakes not to involve Horanos in any form of relationship with any third party
• The customer must inform Horanos of any changes that may occur to the information related to the registration of the domain name as listed in the registration form.
• Respect intellectual property rights and all related acts and activities.

06Obligations of NAITS

• Maintaining the confidentiality of data identified as confidential information and not disclosing it to any third party unless there are legal or security necessities.
• Maintaining the registration system and the top-level domain registry and taking the necessary measures to protect such data from loss, misuse, unauthorized disclosure, modification, destruction, or intrusion.
• Ensuring the continuous operation of the name servers for the top-level domain.

07Rights of NAITS

• Rejecting any domain name registration request in the event of a violation of the provisions set out in this document.
• Suspending or cancelling the registration of a domain name as stated in «Suspension or cancellation of a domain name registration».
• Resolving disputes over names and determining the party entitled to a particular name.
• Rejecting the registration of any domain name belonging to government entities in favor of a customer even if the government entity entitled to the name has waived its right in the customer's favor.
• Rejecting the registration of any name having a special significance that prevents its registration at the discretion of NAITS.
• Amending this document as needed, in accordance with the requirements of the public interest.

08Ownership Right

The registration of a domain name under the .sy or .سورية top-level domain does not grant any right to own that domain, nor does it grant any legal intellectual property rights in the domain name; rather, it is considered only an exclusive license to use the domain (that is, as a form of lease) for a specified renewable period.

09Domain Name Registration

• The customer submits a request to register a domain name using the designated registration form signed by them, completed with accurate and correct information under their responsibility, and sends it to Horanos together with the supporting documents specified by NAITS.
• The signed service form may be submitted either in paper form or electronically.
• The domain name shall be registered after confirming that the name is available and complies with the general registration conditions for one month without activation in the event that the required supporting documents are not completed.
• The domain name registration is confirmed and activated after all required supporting documents are submitted and the registration fees are paid. The registration request is cancelled if the fees are not paid to Horanos within one month from the registration date.
• Registration period: A domain name may be registered or renewed for one Gregorian year or more.
• The fees for domain registration and renewal are determined based on the effective decisions of NAITS.

10Renewal of Domain Name Registration

If the customer wishes to renew the registration of the domain name after the registration period has expired, they must pay the renewal fees before the expiry date.

11Suspension or Cancellation of Domain Name Registration

A- NAITS suspends or cancels the registration of a domain name in the following cases:

• Failure to pay the renewal fees after the expiration of the registration period, as follows:
• – The registration of the name is suspended, but the name does not become available, and the customer is granted a one-month grace period for payment before the registration is permanently cancelled. The name is reactivated for the same customer after the renewal fees are paid.
• – If payment is not made after the expiry of the grace period, the domain name shall be permanently cancelled, become available, and may be registered by any other customer.
• If the content of the website associated with the domain name violates the provisions set out in this document, as follows:
• – The service is suspended and the name registration stopped while the customer retains their right to it, and NAITS issues a written warning requesting correction of the situation within a period it determines according to the case.
• – The registration of the name shall be permanently cancelled, the customer shall lose their right to the name, and it shall become available again if they fail to respond within the specified period.
• If the registered name violates the general service conditions, as follows:
• – The customer shall be granted a period of ten days to amend the name if they wish, and the customer shall transfer any activities related to the infringing name to the new name without any additional fees.
• – The registration of the name shall be permanently cancelled if the granted period expires without the customer correcting the situation.
• At the customer's request.

B- The customer is not entitled to recover any amounts paid for the registration of a domain name in the event of its cancellation.

C- Neither NAITS nor Horanos is responsible for any damage or loss that may result from the suspension or cancellation of a domain name.

12Transfer of the Domain Name

The customer may transfer the name they have registered to a third party. The transfer is not completed until the third party signs the registration form instead of the transferring customer and fully replaces them in terms of rights and obligations after obtaining NAITS’s approval. All information and personal data related to the registered name are amended to match the information of the new customer.

The transfer shall not be considered a new registration, and the registration date shall remain as it was with the former customer.

13Compensation for Damage

The customer undertakes not to use the registered domain name or any activity associated with it to harm any person, hack any website, or cause damage of any kind to any entity whatsoever, including NAITS or Horanos, their employees, agents, or systems. The customer bears all costs and expenses arising from such damage, under penalty of cancellation or suspension of all names registered in the customer's favor and legal prosecution. The customer also expressly agrees that neither NAITS nor Horanos is liable for any consequences resulting from the customer's misuse of the service.

14Disputes

In the event of any dispute over a domain name between the customer and a third party, NAITS resolves the dispute upon an official complaint by either party, and each party must provide evidence of their entitlement to the registered name.

If either party does not agree with NAITS’s settlement, they may go to the competent court. The name remains active and registered to the first customer who leased it unless proven otherwise, in which case NAITS corrects the situation and transfers the name to the party who is its rightful owner.

15Names of special significance

Based on the regulation on the general conditions for registering domain names under the .sy top-level domain, in particular item /7/ of Article /3/ (Domain Name Registration Rules), which states that:

NAITS defines a list of names with special significance that may not be registered as second-level domains except under special conditions.

First: The names listed in the following table are considered names of special significance and may not be registered as second-level domains by any customer:

• Global generic domain names: Biz.sy
• Professional names: Engineer.sy
• Names of governorates, cities, regions, and countries: Homs.sy
• Personal names: Ali.sy
• Languages: English.sy
• Names of God and His attributes - names of prophets - names of religions - sects - holy places: -
• Names of international trademarks: Youtube.sy

16Names of special significance allowed under conditions

Second: The following names of special significance may be registered as second-level domains under special conditions as follows:

• Names of governorates, cities, regions, and countries: They may be granted only to government entities. As for individuals and private entities, a word or number must be added as in the following example: Homs-accountants.sy
• Professional names, personal names, and languages: if a word or number is added as in the following examples: Aliothman.sy, Ali-othman.sy, Ali1.sy
• Names of international trademarks: provided that an authorization or agency is obtained from the trademark owner.

17Variants of a domain name in Arabic script

The variants of a domain name are all domain names that may cause a visual similarity problem for the end user with the original domain name, resulting from the presence of similar characters between the original domain name and the variant domain name. A number of conditions must be taken into account in selecting variants, the most important of which are:

• The similarity resulting from domain names that contain more than one segment separated by a hyphen (-) and the same domain name without the hyphen (-), provided that there is a taa marbuta (ة) at the end of each segment of the domain name (except the last segment), for example: جامعة-دمشق.سورية and جامعةدمشق.سورية, and مجلة-جامعة-دمشق.سورية and مجلةجامعةدمشق.سورية.
• The similarity resulting from the letter Alif in its different forms, including Hamza and Madda; for example: احمد.سورية، أحمـد.سورية، أحمد.سورية هي مرادفات للنطاق: أحمد.سورية
• The similarity resulting from the alif maqsura (ى) and the letter yaa at the end of the domain name, or directly after a hyphen (-) or a number; for example: منتدى.سورية and منتدي.سورية
• The similarity resulting from the letter haa and the taa marbuta at the end of the word, or directly after a hyphen (-) or a number; for example: مدينة.سورية and مدينه.سورية
• The similarity resulting from the letter haa written separately at the end of the word and the numeral 5; for example: رفاه.سورية and رفا5.سورية
• The similarity resulting from the letter alif and the numeral 1 in the domain; for example: رائد.سورية and ر1ئد.سورية
• The similarity resulting from the repetition of one of the non-connecting letters; for example: سيرايبوك.سورية and سيرايبووك.سورية

18General Domain Names

Based on the regulation on the general conditions for registering domain names under the .sy top-level domain, in particular item /9/ of Article /3/ (Domain Name Registration), which states: (NAITS defines the general domain names that customers may not register, and the conditions for registering third-level domain names under them.)

First: The following general domain names are reserved by NAITS, and third-level domains can be registered under them as follows:

• edu.sy: Allocated to the educational sector; educational institutions recognized by the Ministry of Higher Education or the Ministry of Education may register a name under it after submitting the required supporting documents to Horanos.
• org.sy: Allocated to non-governmental organizations and bodies. The domain name to be registered must be derived from the name of the entity or the nature of its work, and the customer must submit proof thereof.
• gov.sy: Allocated to the governmental sector, and all government entities may register under it. The domain name to be registered must be derived from the name of the entity or the nature of its work, and the customer must submit proof thereof.
• com.sy: Allocated to entities that have a commercial activity, and everyone may register under it.
• tv.sy / info.sy / news.sy: Allocated to media and press entities and those of similar status. The domain name to be registered must be derived from the name of the entity or the nature of its work, and the customer must submit proof thereof.
• net.sy: Allocated to entities that own a network, for example: Internet service providers and internet hosting companies, and everyone may register under it.
• name.sy: Indicates a personal name, and everyone may register under it, in the form xxxyyy.name.sy, where xxx is the given name and yyy the family name, provided that the customer is the owner of the name.
• biz.sy: Allocated to entities operating in online commercial activity.
• co.sy: It has a commercial indication, and the domain name to be registered must be derived from the name of the entity or the nature of its work, and the customer must submit proof thereof.
• school.sy: Allocated to the educational sector, and educational institutions recognized by the Ministry of Education may register a name under it, and the customer must submit proof thereof.

Second: If the customer has more than one status, they may register one or more third-level domains in accordance with their classification.