Thursday, May 6, 2010 is a historical day for SaudiNIC, it will be documented in its history record as the day when Arabic domain names was officially launched . In the same day SaudiNIC also launched the actual Arabic domains registration in Saudi Arabia.

The official Arabic domain names registration was actually began by successfully registering and operating the first range of Arabic domain names under the new Saudi IDN ccTLD (.السعودية). These are:

سجل.السعودية
موقع.السعودية
مركزالتسجيل.السعودية
مركز-التسجيل.السعودية

SaudiNIC congratulates everyone for achieving this important step in this historic day where Saudi Arabic domain name registration is launched. The abovementioned Arabic domain names represent the first group of registered and operated Saudi Arabic domain names on the Internet. All are registered for SaudiNIC and are used to provide registration services and to raise awareness on the Arabic domains. This remarkable achievement came after many years (decade) of dedication and hard work given by SaudiNIC to support the use of Arabic domain names.

This launch coincides with the addition of the new Saudi IDN ccTLDs (.السعودية) to the DNS root servers done by IANA/ICANN, and it was actually carried out at the same time. As soon as IANA has added the new three IDN ccTLDs namely : (.السعودية، .امرات، .مصر) to the DNS root servers, the abovementioned Arabic domain names that belongs to SaudiNIC became automatically activate and accessible from anywhere in the world.

By this, CITC (Communications and Information Technology Commission) represented by SaudiNIC had achieved a historical record through becoming the first country to launch the Arabic domain name registration on the Internet. This came as a result of continued efforts and supports to the use of Arabic domain names (Arabic IDN), which are carried out by SaudiNIC (Saudi Arabia) over the last ten years. These accomplished through persistently demanding of Arabic domain names in international forums and actively contributing to the development of specifications and supporting tools for Arabic domain names. Additionally, SaudiNIC was managing the Arab pilot project for Arabic domain names, which was implemented under the umbrella of the League of Arab States.

It should be noted that Saudi Arabia is the first country in the region that has announced to its citizen the dates of opening the registration for Arabic domain names. The opening registration will be done in two phases:

Sunrise Phase: The period extending from 10:00 AM on Monday the 17th of Jumada II 1431 H (31th of May 2010 G), to 10:00 AM on Monday the 30th of Rajab 1431 H (12th July 2010 G). During this phase SaudiNIC shall accept applications for registration of Arabic domain names from any entity or individual who has a registered trade name or mark with Ministry of Trade and Industry in Saudi Arabia, including all governmental or semi-governmental authorities and organizations. These entities are given the opportunity to register Arabic domain names that correspond to their Arabic official or commercial names (without alternation, abbreviation, or translation) as they appear in the commercial registrations, trademark registration certificates, or the official name in case of governmental entities.

Landrush Phase: The phase when SaudiNIC shall begin accepting applications for registration of Arabic domain names from members of the general public. The Landrush phase starts from 10:00 AM on Monday the 18th Shawwal 1431 H (27th September 2010 G).

to follow are the regulations governing the Arabic domain names registration :

• Arabic Domain Name Registration Regulation For Saudi IDN ccTLD
• Regulation for Opening Arabic Domain Name Registration
• Saudi Domain Names Objection Rules and Procedures

source: http://www.nic.net.sa