November 18th it became possible to register .co.nl domain names. And until January 15th all .NL domain name holders are granted priority in registering.
World wide there are already 50 countries that use similar domain names (.co.uk for England, .co.jp for Japan etc) and the Netherlands are now following with a .co version of its own. Especially for international traffic to Dutch websites, a domain with a .co.nl ending is very recognizable and thus easy to locate.
>> The first .co.nl domains have been appointed to applying Multinationals, A-Brands, International Organizations and are already activated and being used!
The availability of .co.nl domains is launched in 3 steps (the so called ‘Sunrise’ procedure). The result is that persons and companies with a specific right will receive priority. This priority is temporarily and will expire once the Sunrise phases ended. For more information concerning .co.nl, go to www.domain.co.nl.
November 18th the first phase of Sunrise started. During this phase, named ‘Grandfather’, each holder of a .NL domain has the temporarily right to register the identical .CO.NL domain. Hence, the holder of www.yourdomain.nl is the only one who can register www.yourdomain.co.nl during these 8 weeks. The Grandfather ends on January 15th and so will the right on priority in registering.
After the Grandfather a 16 days term will follow that provides priority for holders of a Trademark and on March 17th, CO.NL will open up completely and all parties interested can register their name.co.nl.
During the Grandfather period one will have the best chance to claim the .co.nl domains that match ones .nl names. Hence, if you’re interested in securing your names with the .co.nl ending we recommend that you register these during this period. Applications can now be submitted via the growing list of participating registrars.