int (derived from
international) is a
sponsored top-level domainA sponsored top-level domain is one of the categories of top-level domains maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority for use in the Domain Name System of the Internet....
(sTLD) used in the
Domain Name SystemThe Domain Name System is a hierarchical naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participants...
of the
InternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standardized Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
.
According to current
Internet Assigned Numbers AuthorityThe Internet Assigned Numbers Authority is the entity that oversees global IP address allocation, root zone management for the Domain Name System , media types, and other Internet Protocol related assignments...
(IANA) policy, the
int sTLD is reserved for international treaty-based organizations,
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
agencies and organizations or entities having
Observer status at the UN. This generic top-level domain was initially created for use by
NATOThe North Atlantic Treaty Organization ); ), also called "the Atlantic Alliance", is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949...
, to replace the
nato.nato was an Internet top-level domain. The nato TLD was added in the late 1980s by InterNIC for the use of NATO, who felt that none of the then existing TLDs adequately reflected their status as an international organization. Soon after this addition, however, the .int TLD was created for the use...
TLD.
int is considered the strictest sTLD as it implies that the holder is a subject of
international lawPublic international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states, analogous entities, such as the Holy See, and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
. For this reason, the application procedure requires the applicant to provide evidence that it is indeed treaty-based by providing a United Nations
treatyA treaty is an agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law, namely sovereign states and international organizations. A treaty may also be known as: agreement, protocol, covenant, convention, exchange of letters, etc...
registration number and that it has independent legal existence.
Hence, the
Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic PollutantsStockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is an international environmental treaty that aims to eliminate or restrict the production and use of persistent organic pollutants .- History :...
(POPS) saw its application for a
int domain name rejected on the grounds that the convention did not explicitly create an entity subject of international law. However, POPS appealed to the IANA Reconsideration Committee and obtained its domain on the grounds that other conventions lacking such specific language had nevertheless obtained a registration.
Additionally,
int was historically also used for Internet infrastructure databases. The name space
arpaarpa is an Internet top-level domain used exclusively for Internet infrastructure purposes. The name is a backronym for Address and Routing Parameter Area....
had been slated to be moved into
int, but in 2000 the
Internet Architecture BoardThe Internet Architecture Board is the committee charged with oversight of the technical and engineering development of the Internet by the Internet Society ....
recommended that no new infrastructure databases should be added to
int and that
arpa retain its function. The only remaining technical role of
int was for reverse translation of
IPv6Internet Protocol version 6 is the next-generation Internet Protocol version designated as the successor to IPv4, the first implementation used in the Internet and still in dominant use ....
addresses under the
ip6.int zone. This zone was officially removed on 6 June 2006 in favor of
ip6.arpa, also administered by IANA.
Delegations
A dedicated article offers comprehensive list of these organizations and indicates which ones are actually intergovernmental treaty-based organizations, UN agencies or UN observers, and which ones obtained their
int delegation prior to the establishment of these very strict guidelines.
The
eu.int subdomain was used by the
European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
-affiliated institutions. However, the aforementioned institutions' domain names switched to the
eu.eu is the country code top-level domain for the European Union . Launched 7 December 2005, the domain is available for organisations and citizens in EU member states. The TLD is administered by EURid, a consortium consisting of the national ccTLD registry operators of Belgium, Sweden, Italy and...
TLD on May 9, 2006 (
Europe DayIn Europe, Europe Day is an annual celebration of peace and unity in Europe. There are two separate Europe Days, taking place on 5 May and 9 May, established by the Council of Europe and the European Union respectively...
). All previous
eu.int addresses continued to be accessible for a transitional period of at least one year.
Grandfathered delegations
Several
int domains were granted prior to the application of the strict guidelines described above. The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) is perhaps the most striking example of the loose guidelines applied in the early 1990s. In spite of the potentially confusing impression given by a
int domain, IANA has decided not to withdraw the existing assignment from YMCA and other organizations who do not meet the current criteria. A notable example is
The Phone CompanyThe Phone Company is a volunteer network providing a free email-to-fax service.It is the only grandfathered user of the .int domain. It takes its name from the similarly named organisation in the film The President's Analyst....
's Remote Printing Service (remote email to fax service at
tpc.int)