.bj

Overview

• .bj is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to Benin.
• Introduced: 18 January 1996.
• Intended for entities connected with Benin; it sees modest use within the country.
• Management and operations: ARCEP (Autorité de Régulation des Communications Electroniques et de la Poste du Bénin) is the regulatory authority; registry services are provided via JENY SAS and the NIC (nic.bj).
• Naming note: Benin was allocated .bj even though none of the country's official languages contain the letter "j" because other likely codes (.be, .bn, .bi) were already assigned.

History

• 1996: .bj was introduced and initially delegated to Benin's Office des Postes et Telecommunications (OPT).
• 2004: OPT was restructured and commercial telecom activities moved to Benin Telecoms SA.
• 2012: IANA updated the root zone to recognize Benin Telecoms SA as the manager of .bj following the 2004 restructure.
• 2014: The Government of Benin commissioned a feasibility study (by TRS) recommending a public/private partnership model for .bj governance.
• 9 July 2014: ARCEP BENIN was established by law as the national regulatory authority for electronic communications and postal services; later the Digital Code (Act 2017-20) reaffirmed ARCEP's role over national domain name management.
• March 2017 – July 2018: ARCEP ran a procurement process for a registry operator; JENY SAS was selected and signed an agreement on 14 July 2018 to provide registry services for .bj.

Usage and Audience

• Target audience: entities connected with Benin (businesses, government bodies, NGOs, educational institutions, tourism and hospitality, health services, etc.).
• Typical registrant types are reflected by available sector-specific second-level/third-level labels (see next section).
• Actual use: the TLD is used domestically but described as getting only "a little bit of use" within Benin.

Registration Rules

• Registration levels:

  • Registrations are available directly at the second level (example: example.bj).
  • Many third-level, sector-specific labels exist (example: example.com.bj, example.org.bj).

• Common sector-specific second/third level labels (intended uses):

  • .com.bj — businesses
  • .org.bj — NGOs, non-profits, associations
  • .tourism.bj — tourism-related entities
  • .info.bj — print and broadcast media
  • .edu.bj — primary and secondary educational institutions
  • .univ.bj — universities
  • .assur.bj — insurance companies
  • .net.bj — telecommunications and network companies
  • .architectes.bj — architects
  • .avocats.bj — law firms
  • .resto.bj / .restaurant.bj — restaurants
  • .gouv.bj — government and related entities (managed by a State-designated entity)
  • .loisirs.bj — hobbies and leisure
  • .agro.bj — agriculture
  • .econo.bj — finance and economy
  • .eco.bj — environmental
  • .santé.bj — health-related
  • .hotels.bj — hotels

• Eligibility and local presence:

  • An administrative contact in Benin is required for registrations (per NIC documentation).

• Reserved names and prohibitions:

  • Reserved terms: "bj", "nic", "www", "web", "w3", "whois", "registry" (cannot be registered).
  • Names composed of a single character or only two letters are not allowed.
  • Names starting or ending with a hyphen are not permitted.
  • Names beginning with the punycode prefix "xn--" cannot be registered directly.
  • Domain labels must not exceed 63 characters; overall domain length must not exceed 255 characters.

• Prior review / special conditions:

  • Certain names require prior review or are subject to special conditions, including but not limited to:
    • Internet organization and protocol names (e.g., arpanet, ipv6, icann)
    • Regulated professions (e.g., lawyer, doctor)
    • State institutions and public authority terms (e.g., embassy, ministry, gendarmerie)
    • Terms related to crimes, public order, or values (e.g., terrorism, treason, slavery)
    • Names of countries, cities, international organizations, and health-related terms
    • Terms that could offend religion, language, culture, or public morals
    • Names protected by intellectual property rights per national and international conventions

• Characters allowed:

  • The registry accepts extended Latin characters used in French and related languages (examples listed by the registry include accented letters such as à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï ñ ò ó ô õ ö œ ù ú û ü ÿ, ß, digits 0–9, and hyphen).
  • Characters outside the extended ASCII set are not permitted; IDNs are converted to ASCII (Punycode) following IDNA rules (e.g., académie.bj → xn--acadmie-... .bj).

• Acceptable content and public order:

  • Registrations must not compromise national security, public order, state interests, or contravene morality, good conduct, religion, language, culture, or political opinion.

Registry and Contact

• Registry/website: https://www.nic.bj
• Regulatory authority: ARCEP BENIN (Autorité de Régulation des Communications Electroniques et de la Poste du Bénin)
• Registry operator (selected 2018): JENY SAS

% IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       BJ

organisation: Autorité de Régulation des Communications Electroniques et de la Poste du Bénin (ARCEP BENIN)
address:      Cotonou /Ganhi, Immeuble Maersk House, Zone OCBN
address:      Cotonou 01BP 2034
address:      Benin

contact:      administrative
name:         Secrétaire Exécutif (Executive Secretary)
organisation: ARCEP BENIN
address:      Cotonou /Ganhi, Immeuble Maersk House, Zone OCBN
address:      Cotonou 01BP 2034
address:      Benin
phone:        +229 21 31 00 65
fax-no:       +229 21 31 00 67
e-mail:       contacts@arcep.bj

contact:      technical
name:         Tonouhewa Deo Gratias
organisation: JENY SAS
address:      Carré 321 Immeuble EL WAKIL (BOA ZONGO)
address:      Cotonou 01 BP 3885
address:      Benin
phone:        +229 97646172
e-mail:       deogratias.tonouhewa@jenysas.bj

nserver:      NS-BJ.AFRINIC.NET 196.216.168.33 2001:43f8:120:0:0:0:0:33
nserver:      NS-BJ.NIC.FR 194.0.9.1 2001:678:c:0:0:0:0:1
nserver:      NS1.NIC.BJ 154.65.28.218
nserver:      NS2.NIC.BJ 41.85.191.2
nserver:      PCH.NIC.BJ 2001:500:14:6125:ad:0:0:1 204.61.216.125
ds-rdata:     26617 8 2 f408c0b3c28d87a76175348b27f6d26ca47231fc29071ab6b5f849777c6548b5

whois:        whois.nic.bj

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: http://www.nic.bj

created:      1996-01-18
changed:      2023-04-14
source:       IANA