.kz

Overview

• .kz is the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Kazakhstan.
• It is intended for entities connected with Kazakhstan and is popular within the country.
• The registry is operated by the Kazakhstan Network Information Center (KazNIC) with the Association of IT Companies of Kazakhstan as sponsor/manager.
• Registrations are available directly at the second level (example.kz) or at the third level beneath reserved second-level categories (example.com.kz, example.gov.kz, etc.).
• DNSSEC: .kz supports DNSSEC (noted as enabled since 2023).
• Registered domains: 168,530 (data reported as of 2022-09-30).

History

• The .kz ccTLD was introduced/implemented in 1994 (delegation/implementation occurred in September 1994).
• A Cyrillic country-code TLD for Kazakhstan, .қаз, was launched in March 2012 (first test site: тест.қаз).
• New rules for registration, use and allocation of domain names went into effect in March 2018; enforcement of those rules (including server-location requirements) has been applied since at least 2021.
• DNSSEC deployment for .kz was noted in 2023.

Usage and Audience

• Primary audience: businesses, government bodies, organizations and individuals with a connection to Kazakhstan.
• Common uses mirror standard second-level categories; reserved/example second-level labels include:
  • .com.kz — commercial organizations
  • .edu.kz — licensed educational organizations
  • .gov.kz — governmental organizations
  • .mil.kz — Ministry of Defense
  • .net.kz — licensed networks of data communications
  • .org.kz — nonprofit organizations
• Registrations are generally limited to Kazakhstan-related entities, with specific restrictions applied at some third-level namespaces.

Registration Rules

• Structure:
  • Direct second-level registrations (example.kz) are allowed.
  • Third-level registrations are available beneath reserved second-level labels and are subject to category-specific restrictions.
• Eligibility and documentation:
  • Individuals and organizations must provide identifying documents at registration: a copy of an identity document for individuals and a certificate of registration for legal entities.
• Restrictions and suspension grounds (selected):
  • No general restriction for second-level names; some restrictions apply to third-level names depending on the second-level category.
  • Use of a domain in the Kazakhstan segment may be suspended for reasons including:
    • identification of unreliable registrant information in the application;
    • detection of malicious software on the hosted resource creating threats to safe Internet use;
    • failure to remediate an information security incident after notification by an authorized body;
    • absence of required safety certificates;
    • placement of Internet resources on hardware and software located outside the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan (i.e., server hardware must be physically located in the country).
• A dispute resolution policy and registration rules are maintained by the registry (NIC.kz).

SEO and Brand Impact

• The .kz ccTLD signals a Kazakhstan connection, which can support local branding and trust for users in that market.
• A policy requiring server hosting inside Kazakhstan has had notable operational and perception impacts: in 2011 Google redirected google.kz to google.com in response to a government demand to host .kz domains on domestic servers, citing concerns about network fragmentation, user privacy and free expression; google.kz returned to general availability during the first half of 2017.
• Local-hosting requirements can affect global reach and may influence trust or accessibility depending on hosting choices and compliance with registry rules.

Notable Cases or Examples

• Google and google.kz (2011–2017): Google redirected traffic from google.kz to google.com in 2011 after a Kazakh government requirement that .kz domains be hosted on servers inside Kazakhstan; Google cited concerns about creating "borders on the web." The google.kz service returned to general availability in the first half of 2017.
• Enforcement example: the registry has suspended and deleted domains whose DNS pointed to web content hosted outside Kazakhstan (an example cited concerns domains pointing to EU-hosted pages).
• .қаз (Cyrillic IDN): launched in March 2012, with the first test site тест.қаз.

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

domain:       KZ

organisation: Association of IT Companies of Kazakhstan
address:      6/5 Kabanbai Batyra
address:      Office 3
address:      Nur-Sultan 020000
address:      Kazakhstan

contact:      administrative
name:         Nurlan Issin
organisation: Association of IT Companies of Kazakhstan
address:      6/5 Kabanbai Batyra
address:      Office 3
address:      Nur-Sultan 020000
address:      Kazakhstan
phone:        +7 (7172) 92-55-52
fax-no:       +7 (7172) 92 54 11
e-mail:       info@itk.kz

contact:      technical
name:         Pavel Gussev
organisation: KazNIC Organization
address:      Ilyashev str, 47/2
address:      Semey VKO 071400
address:      Kazakhstan
phone:        +7 (7222) 60-00-06, 60-44-44
fax-no:       +7 (7222) 60-47-40
e-mail:       pg@nic.kz

nserver:      NS.NIC.KZ 194.0.21.5 2001:678:98:1:0:0:0:5
nserver:      NS1.NIC.KZ 185.79.212.7 2a01:7640:9000:0:0:0:0:7
nserver:      NS2.NIC.KZ 2001:500:14:6143:ad:0:0:1 204.61.216.143
ds-rdata:     10656 13 2 5cdf9266fd5b325975a21bf7ab865c3fb0b2a6a835196fb47b4f80035e8b094f

whois:        whois.nic.kz

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

created:      1994-09-19
changed:      2023-01-24
source:       IANA