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    • .scot

    Generic top-level domainsIDNDNSSEC

    Overview

    .scot is a geo/community top-level domain (GeoTLD) intended to represent Scotland, Scottish culture and the Scottish languages (including Scottish Gaelic and Scots). It provides an online identity for people, businesses, organizations and institutions with a bona-fide connection to Scotland or Scottish culture. The string supports registrations in non-ASCII scripts commonly used for some Scottish languages.

    History

    • First proposed around 2000 and applied for as part of ICANN's New gTLD Program.
    • Delegated to the DNS root zone on 13 June 2014.
    • Official launch (pioneer/launch phases) took place on 15 July 2014; general registrations began 23 September 2014.
    • Registry Operator: dotScot Registry, a not-for-profit organisation established in 2009 and awarded the Registry Agreement by ICANN (agreement signed 23 January 2014).
    • Key milestones:
      • First .scot domain to go live: calico.scot (15 July 2014).
      • Major public migrations: The Scottish Government moved to gov.scot (17 February 2015); the Scottish Parliament moved to parliament.scot (May 2016).
      • On 3 May 2018 dotScot Registry lifted registration restrictions on locality domains and other premium names.
    • DNSSEC: enabled for the .scot zone.

    Usage and Audience

    • Target audience:
      • Individuals with a Scottish nexus (birth, residence, ancestry).
      • Businesses legally seated or operating in Scotland.
      • Organisations whose remit is to celebrate or further Scottish heritage, arts, languages, music, sport and culture.
      • Public authorities and entities with a Scottish remit.
    • Common uses:
      • National and regional government sites (e.g., gov.scot, parliament.scot).
      • Cultural organisations, businesses, media and community groups promoting Scottish identity.

    Registration Rules

    • Eligibility/restrictions:
      • Registrations are intended for bona-fide members of the Scottish community or entities with a legitimate nexus to Scotland or Scottish culture.
      • Registrant use must be generally legitimate, beneficial to the values of the Scottish community, commensurate with the role of the name, and in good faith at registration and thereafter.
    • Launch and validation model:
      • Pre-launch (pioneer) phase: active pre-validation and screening of projects and mandate holders.
      • Launch phase: priority categories with pre-validation (public authorities, trademark holders including Trademark Clearinghouse entrants, entities with legal seat in Scotland) plus a landrush/no-priority category.
      • Post-launch (General Availability): registrations subject to post-validation via an ongoing compliance program to enforce community nexus and combat abusive registrations.
    • Character support:
      • Registrations welcome in non-English Scottish languages; specific mention of support for Gaelic, Shetlandic and Orcadian and other dialects which may require non-ASCII characters.

    SEO and Brand Impact

    • The TLD was created to strengthen the online identity and cultural visibility of the Scottish community, similar in purpose to other cultural/community TLDs.
    • Adoption by major public institutions (Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament) helps convey trust and legitimacy for the namespace.
    • The registry's community-focused eligibility and trademark protections (e.g., Trademark Clearinghouse use during launch) are intended to reduce cybersquatting and protect brand owners within the .scot space.

    Notable Cases or Examples

    • calico.scot — reported as the first .scot domain to go live.
    • gov.scot — migration of the Scottish Government's website to the .scot TLD (17 February 2015).
    • parliament.scot — migration of the Scottish Parliament's website to the .scot TLD (May 2016).
    • dotScot Registry's policy change on 3 May 2018 lifting restrictions on locality and certain premium names.

    Operator

    Dot Scot Registry Limited

    Whois

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

domain:       SCOT

organisation: Dot Scot Registry Limited
address:      Suite 119, 111 West George Street
address:      Glasgow Scotland G2 1QX
address:      United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the)

contact:      administrative
name:         .scot Administrative Contact
organisation: Dot Scot Registry Limited
address:      Suite 119, 111 West George Street
address:      Glasgow Scotland G2 1QX
address:      United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the)
phone:        +44-141-225-6285
fax-no:       +44-141-225-6271
e-mail:       secretariat@dotscot.net

contact:      technical
name:         .scot Technical Contact
organisation: CORE Association
address:      2, Cours de Rive
address:      Geneva CH-1204
address:      Switzerland
phone:        +41 223 125 610
fax-no:       +41 223 125 612
e-mail:       dnsmaster@corenic.org

nserver:      ANYCAST10.IRONDNS.NET 195.253.64.12 2a01:5b0:4:0:0:0:0:c
nserver:      ANYCAST23.IRONDNS.NET 195.253.65.11 2a01:5b0:5:0:0:0:0:b
nserver:      ANYCAST24.IRONDNS.NET 195.253.65.12 2a01:5b0:5:0:0:0:0:c
nserver:      ANYCAST9.IRONDNS.NET 195.253.64.11 2a01:5b0:4:0:0:0:0:b
ds-rdata:     28873 10 2 a99fb1213fc07299a57251f57238bc0f796d7aa311624cf49ddcacac08c1dc3d

whois:        whois.nic.scot

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: https://dot.scot/

created:      2014-06-05
changed:      2022-01-07
source:       IANA

    Registrars