Press release of 5 November 2001:

The Board of Directors of Danish Internet Forum discussed Per Harder's report on the opening up of the Danish namespace on the Internet in January 1997 at a Board meeting on 1 November 2001.

Among other things, Per Harder concludes the following:

• It is conspicuous that very few members of the Association of Internet Suppliers (FIL) were responsible for the registration of approximately 88 per cent of the registrations in the period just after the liberalisation and that it is therefore reasonable to conclude that individual members of the Board of Directors used their prior knowledge for the benefit of their own enterprise.
• The rules applying until 15 January 1997 were not complied with in connection with the transition to the new and more liberal rules.

However, Per Harder also concludes that today, DIFO is the primary source of rules relating to domain names/DNS in Denmark, and the use of domain names/DNS is subject to the conditions that follow from DIFO's rules at all times which will in time be supplemented via the usual sources of law. The Board of Directors notes that, according to Per Harder, DIFO does not have any special sanction options towards members of the then Board of Directors or FIL's members or customers, as DIFO does not have a special authority or the required legal interest. Against this background, the Board of Directors does not intend to take any further specific action relating to the opening up of the Danish namespace in January 1997.

However, the Board of Directors cannot rule out that individuals or enterprises can make such claims and the Board of Directors will therefore publish the information from the hostmaster database that shows registrations from the period 15 January 1997 to 31 January 1997.

The information is available here (in Danish).

The Board of Directors discussed Per Harder's report following a public consultation as to how the Danish namespace can be expanded to include more than letters from the English alphabet. During the consultation process, it was suggested that certain new domain names must be reserved for registrants or associations of registrants who wish to use their domain names to set up an open portal/database/register in which everyone within the relevant category can be registered. In light of this discussion, the Board of Directors will now consider introducing rules that make it possible to include domain names for such purposes.

The Board of Directors bases its considerations on Per Harder's conclusion that DIFO is considering changing its rules so that domain names that are deemed to have been obtained or registered under circumstances that are contrary to public policy may be cancelled.  In a decision to cancel a domain name for such a portal purpose, DIFO will be able to consider the circumstances under which the domain name was registered and the active or passive purpose for which the domain name has so far been used as part of a decision, if any, to cancel the domain name.