2024-09-16 nz registrar news in September 2024: IRS release postponed, TLS certificates update, registrar summit recording and more

Kia ora!

Welcome to the .nz registrar update. You are receiving it because you are subscribed to the .nz registry updates.

In today’s email:

  • IRS release update

  • Production TLS certificate resigning

  • .nz Registrar Summit wrap-up

  • .nz Rules updates

  • .nz insights

Important dates

  • 6 October: IRS 8.17.2 production release

  • September-October: production TLS certificate resigning continues

  • 1 November: Version 3 .nz Rules come into effect

IRS release update

IRS 8.17.2 production release will be moved to Sunday, October 6. The delay is entirely due to our internal Data Warehouse processes.

IRS 8.17.2 is a minor release that has passed all internal testing. Registrar testing on our OTE environment found no errors.

However, the internal Data Warehouse release is linked to our IRS release schedule and must be done at the same time. Our internal staging Data Warehouse environment needs additional work to complete our testing of the new version and enable testing for future releases.

Production TLS certificate resigning

You need a valid TLS certificate to access IRS production via EPP API for managing .nz domain names. Certificates are normally valid for two years and must be reissued and installed before expiry to ensure continued access to the IRS.

As the IRS production go-live was 1 November 2022, any registrar using the EPP API at go-live will have their TLS certificate expire in September/October 2024.

If you have not already done so, please send a CSR to registry@internetnz.net.nz. Instructions are on our Product Documentation website

Because of the go-live, a large number of TLS certificates are expiring at the same time, and we have added additional months on top of the normal 2-year certificate terms to some of the new certificates. This allows us to spread the load of certificate signing over February through November and avoid the Christmas period.

.nz Registrar Summit

Our Registrar Summit on 4 September was a success. It was a pleasure to host some of you in Wellington and talk about all things .nz. 13 registrars, who collectively manage 83% of .nz domains, attended the Summit in person or online.

You can watch the recording and check out the slides if you missed the event. As the Summit was a closed industry event, please keep these links to yourself and your teammates:

  • Livestream recording link: Please email registry@internetnz.net.nz for the recording link.

  • Time codes:

    • Registry updates — 13.21

    • DNC updates: core functions, developments — 37.16

    • .nz Rules update — 54.40

    • .nz marketing update — 5.06.03

    • .nz data and insights — 5.31.00

    • DNC insights and issues — 5.52.45

    • Internet governance — 7.10.09

    • Panel discussion: domain name industry future in the AI era — 7.35.35

To obtain access to the slides used in the various presentations and your copy of the .nz insights report please email registry@internetnz.net.nz.

Conflicted domain names survey results

We’ve completed the survey of holders of conflicted domain names. We heard from 833 people — an amazing completion rate of 33.5% of the 2,454 surveyed parties. The next steps in this review are being considered in light of the survey responses. You can stay up to date by visiting the review webpage

Version 3 of .nz Rules

We have received feedback from various stakeholders and identified minor amendments to tidy up the .nz Rules. A consultation on the changes ended in June 2024 and the changes were approved by the InternetNZ Council in August 2024.

The new rules will come into effect on 1 November 2024. Read an overview of the changes on the InternetNZ website

You can stay up to date by visiting the review webpage

.nz insights: registrants location

Our recent analysis of 748,165k .nz domains identified 351,531 unique domain holders from 178 countries, based on their names*. According to this data, the vast majority of our registrants are based in New Zealand.

We can’t guarantee 100% accuracy because the registrants provide their names and contact details themselves, so there’s some margin of error.

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Kind regards

.nz team