.NGO and.ONG Registration Policies

.NGO and .ONG is a TLD specifically created to serve the needs of non-governmental organizations.

The validation of eligibility for registrants will occur post-registration.

As of June 1st 2022, .NGO and .ONG domain names will be sold mutually exclusive of one another.
Previously, purchasing a .NGO domain would automatically provide the registrant with a .ONG equivalent exclusively held by the registry. All changes the registrant made to their .NGO would automatically mirror to its .ONG counterpart.
Legacy bundle purchases will be split into two separate domains with identical settings, DNS, and contact handles. Any changes to either domain will no longer reflect on the other automatically.

Registration Details

.NGO AND .ONG domain names must adhere to the following guidelines:

  • Minimum length for the second level domain name is three characters.
  • Maximum name length (excluding "http://www" and ".NGO") is 63 characters.
  • Hyphens cannot be used for the first or last character of the second level domain name. Also, hyphens (-) cannot be used as both the third and fourth character.
  • Spaces and special characters (for example, !, $, &) are not permitted.

An .NGO AND .ONG domain name may be any one of the following:

  • The name of (entire or portion of) the NGO (i.e. the name it uses to do business).
  • An acronym representing the NGO.
  • A name that recognizes or generally describes the NGO.
  • A name related to the mission or activities of the NGO. 

Reseller Requirements

In order to sell the new .NGO and .ONG gTLD, you must include the specific provisions in Exhibit A in your terms of service agreement made available at the time of purchase.

Additional registration policies

The registrant is required to maintain the information and documentation proving their affiliation to an NGO. The registry will conduct random audits to ensure compliance with which the registrant must comply. If a registrant fails to meet the requirements during an audit, the domain(s) will be deleted and released into the pool of available domains. The registrant forfeits any fees that have been paid.

Public Interest Registry (PIR) has determined that organizations formed under the laws of the People’s Republic of China (or any territory thereof) do not meet the criteria “Limited Government Influence” and “Independent Actors.”

Accordingly, prospective registrants from China and its territories should not register .NGO and .ONG as they will not meet PIR’s Eligibility Requirements. In the event PIR discovers that a .NGO or .ONG domain name is registered by an organization organized under the laws of the People’s Republic of China (or any territory thereof), PIR will delete the domain name for failing to meet our Eligibility Requirements.

Back to top

Was this article helpful? If not please submit a request here

How helpful was this article?