Auction Regulations

1. General provisions

1.1. These Regulations have been developed in accordance with Order No. 47 On Registration of Domain Names in the National Domain Zone issued by the Operative- Analytical Center under the President of the Republic of Belarus on June 18, 2010 (hereinafter referred to as Instruction No. 47) and define a procedure of auctions for domain name registration conducted by the technical administrator of the national domain zone, in respect of domain names with cancelled registration record in the centralized database of domain names registered in the national domain zone, as well of their owners (hereinafter referred to as the database).
1.2. Auctions shall be held by the technical administrator of the national domain zone – Reliable Software Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the Organizer).
1.3. The subject of the auction shall be the rights to register .by and .бел domain names with cancelled registration record in the database.
1.4. Proceeds from an auction, minus the cost of domain name registration, shall be assigned by the auction winner to charity accounts of institutions that provide accommodation and support for orphaned children, children left without parental care, disabled children, children with peculiarities of psychophysical development (hereinafter referred to as the Institutions), as a donation without entering into a corresponding agreement in writing.
1.5. Auctions shall be held on a regular basis. Their frequency is to be determined by the Organizer.

2. Procedure for Organizing Auctions

2.1. The auction shall be open; no fee shall be charged for participation in the auction.
2.2. To organize and conduct an auction, the Auction Committee (hereinafter referred to the Committee) consisting of at least 3 (three) persons shall be created by the Order of the Organizer. The Organizer’s CEO shall be appointed as the Chairman of the Committee. Representatives of the Organizer and registrars that provide services of domain name registration in the national domain zone shall be appointed as the Committee members (if registrars consent to include their representatives into the Committee membership). The Committee membership may also include representatives of non-governmental associations that expressed their willingness to send their representatives to participate in the Committee.
2.3. The Committee shall be created for a term of 5 (five) years. The Committee membership may be renewed earlier subject to amendments made hereto, if such amendments provide for changes in the Committee establishment procedure, as well as in case of retirement of a member of the Committee.
2.4. The Organizer shall:
2.4.1. determine the date and time of the Auction and announcement of its results;
2.4.2. determine the software to be used during the Auction;
2.4.3. decide on determination and(or) modification of the initial price of the auction subject and the amount of increase in the auction subject price (hereinafter referred to as the Bid Increment);
2.4.4. arrange a notice of holding an auction to be published on an open source Internet resource https://auction.cctld.by in open access;
2.4.5. determine (including based on information received from public agencies, non-governmental organizations, as well as based on received applications) and, as may be needed, update a list of institutions the charity accounts of which receive funds to be paid by auction winners based on the auction results after deduction of the domain name registration fee (hereinafter referred to as the Charitable Contributions);
2.4.6. supervise transfer of the Charitable Contributions by the auction winners;
2.4.7. be entitled to request from an auction participant to provide a copy of the document certifying details of the state registration of a legal entity (individual entrepreneur), personal identity document, in case of doubt as to the authenticity of the information provided by an auction participant when registering;
2.4.8. at least once every 6 (six) months, submit a report on the results of auctions held during the reporting six months (by July 31 – for the first half of the reporting year, and by January 31 – for the second half of the reporting year) to the national domain zone administrator.
2.5. The Committee shall:
2.5.1. check compliance with these Regulations by the auction participants and of the Organizer;
2.5.2. decide on issuance of warnings to participants violating these Regulations;
2.5.3. decide on forfeiture of the right to participate in the auctions for participants violating these Regulations;
2.5.4. resolve disputes associated with the procedure of auctions.
2.6. The Committee shall be entitled to make decisions by absentee voting (including through polling the Committee members by email) or by voting in person.
2.7. The Committeeʼs decision shall be made by a simple majority of votes. In case of a tie of votes the chairman of the Committee shall have the deciding vote. The Committeeʼs decision shall be documented in the minutes, which is then approved by the chairman of the Committee.
2.8. A notice about an auction to be held, information about cancellation of an auction shall be published on the Internet resource https://auction.cctld.by. A notice about an auction to be held shall contain:
Извещение о проведении аукциона должно содержать:
2.8.1. information about type and subject of the auction with a reference to an Internet resource where a full list of domain names is available for examination;
2.8.2. date, time, procedure of the auction, the Internet resource where an auction is to be held;
2.8.3. registration procedure for auction participants;
2.8.4. initial price of the auction subject and the bid increment;
2.8.5. the Organizer’s details, including e-mail address and contact phone number of the Organizer.

3. Procedure for Determining Domain Names Included into the Auction List

3.1. The auction list shall include domain names the registration record of which has been cancelled by the administrator or technical administrator of the national domain zone in accordance with the procedure defined by Instruction No. 47.
3.2. The Organizer shall prepare a list of domain names being the subject of the auction and publish it on the Internet resource https://auction.cctld.by not later than 1 (one) hour before the auction starts.
3.3. If a domain name had been offered in an auction, but not a single bid was made, the Organizer shall remove the domain from the auction. Upon that the domain name shall become available for registration on general grounds.
3.4. The Organizer shall be entitled not to offer domain names in an auction, if the registration record of such names is cancelled, if they are identical or confusingly similar to names of registered means of individualization of the parties to civil transactions, goods (works, services) (hereinafter referred to as the means of individualization). The Organizer does not assume responsibility for checking all domain names offered in an auction as to their identity or confusing similarity to existing means of individualization.
3.5. On application from the holder of the rights who submitted the documents certifying their rights to respective means of individualization to the Organizer, the domain name shall be removed from the auction regardless of the start of bidding. If the holder of the rights (after having submitted documents certifying their priority right to the domain registration to the Organizer) to the means of individualization identical or confusingly similar to a domain name that became available fails to conclude an agreement for domain name registration in the course of 30 (thirty) calendar days after submission of documents to the Organizer, this domain name may be offered in an auction on general grounds.

4. Procedure of Auction

4.1. The auction shall be held on the Internet resource https://auction.cctld.by. The start and end of bidding shall be given according to Minsk time.
4.2. For each domain name that is offered in an auction, a software form allowing auction participants to bid shall be placed.
4.3. A list of domain name registrars, who have expressed their willingness to register domain names based on the auction results, and links to Internet resources of these registrars shall be published on the Internet resource https://auction.cctld.by.
4.4. Legal entities and individuals, including individual entrepreneurs, that can be either residents or non-residents of the Republic of Belarus may be auction participants. In order to participate in an auction, a participant shall pass registration on the website https://auction.cctld.by with entering their reliable details or log in via an account on the website of the domain name registrar.
4.5. The auction participant shall have the possibility to bid for each domain name listed starting from the date of the auction start. The date of the auction start shall be the day and time specified in the auction notice. If during last 2 (two) minutes before the end of the auction a bid is made, the auction will automatically be extended for another 5 (five) minutes.
4.6. The bid increment shall be set at 5 (five) Belarusian rubles.
4.7. The minimum auction price which, when offered by an auction participant, makes the auction deemed successful, shall be set as a double standard domain registration fee + 5%.
4.8. A participant that made the highest bid by the end of the auction shall be recognized as the auction winner.
4.9. The auction shall be considered successful if at least a single bid is made, including the expression of willingness by the only bidder to acquire the right to register a domain name at the minimum price in accordance with subparagraph 4.7 hereof.
4.10. Auction participants violating these Regulations, including auction winners that fail to meet the condition of making the Charitable Contribution to the account of one of the institutions and (or) paying the domain name registration fee, may forfeit the right to participate in auctions in future in accordance with the procedure defined in subparagraph 6.2 hereof.
4.11. If the auction bidder failed to meet the condition of making the Charitable Contribution to the account of one of the institutions and (or) paying the domain name registration fee in a timely manner, the right to domain name registration shall be given to the action participant who made a bid preceding the winner’s bid (bid with the next biggest value), provided that the difference between the bids does not exceed two bid increments. This auction participant shall pay the Charitable Contribution in accordance with the procedure defined in Section 5 hereof, provided that the starting date of the period given for payment shall be the date when an electronic notification about an opportunity to acquire the right to domain name registration based on the auction results is sent.

5. Payment of the Charitable Contribution by the Auction Winner

5.1. A notification about winning the auction shall be sent to the email address of the auction winner indicated during the registration on the website https://auction.cctld.by. The auction winner shall choose the domain name registrar from among the registrars listed on the website https://auction.cctld.by and apply for entering into the domain name registration agreement.
5.2. After entering into the domain name registration agreement with the auction winner, the registrar shall send an invoice for domain name registration services to the auction winner to be paid in favour of the registrar and an offer to pay a Charitable Contribution in the amount of the auction winning bid (minus the domain name registration fee) to the account of one of the institutions.
5.3. The charitable contribution shall be paid by the winner within 5 (five) calendar days after the end of the auction. Pursuant to a written reasoned representation addressed by the auction winner to the Organizer, the Committee shall have the right to decide on the extension of the time given for payment of the Charitable Contribution.
5.4. The auction winner shall send copies of payment documents certifying the payment of the Charitable Contribution and domain name registration fee (by mail, fax, sending a scanned copy of the payment document by email or any other means as agreed with the registrar).
5.5. If the Charitable Contribution is made in foreign currency, the payment shall be made at the exchange rate established by the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus as of the date of the invoice.
5.6. The registrar shall verify the fact of payment of the Charitable Contribution and the domain name registration fee by the auction winner and, following that, register the domain name, which was the subject of the auction, in the name of the winner or in the name of a third party indicated by the winner in the registration form by entering the details indicated by the auction winner into the database.
5.7. Other conditions for entering into an agreement for registration of the domain name that was the subject of the auction are governed by the legislation of the Republic of Belarus and the procedure established by the relevant registrar.
5.8. The registrar that registered the domain name, which was the subject of the auction, shall send a summary report with copies of payment documents certifying that the auction winners made the Charitable Contribution in favour of the institutions to the Organizer in the course of 10 calendar days after the end of the auction.

6. Consequences of Winner’s Refusal to Pay the Charitable Contribution and the Domain Name Registration Fee

6.1. If within 5 calendar days after the end of the auction the relevant registrar will not receive information confirming that the auction winner paid the Charitable Contribution and/or if the winner does not submit a registration form and pay the domain name registration fee, the results of the auction shall be cancelled, and the domain name is put up for next auction.
If the relevant registrar does not receive information confirming that the auction winner paid the Charitable Contribution (in the absence of a written reasoned application for extension of the relevant time) and (or) if the winner fails to submit a completed registration form and pay the domain name registration fee within 5 (five) calendar days after the end of the auction, the right to domain name registration shall be offered to another participant of the auction in accordance with the procedure defined in subparagraph 4.11. hereof. If this participant refuses to acquire the right to domain name registration based on the auction results or fails to pay the domain name registration fee and (or) the Charitable Contribution within 5 (five) calendar days after an electronic notification about an opportunity to acquire the right to domain name registration based on the auction results is sent, the auction results shall be cancelled and the domain name shall be offered in the next auction.
6.2. Pursuant to the Committee’s decision:
if the auction winner fails to pay the domain name registration fee and (or) the Charitable Contribution in a timely manner, provided that the winning bid does not exceed the five-fold base value effective on the date of the auction, then a warning shall be issued to such a winner and sent to email address indicated upon registration;
if the auction winner fails to pay the domain name registration fee and (or) the Charitable Contribution (including in respect of at least one winning bid), provided that the winning bid exceeds the five-fold base value, then the auction winner shall forfeit the right to participate in future auction for the period up to 1 (one) year. As requested by the Organizer, this person may also be assigned a duty to pay a penalty as a fine in the amount of 3 (three) base values for reimbursement of auction-related costs.
If violations hereof mentioned in paragraph two of this clause have a systematic nature (3 or more times) in the course of calendar year, this winner shall forfeit the right to participate in future auctions for the period up to 1 (one) year pursuant to the Committee’s decision and, as requested by the Organizer, this person may also be assigned a duty to pay a penalty as a fine in the amount of 3 (three) base values for reimbursement of auction-related costs.
6.3. Pursuant to the Committee’s decision, forfeiture of the right to participate in future auctions for the period up to 1 (one) year shall be applied based on identifying elements of the auction participant (taxpayer identifying number for legal entities and passport details for individuals).

7. Consideration of Auction-Related Disputes

7.1. Auction-related disputes shall be considered by the Committee within 30 (thirty) calendar days after the receipt of a written application from the person concerned.
7.2. In order to obtain additional information, the applicant and other persons potentially interested in the outcome of the dispute may be invited to the consideration of the dispute. Presence of the applicant and other persons potentially interested in the outcome of the dispute is not mandatory.
7.3. Results of the dispute consideration shall be documented by the Committee’s minutes.
7.4. The Committee’s resolution on the dispute may be appealed in court.

Source: https://auction.cctld.by