Interpoint is the delegated authority for registering domain names in the .CG top-level domain. On this site, our authority is trading (t/a) - and simply and colloquially referred to - as DNSAfrica (hereunder also referred as "we", "us" or "our") for the activity encompassing the management of the .CG top-level domain as per IANA/InterNIC delegation obtained on 14th January 1997.
DNSAfrica has established the following policy that constitutes the terms and conditions for using our services. Our current online conditions supersede any other conditions, including your own conditions.
Important : If you don't accept our policy, disclaimers and terms and conditions of use (anymore), that may vary from time to time, you must notify us and stop using any of our services immediately and you cannot register/maintain a domain name in the .CG top-level domain.
The domain name space is served on a first in first out basis. DNSAfrica has a liberal policy about domain name. DNSAfrica does its best to ensure that the top-level domain is run for the best interest of the country and the internet.
For the last 25 years, DNSAfrica has maintained contacts with different local companies and authorities, and up to date, has avoided litigations. DNSAfrica is open to suggestions and guidelines that local authorities and companies are willing to see implemented. Until today, it has been run in a fair and non-partisan basis. The particularity is that DNSAfrica ensures that local citizens of the country are entitled to one free domain name. This is unique on the internet.
The domains are registered just under the top level domain code .CG.
Registering domains under CO.CG or COM.CG has to be referred to DNSAfrica. In that case, the applicant will receive instructions about how to register that domain. No automated whois or invoicing is available for these subdomains. It is the registrant's duty to pay renewal timeously or risk deletion without compensation.
Domains must be used following internet best practices and ICANN guidelines.
Foreign entities (individuals, companies, organizations, ...) may register domains in .CG. The policy of DNSAfrica is to charge these entities with sizeable fees in order to compensate free registration for local citizens.
The foreign entities must provide a full whois contact record (admin/billing), but are not obliged to keep a DNS or the admin contact in the country. Except those qualified by DNSAfrica as restricted or undesirable, any domain name may be assigned to these entities.
Whois entries are private and are not communicated to any non-concerned party.
Restricted domain name
Restricted domain name is defined as :
- a domain under gov net edu ac com co int mil gouv or similar official domains
- any other domain name related to politics, government or public company
Contact DNSAfrica if you want to create such a domain. Note however that it will be assigned only if sponsored by an official authority.
A restricted domain name will be deleted immediately and without compensation, at the rightful owner's request, or once DNSAfrica has discovered its real nature. DNSAfrica's mission is not to police proactively the domain names, but it will consider any information that may determine the restricted nature of a domain name.
Undesirable domain name
Undesirable domain name is defined as :
- being vulgar, offensive, illegal, misleading or deceiving people or being inappropriate
- used for fraudulent or criminal activity, phishing, spamming, and creating dysfunctions on the internet, or based on false promises or addictions
- used as generic reference such as bank nom art ... or any other reference with the intention of misleading the internet community about the real nature of the activity
- used by foreign entities posing as local entities for obtaining some advantages
- used for posing as well-known brands/trademarks or public figures, without the consent of the owner of those brands/trademark or public figures (cybersquatting)
- advocating hatred, violence, war, international conflicts, racism, discrimination, illegal practises ...
- contravening internet best practices or hampering internet functioning
An undesirable domain name will be deleted immediately and without compensation, at the rightful owner's request, or once DNSAfrica has discovered its real nature. DNSAfrica's mission is not to police proactively the domain names, but it will consider any information that may determine the undesirable nature of a domain name.
In case the domain is deleted on the request of local authorities or courts, the domain is immediately deleted and the sub-delegated entity is requested to settle the issue directly with the relevant local authorities or courts. Our responsibility is completely excluded.
Length of domain names
The domain name should have a minimum of three characters. Applications for one or two characters domain may be considered, with an initial/recurring surcharge, with prior arrangement with, and at the discretion of DNSAfrica.
Delegation is not ownership nor property
There is no notion of property/ownership as far as a domain name is concerned. It is rather to be seen as a sub-delegation, and the sub-delegated entity is supposed to manage it in compliance with the RFC's and with the usual rules applicable to such a sub-delegation. Reselling of the domain is a matter that DNSAfrica does not handle directly. It is a private agreement between two parties, and we only provide tools for changing admin/billing contact whois.
DNSAfrica will do its best to ensure that second-level domains are run in a fair way. DNSAfrica may delete a domain name without compensation, should the domain be run in an inappropriate manner or become restricted or undesirable.
Duties of DNSAfrica
As rendered service for domain creation, DNSAfrica installs the requested domain in the database of the DNS server run on IP address 151.80.35.16 and the NS records will be pointed to the DNS servers you specify on the form. This is the only service and duty rendered. It does not include a sale of the domain name as there is no notion of property on a domain.
DNSAfrica manages this service on a "best effort" basis in order to keep this DNS pointer, the delegation and the DNS running, but shall by no means bear any responsibility for any disruption of service as it may occur from time to time on the internet, or disruption of delegation.
DNSAfrica allows for maintaining the domain entries (whois and DNS servers) as per registrant's requests, provided they are legitimate and reasonable.
DNSAfrica is not responsible for proactive policing nor for constantly verifying the acceptable use of the domain names by their registrants. DNSAfrica will however assist any concerned party through local authorities or courts.
These are the exclusive and limitative duties of DNSAfrica. Any other duty is borne by the registrants.
Duties of registrants, admin/billing contacts
By using a registration form or making use of a domain, or by using this website, the user agrees to look up regularly at all the present and future policies, disclaimers, terms and conditions of DNSAfrica, as they may vary from time to time, and comply with them. Litigation will only be solved through a legal procedure in a competent tribunal (see Applicable law hereunder). No foreign court has jurisdiction. Arbitral solution may however be accepted at DNSAfrica sole discretion via an established Intellectual Property Arbitrator. Should DNSAfrica decide to send the matter through the competent tribunal, there will be no alternative. If you don't accept our policy, disclaimers and terms and conditions of use that may vary from time to time, or if you are dissatisfied by our services, you must notify us and stop using any of our services immediately and you cannot register/maintain a domain name in the .CG top-level domain anymore.
Any breach with our policy entitles DNSAfrica to jeopardize, suspend or delete all other domains you are/become an admin and/or billing contact for. DNSAfrica has the right to rectify any information in the whois database that we find being incorrect, irrelevant or misleading. DNSAfrica can also delete or suspend any domain that the registrant does not keep according to our policy, and without compensation.
When you are/become an admin and/or billing contact of a domain registered with us, you are also responsible for all other domain(s) for which you also appear as admin/billing contact. You have the responsibility to maintain all your domains according to these Terms and conditions.
Particularly, you must make sure that whois data is maintained accurately for all your domains, and that all your domains are renewed before expiry date. Failure to do so for one domain can have extended consequences on your other domains. Contact us immediately should you wish to relinquish responsibility on (some of) your domains in order to avoid jeopardy, suspension or deletion of all your domains in case of problems with some of them.
For each DNS server you specify as authoritative, you must have a DNS server up and running which is compliant with current RFC's and which is responding to domain name requests for your domain. We can delete a domain that does not resolve properly on your servers.
If you don't make any use of your domain, i.a. if it does not provide for DNS resolution after a grace period for which we ask you to comply with DNS resolution, and/or if you do not give us notice that you want to keep the domain as dormant (a DNS record TXT "dormant" must be kept in your delegated DNS servers indicating the dormant status), we may delete the said domain after a unique warning.
Registering a domain and not paying it in due time, or leaving it without DNS resolution, or not paying renewal of a domain before or on expiry date and let it lapse because of non-payment is not an acceptable procedure. You must inform us that you want the domain to lapse before it expires. Such a lapsed domain may be deleted or blacklisted for re-registration at our discretion.
These are the non-limitative and non-exclusive duties of the registrants and whois contacts.
Full change of registrant
Full change of registrant (i.e. change of both admin/billing whois contacts) can be made by via the modification procedure of the Whois admin/billing contacts. The domains is therefore transferred into a new registrant that is legally different from the previous registrant. This full change goes beyond a simple modification of whois details (e.g. change of billing contact is a simple modification).
This particular change can only be done with a letter of authorization from the main company's headquarters (with letterhead, signature and stamps).
A time period of not less than one year is applied between multiple requests for change.
The modification of one contact followed soon after by the modification of another contact is assimilated to a full change of registrant.
For security purposes, DNSAfrica can require additional documents or procedures. We may need to use alternate manual ways for identifying your requests as legitimate, with methods that we deem fit.
Validity of e-mails and tickets exchanges
Any notification, ticket, document, invoice, reminder, ... e-mailed by us to the current whois contacts will be deemed as fully accepted 48 hours after its issuance and mailing. If you oppose any notification, document, invoice, reminder, whois, ... you need to notify us immediately after it has been emailed or issued. Otherwise you accept its content.
The invoicing is per e-mail only. DNSAfrica sends yearly invoices to the billing contact e-mail address a few months before the anniversary date of the domain creation with multiple subsequent reminders. There is no reminder sent after expiry.
New customers must first sign up for a support account in order to use our services. We use ZenDesk support system. You must maintain your support account on our ZenDesk platform always accurate and secure it with a password.
If you receive an e-mail/ticket notification from our support system indicating that you have logged a new ticket whereas you have not (e.g. suspicion of hacking on your e-mail, ...), reply immediately to the ticket and inform us that the request is not legitimate, as it may have serious consequences on the management of your domain names. We are not responsible for any security breach on the ZenDesk platform that you use at your own risk.
We can also accept to identify your requests as legitimate when they are originating from the e-mail addresses that you indicated as admin/billing contacts when creating and modifying domains and that we keep on record in our whois database. We are not responsible if your mailbox has been tampered with or in case of a fraudulent use. Should the e-mail addresses in our whois database be no longer available, we need to use alternate manual ways for identifying your requests as legitimate, with methods that we deem fit. We strongly advise existing customers to sign up for a verified support account for additional security measures.
Our correspondence, mailing, ticketing, invoicing, whois, e-mail exchanges, ... are strictly private, confidential and privileged between us and our customer. No public posting is allowed.
Your mail servers must be configured so that our tickets and mails are not classified as spam and reach the right person. It is your sole responsibility if you do not reply to our e-mails, tickets or requests immediately or if you do not receive them. If you do not answer our mails, tickets and invoices, your domains can expire or dysfunction. We also always ask for your confirmation when you request action on domains. Hence you should take all the necessary steps so that anti-spam or anti-virus do not block them and also check the DNS and Mail server settings so that they accept e-mails originating from our office. Note that our e-mails are in HTML format and can include forms. Tickets originate from ZenDesk servers.
You accept these steps taken by us for identification purposes as being of appropriate security levels and standards.
Processing fees
A full change of registrant attracts renewal payment of minimum one year fee, should the domain expire in less than a year.
The occasional simple modification of whois contacts and/or max. two DNS servers of one domain (that is not a full change of registrant) is processed free of charge.
However if any request encompasses a large bulk of modifications for multiple domains or or goes beyond occasional and simple modifications (e.g. billing details of more than one domain, request for list of all domains currently under registrant management, ill-timed repetitive or conflicting requests, ...), it may require the intervention of our engineers on our database. Costs will be charged on a per hour basis.
Restoring an expired or blocked domain or releasing it for public re-registration is at our sole discretion. Reinstatement will attract a fee in the amount of EUR 100.
Any manual identification needed for ascertaining that a request is legitimate will attract a fee in the amount of EUR 100.
Instructions for payment
When you pay our invoices, you must use the reference or communication fields as provided by banks, in order to indicate on the transfer the domains you pay for. If that is not possible, you will e-mail us the list of domains you paid for, with the number of years paid, all together with your payment.
Any payment not accompanied by reference to paid domains will be held in a separate account and domain(s) will not be created/renewed. DNSAfrica will not try to trace back the payment origin, and without proper identification from the payer, this amount will stay unassigned to any domain. Domain will then be deleted without compensation at the end of the reprieve period following the last notice and DNSAfrica wont be liable for any refund.
It is the registrant's responsibility to notify DNSAfrica about the assignment of the payment, and once this payment has been reassigned, domain will be restored until its next renewal date. During the time the domain is suspended, DNSAfrica owes no compensation.
Should the registrant pay for multiple domains in one payment, an e-mail will be sent to DNSAfrica, stating the total amount paid and the list of the domains names (not invoice number) paid for with the corresponding amount for each domain. Otherwise DNSAfrica will keep the the domain on hold until a clear information about payments is provided, or DNSAfrica will assign the payment as it may deem fit, following the informations on bank transfer, without prejudice.
We reserve the right to subcontract and subrogate our payment options via a factoring entity.
Resellers
Resellers have no contractual status with DNSAfrica and are normally not eligible for rebates. However, for an important bulk of registration, you can contact DNSAfrica.
Compensation and liquidated damages
No responsibility, compensation or liquidated damages are due by us, when a domain is used fraudulently, or against this policy, or in instances listed in these Terms and conditions, or for domains subsequently deleted for non compliance, or if the request originates from local authorities or courts.
DNSAfrica never reimburses payments with one exception for credit card payments, being in case of fraud duly reported to the police. Any outstanding amount may be assigned to other domains.
Any suspension, deletion, blacklisting of any domain in case of breach of this policy excludes any compensation or liquidated damages from our side.
For all other reasons duly proven as being our responsability, you accept that our entire liability, and your exclusive remedy, with respect to any service(s) provided by DNSAfrica, and/or for any breach or any other reason, are solely limited to the amount of 10 Euros per year.
Some countries or jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages. If it is the case, the use any of DNSAfrica services is strictly forbidden and you must request cancellation of all your domain names and stop using them. Should you use our services however without informing us about this, you will then be using our services fraudulently.
Legal responsibility
Any consequences of the use of a domain name and its contents (web sites, e-mails, or any other FQDN that ends with the registered domain name), including civil, commercial and criminal consequences, are borne exclusively by the domain registrant's admin and/or billing contact.
In case of obfuscation of whois contacts, the domain name's applicant is considered as the sole responsible for the registered domain.
DNSAfrica will never be responsible for the use of a domain name in any circumstance, but will assist, if required by legal authorities or courts, in order to determine if there is any illegal use. The assistance will be based exclusively on the principle of diligence and reasonable means, but exclude proactive policing or any obligation of result.
Applicable law
Any dispute of any nature whatsoever related to, resulting from, or originating from the the use of this site and the related domain registration and usage, will be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of our seat's competent courts of Canton Vaud, Switzerland. The Swiss (CH) law is applicable. Any other jurisdiction is excluded.
Please also read our disclaimers.
