Jersey Government Negotiating for .je Domain Rights

Tax-news.com

10 January 2000

The Jersey Government is negotiating to secure the right for web sites hosted on the island to use the .je domain in a bid to help raise the island's profile as a an e-commerce centre. After 2 years of negotiating they have recently made a deal with the internet company that owns the rights to the .je domain to allow Jersey Government departments to use the gov.je domain for their websites, and are now trying to strike a similar deal to make the .je domain available to local businesses as well.

At present, Jersey based e-commerce sites have to use either a generic domain such .com or the .uk domain, neither of which identifies them with Jersey - unlike their Channel Csland neighbours who already have control over their own domains. If taxes are eventually legislated for e-commerce transactions, the use of regional internet domains in website addresses could become an important factor for both e-businesses and consumers.

The Jersey government views having control over their own domain as a key factor in establishing Jersey's reputation as a secure, low-tax jurisdiction for e-commerce. The main focus of the negotiations is now therefore on how the .je domain will be regulated if it is handed over to the Jersey government, including who can use the domain, for what purpose it can be used and how companies wanting to use it will be vetted.

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