AC.ZA Home Page

About AC.ZA

• Charter
• Eligibility criteria for new ac.za domain name holders
• Possible registration fees
• View a list of operational AC.ZA domains

Services
Applications for new subdomain names of ac.za are invited from institutions that meet the eligibility criteria.

• How to apply for an ac.za domain name
• Domain name search within AC.ZA (whois.ac.za)
• Update your DNS contact details online
• chkzone - Tenet's DNS zone checker

Association Incorporated under Section 21
Reg. No.: 2000/020780/08
Registered as Nonprofit Organisation
Reg.No.:  014-801 NPO
Tel: +27 +21 763 7140 
Fax: +27 +21 763 7117 
Email: AC.ZA Administrator  

Charter

AC.ZA provides a distinctive Internet domain name space for use by higher education institutions, learned societies and associated research and support institutions that are domiciled in the Republic of South Africa. It is a moderated domain and is administered by Tertiary Education Network.

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Eligibility criteria for new ac.za domain name holders

Institutions that satisfy the three Eligibility Criteria spelt out below may apply to register new sub-domains of ac.za.

1. Juristic person: The Institution is a juristic person domiciled in the Republic of South Africa;

2. Primary purpose: The Institution  :

          is EITHER a Higher Education Institution that 

1. is established, deemed to have been established or declared as a public higher education institution in terms of the Higher Education Act (no. 101 of 1997), as amended; OR

2. is registered as a private higher education institution in terms of the Higher Education Act (no. 101 of 1997), as amended; 

          OR, while it is not a Higher Education institution, at least one of the following conditions applies to it:

1. it conducts scholarly research and places a reasonable proportion of the results in the public domain, as a primary purpose or core activity; OR

2. it provides direct, specialised support for higher education and/or scholarly research, as a primary purpose or core activity; OR
3. it is a national association, regional association or consortium of institutions, each of which meets at least one of the four criteria above; OR
4. it is a learned society.

The Administrator may require applicants to submit certified copies of the Institution's Certificate of Registration, Articles of Association, Constitution or other documentation of the Organisation's status and/or purpose.

3.      Domain Name Service: The Institution is willing and able to provide the Domain Name Service for the sub-domain in accordance with established Internet practice. An Internet Service Provider or other third party may provide the Domain Name Service for the sub-domain on behalf of the Institution. Before registering a new sub-domain the Administrator will test the efficacy of the Domain Name Service that has been set up for it.

These eligibility criteria have been applied since from 23 July 2001, but were not necessarily applied when domain names were registered before that date. Some background to the formulation of these eligibility criteria is contained in the article "Who should be eligible to hold ac.za domain names?" 

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Envisaged registration and annual domain name service fees

At the time of writing name holders of ac.za sub-domains pay no fees. However it is possible that at some future date TENET will have to introduce a registration fee and/or an annual re-registration fee.  In particular, this might happen in consequence of decisions taken by the ZA Domain Name Authority once it assumes control of the ZA domain, as contemplated in the ECT Act of 2002.

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