The Barbados Government, through its Telecommunications network and with the agreement of Cable &Wireless (Barbados), will take over the administration of the .bb as of February 18 according to a post on the government’s Telecoms Unit website dated 10 January 2008.

ccTLDs are usually administered by the relating governments. In the case of .bb, Cable & Wireless (C&W) was given the administration of the “.bb” domain name from the University of Puerto Rico in 1996. Then in 2001 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Government of Barbados and C&W (Bartel) Ltd. and C&W (BET) Ltd. provided for C&W to continue to carry out administration of the “.bb” domain name until the government decided otherwise.

With the liberalization of the telecommunication sector in Barbados, it had to be decided whether or not to give continued administration of the Domain Name Registration. The Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL) advised that the management of a Domain Names would involve government entities as well as academic entities, NGOs and the private sector. Should Government decided to take over this function it would be essential for the staff to be trained.

The government has said that the aim is to operate a semi-restricted ccTLD and let the Corporate Affairs and Intellectual Property Office handle the legal issues, which are an important part of Domain Name administration. The Inter American Telecommunications Commission (CITEL) also advised that it is the role of government to provide a clear, coherent and predictable legal system. The main element of legal responsibility relates to duty of care and protection against issues such as defamation, infringement of copyright and/or trademarks, misappropriation of intellectual property and unjust enrichment. A semi-restricted system means that it is necessary to be a resident or have a local representative with a formally-constituted presence (tax number, registered company etc.).