Domain names, which begin with a character string that in the future will denote a domain with special characters (so called Internationalized Domain Names, IDN), cannot be registered anymore under .de for the time being. This applies to all domain names that have a hyphen as third and fourth character, such as zq--example.de. With this measure the German registry DENIC wants to make sure that the subsequent transition to the new domain names will run smoothly from a technical point of view and that all parties interested in IDN have the same starting position for a registration. For the same reason no pre-reservations for Domains with special characters will be made. Already registered domains with hyphens as third and fourth characters continue to exist and can be used by their owners in the same way as before. Additionally, changes to the registrations terms and guidelines are necessary, because in the case of IDN for the first time the registered character string does not correspond with the name or term for which it stands and which the user types into the web browser or as an email address.

The introduction of IDN has been discussed for quite some time. In contrast to the previous domains, which were restricted to the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, the numbers 0 through 9 and the hyphen, with IDN national characters and accents become possible in the domain name, as well as completely different alphabets like Arabian and Chinese glyphs. To this end these "special characters" must be translated into the previously used character set, the ASCII code. Experts have comprehensively discussed the best way for this translation. Meanwhile they favor the so-called "Punycode" encoding, which will likely be elevated to a standard this spring. Internationalized domain names will then start with a four-character prefix, which is not defined exactly yet, but it will definitely contain a hyphen at the third and fourth position. This prefix indicates that the domain name will contain one or more special characters.

As soon as an international standard has emerged, DENIC will implement the necessary technical adjustments. Currently it is not clear when registrations for domains with special characters will begin. The schedule and the details of this process will be announced in due time.