A: Please find an ISP before you register a domain name.  Two reasons: 

• registering a domain name means pointing that name to two nameservers, which can only be provided by ISPs, or some very special network programmers.  Before you acquire the service of these nameservers, it is technically impossible to register a domain name.
• how a domain name is resolved is closely tied to how you want your network service, therefore you should find an ISP that provides the service you want, then ask that ISP to provide the nameservers.  Using one ISP to provide nameserver and another one to provide general network service is in general a trouble-prone operation.

A: Theoretically yes, but in general that is not a good idea, unless you are a huge coroporation and your network administrators know how to run a doman name server--most of  them don't.  A domain name is like a mobile telephone number.  It does not work by itself, but must be coupled with network services (web, mail, ...) you want, which I suppose you are getting from some ISPs.  Most often, your ISP is the best party to serve your domain name, and apply for it on your behalf, so they know how to configure your network service to fit your domain name.

If you use one ISP for dialup, and another for webservice, please talk to them all to figure out who among them should serve your domain. One possible criterion: with whom will you stay longer?

Ever wonder why we don't apply for our mobile phone number from the government telecommunication authority, then give it to our mobile phone company?  Domain name is almost analogous.

A: Changing an ISP is very much like changing your mobile phone company: you just go find another one you like, ask them to take over your domain name, and they can file the necessary application forms on behalf of you.  Just like mobile phone, your current ISP cannot stop you from going away, no matter what your business dispute with them, and no matter what some of them tell you otherwise.  Just beware of one thing: unlike mobile phone, changing domain name does not occur immediately.  Please let old ISP service continue for two weeks or more after new ISP files for modification.  You need two weeks for the modification process, and for the world to time out their cache memory.

A: The registration fee is HK$200. HK$200 will also be charged for change of name servers. There is no annual fee at this moment, but it is quite possible that there will be annual fee in the near future. If we need to put in an annual fee in the future, we shall notify the contacts you gave us in your application form.  Your domain name will not be removed before you are notified repeatedly.

A: Sorry, but we are not registering domain names for individuals for the time being.  As you can probably guess, ???.com.hk was meant for companies, not individuals.  The Consumer Council advised us not to register domain names for parties without Business Registration, for fear they can use a fake domain name to cheat consumers.  Please check with your ISP first; the cost of maintaining a domain name is not trivial; the cost of providing network services to support your domain name is even greater, and probably not in the range of an average Internaut. Other .hk domain names are for different types of organization registered in HK.

A: No. Currently, a Branch Registration is considered as a part or division of an organization. Therefore, we are sorry that we do not consider it as an organization eligible to get a .com.hk domain names. You can check the top of a BR certificate to see whether it is a business registration or branch registration.

A: Sorry, .hk domain names aim to serve the Hongkong community, so unless you are registered with a public registry in Hongkong (e.g. company/business registry) we would not be able to verify your identity, and therefore unable to register a domain name for you.  If you are a multinational company, please use your subsidiary in Hongkong to register.  If yours is an overseas company with office in HK, we may ask to see your Business Registration Certificate (issued by the Business Registry of HK).  But if your company has no registration in HK at all, but just want to register a com.hk domain name to "protect" your name, sorry, we cannot provide the service you want.

To find out whether a name is already registered, please click here.If it is, and you want to find out who registered it, please click here.

If you have a whois client, our server is at whois.hknic.net.hk.  Beware though, it is not a web server, so you cannot query it with a web browser.  You need a whois client, like the one on Unix computers: "whois -h whois.hknic.net.hk DomainName.com.hk".  If you don't have a Unix computer, please ask your ISP for a Windows version. 

Mostly yes, but you must insist that they list you, not them, as the administrative contact, and use your eaddr, not theirs.  A few years from now, you may change ISP.  If you don't leave your contact info with us (and we use email mostly), we cannot contact you, and your current ISP will continue to represent you, whether you like it or not.  Will you list your agent as the contact point when registering your car or apartment? 

If you think somebody else "stole" your domain name, and you have a trademark to backup your claim, please read our dispute policy. But if you don't have a local trademark, there is little HKNIC can do. Please talk to your attorney for legal remedies; they have successfully contested domain name registration by mere legal negotiation. HKNIC will adopt a new dispute policy which will be effective on 1-June-2001. 

No. Currently one organization (as defined in the Form section) can register only one .hk domain name. Please refer to the Myths Section for more detail.

No. The Chinese domain names are still experimental, and at least 3 different camps are each advocating their own (and incompatible) systems. More, no user in the world can access those domain names, unless they install special software or join particular ISPs. Most likely, if you register such names, few people can use it to go to your website.

HKNIC do not have any hotline currently nor have enough resources to run a hotline. Please try to contact us by e-mail if the information provided in our web site cannot answer your question. E-mail is our main communication channel and you can expect that our response time should be reasonably fast enough. For billing enquiry, please send to billing@hknic.net.hk.

Basically, there are three kinds of these cases.

• The name of the registrant has been changed. That mean the registrant is still the same and it has the same certificate number. For this kind of cases, please use our application form to 'modify' the organization name. Please fill in the reason in item 1. We may ask for document like Certificate of Incorporation on Change of Name issued by the Companies Registry for verification.
• The name of the registrant were wrongly spelt during registration process. That mean the registrant is still the same and it has the same certificate number. For this kind of cases, please use our application form to 'modify' the organization name. Please fill in the reason in item 1. If the spelling mistake is not so trivial, we probably will reject the application. So, please be careful to fill in the organization name during the registration process.
• You would like to transfer the domain name from the current registrant to another registrant. That mean the two organization are not the same and they have different certificate numbers. For this kind of cases, in order to let other registered organization to register this domain name, the original registrant should delete the domain name first and the new registrant should then apply for it when the name become available again. Please make sure that the new registrant should be eligible to register under the second-level .hk domain name and they have not registered any other .hk domain names. Otherwise, they may not be able to register the domain name after the name's deleted. Since the domain name will be deleted from the name servers, there will be disruption of service. Moreover, anyone can apply for the domain name when the name become available again.