1. The application must demonstrate provision for the adequate protection of both registrant and third party rights, both in terms of a suitable start-up mechanism, and the resolution of domain name disputes.
2. The application must demonstrate how the registry will ensure compliance with all applicable legislation, and in particular with UK data protection legislation.
3. The application must make adequate provision for Whois service that strikes an appropriate balance between providing information to the public regarding domain name registrations in a convenient manner and offering mechanisms to preserve personal privacy.
4. The applicant must demonstrate that there are no legal impediments to the transfer of responsibility for operating the SLD either to Nominet or to a third party as appropriate in the event of business failure.
5. It is a generally accepted principle within the world-wide Internet community that a country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) registry should be based in the country which the ccTLD denotes. Nominet adheres to this principle, which is expressed in a number of documents, including RFC1591, a document widely respected by many ccTLD operators. For this reason, the applicant, if successful, must agree to operate under UK law and subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the UK courts. If other than English law, the applicant must specify which legal system within the UK it wishes to operate under. The applicant, if its general operations are not based in the UK, must demonstrate an ability to operate the relevant SLD with a sufficiently informed understanding of the circumstances and interests of the likely UK-based registrant constituency for the SLD. The applicant may, for instance, demonstrate such an ability through the establishment of a UK branch.