.հայ (“.hye”) was approved as Armenia’s new country domain suffix in July (Source: Public Radio of Armenia)

YEREVAN (ARMENPRESS)—Internet Society, a non-governmental organization that represents major Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and other Internet user groups in Armenia, has announced that it will begin accepting applications for the registration of the Internet domain name representing Armenia, .հայ (“hye”), beginning on September 1, 2015.

Internet Society hopes that the call for applications will give holders of trademarks and tradenames the opportunity to secure the new .hye domain name. Speaking to Armenpress, Vice Chair of Internet Society Grigori Saghyan said that three months will be needed to register a trademark or tradename with a .hye domain.

According to Saghyan, applications will be accepted online via the Internet Society’s website, isoc.am. Applicants will be charged 5000 drams for the review of the application, which is the price of maintaining a domain name for one year.

Saghyan said that a domain names will not be granted to false or unintelligible trademarks or tradenames.

When asked what benefits an Armenian language domain will bring to Internet users in Armenia, Saghyan said that, “the query [we] did showed that 30 percent of our population does not master any language except Armenian […] this will allow those people to make full use of the resources having a ‘.hye’ domain.”

Many brands are recognizable only in Armenian, according to Saghyan, and it will be beneficial for the companies and owners of those brands to have an Armenian domain in the Armenian language so that they “will immediately strike the eye” of consumers.

The International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved Internet Society’s application for the .hye Internet domain in July.