The ICANN International Corporation has officially notified the .SU operator about plans for a phased closure over the next 5 years. According to Domain Name Wire, the corresponding letter was posted by the domain administrator on February 6.
Currently, the .SU domain is controlled by the Russian Research Institute for the Development of Public Networks (Rosniyro) and has approximately 100,000 active registrations. Despite the Soviet Union ceasing to exist over 30 years ago, the domain has remained available for registration of new names. However, ICANN has now initiated the process to phase out the .SU domain based on domain management policies (cktld).
As per regulations, domains associated with states removed from the ISO 3166-1 standard are subject to phased closure, typically over a period of 5 years. Domain operators can request an extension of an additional 5 years. In the case of .SU, the process was delayed for decades due to ICANN lacking an official mechanism for closing such domains. Now, 3 years after the Rules were approved, the organization is moving forward with implementation.
Information from the PTI letter (the structure that oversees IANA operations) indicates that a formal closing notice should have been published on February 13, but it has not been released yet. If the process is officially initiated, the .SU domain is set to cease to exist by 2030 unless the operator can obtain an extension or policy change. Any revisions to the rules would require approval from the CCNSO organization, which manages country domain policies.
The decision regarding the .SU domain could set a precedent for other domains. For example, Great Britain is considering transferring British territory in the Indian Ocean to the Office of Mauritius. If this occurs, the country code for the Indian Ocean territory could be removed from ISO 3166-1, potentially affecting the popular .IO domain.
With ICANN implementing a mechanism for retiring outdated domains for the first time, questions remain about the impact on stakeholders and whether efforts can be made to prolong the existence of .SU.