GSA Might Charge for .gov Domain

April 6th, 2003
By Roy Mark

The General Services Administration (GSA), which administers the .gov domain, issued a rule Friday that it reserves the right to "charge for domain names in order to recover costs of operations." The government currently does not charge a fee for a .gov domain, which is used by federal, state and native sovereign nations to promote government services.

The new rule, however, states the GSA "has the authority to employ a system of collection that includes a one-time setup fee for new registrations, which will not exceed $1,000, depending on the level of assistance that may be provided by GSA, and a recurring annual charge that will not exceed $500 for all .gov domains."

The GSA also outlined naming conventions for government entities using the .gov domain, requiring that counties and cities in their postal abbreviation in the Web address. The chief information officer of each government entity must authorize the domain name.