Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) are domain names represented by local language characters. Such domain names could contain letters or characters from non-ASCII scripts (for example, Arabic or Chinese). Many efforts are ongoing in the Internet community to make domain names available in character sets other than ASCII.

These "internationalized domain name" (IDN) efforts were the subject of a 25 September 2000 resolution by the ICANN Board of Directors, which recognized "that it is important that the Internet evolve to be more accessible to those who do not use the ASCII character set," and also stressed that "the internationalization of the Internet's domain name system must be accomplished through standards that are open, non-proprietary, and fully compatible with the Internet's existing end-to-end model and that preserve globally unique naming in a universally resolvable public name space."

This area is designed to document the progress of the implementation of IDNs as well as allow for discussion of issues encountered in implementation. For more information on how to participate in IDN activities, please contact <idn@icann.org>.

(What is RSS?)IDN Announcements
26 November 2008	Update: IDN ccTLD Fast Track Draft Implementation Plan
12 November 2008	Compliance with IDN technical requirements (blog post)
1 November 2008	IDN ccTLD Fast Track Interest
23 October 2008	Public Comment: IDN ccTLD Fast Track Draft Implementation Plan
9 October 2008	Bengali and Khmer Added to IDN Testing Process
2 October 2008	ICANN Seeks Interest in IDN ccTLD Fast-Track Process
20 August 2008	IDN TLD Allocation Implementation Processes
15 July 2008	Comments Encouraged on the Final Report of IDNC Working Group on ccTLD "Fast Track" Mechanisms
26 June 2008	Now Available: Board Proposal IDNC WG, the Final Report IDNC WG on Fast Track Process for IDN ccTLDs
26 June 2008	Main IDN User Question
24 June 2008	Comment Period Closed; Updated Draft Final Report IDNC WG on Fast Track Process for IDN ccTLDs Now Available
22 June 2008	Update of Draft Final Report of IDNC WG on Fast Track Process for IDN ccTLDs Now Available
13 June 2008	Draft Final Report of Recommendations for IDN ccTLD Fast Track Mechanism Made Available
6 June 2008	IDN wiki - adding Urdu and Thai
5 June 2008	Internationalized Domain Name Program Adds Two Languages
19 March 2008	New Languages Added to ICANN’s IDN Wiki
29 February 2008	DNSSEC on IDN .test zones
22 February 2008	What does the IDN wiki give us?
6 February 2008	When can I register domain names under IDN TLDs?
1 February 2008	Public Comments Requested on Initial Draft Fast-Track Mechanism for Introduction of a Limited Number of IDN ccTLDs يُرجى إرسال التعليقات العامة على آلية المسودة المبدئي للتتبع السريع لتقديم عدد محدود من IDN ccTLD 在快速跟踪机制下引入有限数量 IDN ccTLD 的初稿，现公开征求意见 IDN ccTLDs की सीमित संख्या के परिचय के लिए प्रारंभिक ड्राफ़्ट फ़ास्ट-ट्रैक प्रणाली पर अनुरोध की गई सार्वजनिक टिप्पणियाँ 한정된 수의 IDN ccTLD 채택 추진 가속화 방안 초안에 대한 공개 의견 수렴 ファーストトラックメカニズムに基づく限定数の IDN ccTLD の導入に関する最初のドラフトについて一般からのコメントを募集 Общественные комментарии к первоначальному черновому проекту ускоренного метода для введения ограниченного числа кодов стран доменов высшего уровня (ccTLD) IDN
31 January 2008	Successful Evaluations of .test IDN TLDs
29 December 2007	Internationalization and Localization
19 December 2007	Request to Provide Input to Issue Report on Introduction of IDN ccTLDs
26 November 2007	An Important Step Toward the Implementation of IDN Top-Level Domains: New Versions of IDNA Protocol Revision Proposals Posted
13 November 2007	Steps Taken for Multilingual Internet ITU, UNESCO and ICANN collaborate at Internet Governance Forum
13 November 2007	ASAP: Internationalized Country Code Top-Level Domains ICANN holding briefing on IDN ccTLD fast-track process at Internet Governance Forum
28 October 2007	IDN Status Report
23 October 2007	IDN wiki - 1 Week Stats Update
16 October 2007	24hr IDNwiki Report - What Do the User Stats Look Like?
15 October 2007	My Name, My Language, My Internet: IDN Test Goes Live Internet users around the globe can now experiment with their name in their language on their Internet with today’s launch of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers live testing of Internationalized Domain Names in 11 languages.
9 October 2007	On Its Way: One of the Biggest Changes to the Internet Internet users have key role in testing the operation of example.test in 11 languages
20 September 2007	ICANN, TWNIC Host “Toward the New Era of Internet” in Taipei Internationalized domain names, Internet security key topics at three-day meeting 20 September 2007
23 August 2007	Update: IDN .test Root-Zone Evaluation
6 August 2007	Procedures for IDN TLD Evaluation Deployment in the Root Zone
1 August 2007	IANA Report on Delegation of Eleven Evaluative Internationalised Top-Level Domains
31 July 2007	SSAC Response to ICANN's Proposed Next Steps for IDN Deployment in the Root Zone
19 July 2007	Updated IDN .test Evaluation Plan ICANN updates the IDN .test Evaluation Plan based on comment to the previously posted version of the plan for the insertion of evaluation IDN TLDs in the root zone
9 July 2007	ccNSO-GAC Issues Report on IDN Policy Issues
29 June 2007	Top-Level Domains, Internationalized Domain Names, and Address Space Discussions Make Progress in San Juan Refinement of policies means new domain names on track for mid-2008, possible live evaluation of IDNs
19 June 2007	ICANN Releases Draft IDN Evaluation Plans
18 June 2007	IDN Program Status Report
18 June 2007	RSSAC Statement on ICANN's Proposed Next Steps for IDN Deployment in the Root Zone
15 June 2007	إرشادات تطبيق أسماء النطاقات الدولية إصدار 2.2 (Arabic version 2.2 of the IDN Guidelines)
15 June 2007	DIRECTIVES DE MISE EN OEUVRE DES NOMS DE DOMAINES INTERNATIONALISÉS Version 2.2 (French version 2.2 of the IDN Guidelines)
15 June 2007	LINEAMIENTOS PARA LA IMPLEMENTACION DE NOMBRES DE DOMINIO INTERNACIONALIZADOS (IDN) Versión 2.2 (Spanish version 2.2 of the IDN Guidelines)
15 June 2007	推行国际化域名的指导方针版本号2.2 0.03 版草案 (Chinese version 2.2 of the IDN Guidelines)
2 June 2007	ICANN Moves Forward Towards Introduction Of Internationalized Top Level Labels (IDNs) in the DNS
11 May 2007	Draft IDN Guidelines, v.2.2 for Public Comments This is the first version of the IDN Guidelines to make specific reference to IDN in top-level labels. It is anticipated to be amended and supplemented in subsequent drafts in preparation for the release of internationalized top-level labels in the production environment.
11 May 2007	Definition of the term character has been included in the IDN Glossary
2 May 2007	ICANN Publishes IDN Glossary In an attempt to ensure that discussions regarding IDNs take place in a consistent manner ICANN has published an IDN Glossary. The glossary terms can be used freely and is expected to be expanded over time.
7 March 2007	ICANN Successfully Conducts Laboratory Tests of Internationalised Domain Names
5 December 2006	IDN Laboratory Test Design Plans - Comments on IDN Laboratory Test Design Close on 19 December 2006
29 November 2006	IDN Agenda and Background Information In Preparation for the ICANN Meeting in São Paulo
2 November 2006	Workshop Report — Towards a Multilingual Global Internet: Avoiding the Risk of Fragmentation
1 November 2006	Internationalised Domain Names Roadmap — Progress and Future
31 October 2006	IDNA Protocol Review and Proposals for Changes In follow up to the RFC4690 that was made available in September and announced on http://www.icann.org on 19 October 2006, a set of proposed solutions and changes to the IDNA protocol is underway and have recently been made available as internet drafts.
19 October 2006	IDN Laboratory Testing Progress ICANN continues to make progress toward laboratory testing for strings corresponding to internationalized top level labels (IDNs). The purpose of the laboratory tests were described during the ICANN meeting in Morocco held earlier this year ICANN and they are being designed and conducted under the guidance of the ICANN Presidents Advisory Committee for IDNs.
11 October 2006	Review and Recommendations for Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs)
5 October 2006	ICANN Establishes Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) News Feed ICANN has added to its website an RSS news feed to provide the community with information on ICANN developments related to Internationalized Domain Names.
23 June 2006	PIR Releases Principles for the Foundation of Top Level IDNs
28 May 2006	Policy Issues relating to IDN at the top-level - Preliminary Issues Report On request from the GNSO Council, ICANN staff has prepared a preliminary Issues Report that sets out policy issues involved with the proposed introduction of IDNs into the root zone of the DNS. The GNSO Council has followed the report's recommendation to establish a joint working group in coordination with the ccNSO to analyze, prioritize, and select issues for further policy development. Comments on the report can be posted to idn-tlds-comments@icann.org and viewed at http://forum.icann.org/lists/idn-tlds-comments.
14 March 2006	Timetable of Proposed Testing of IDNS in Top-Level Domains Announced ICANN released today a statement outlining a proposal by the President's Committee on IDNs (co-chaired by Hualin Qian, Mouhamet Diop and Paul Twomey) for a timetable leading to the technical testing of IDNs at the TLD level. The timetable contains a series of consultations and collaborations to ensure that the testing, when launched, will preserve DNS stability and security. It does not purport to be a presumption on any related policy issues which are in the perview of the ICANN policy bodies. The timetable calls for the start of testing in July 2006.
27 February 2006	IDN Guidelines Update and Posting of Version 2.1 The ICANN Board resolution of 8 November 2005 endorsing the v.2.0 Guidelines "tasks the IDN working group to continue its important work and return to the board with specific IDN improvement recommendations before the ICANN Meeting in Morocco, currently scheduled for June 2006." Click here for an update on this work as well as for information about the version 2.1 of the IDN Guidelines.
05 December 2005	ICANN Concludes 24th International Public Meeting in Vancouver with Action on Governmental Advisory Committee Evolution and Internationalised Domain Names
23 November 2005	ICANN President's Advisory Committee for IDNs ICANN is pleased to announce the launch of the President's Advisory Committee for IDNs. The committee will provide the Board and the ICANN community with advice on issues that relate to IDN policies. The first tasks of the committee will include analyzing various issues and implementation opportunities for internationalized top level domains.
17 November 2005	Implementation of Internationalized Top Level Domains As previously announced, IDN workshop will be held during the ICANN Vancouver meeting. Accordingly, ICANN is posting the candidate papers received in response to its earlier call for papers. The papers will be vetted for presentation by a technical panel being appointed by ICANN.
14 November 2005	IDN Guidelines Version 2.0 Finalized The Guidelines for Implementation of Internationalized Domain Names, version 2.0, is now posted as final following ICANN Board endorsement. The resolution from the ICANN Board contained additional directions and timelines for potentially reframing or revising the IDN Guidelines.
7 November 2005	Final Proposed Draft IDN Guidelines Posted The final proposed draft version 2.0 of the Guidelines for implementation of Internationalized Domain Names is now posted. The draft is currently pending endorsement from the ICANN Board. Additionally, an overview of the actions taken by the working group in response to the comments received on the initially proposed draft has been posted.
31 October 2005	IDN Guideline Revision Update The members of the TLD registries working group for the revision of the IDN Guidelines wish to express their gratitude to all of the individuals and organizations who submitted comments to the public forum on the draft text. ICANN has posted a formal thank you note along with a description of the IDN process. While the changes to the guidelines will be based on the commentary that has already been received, the discussion forum for IDN guideline issues has been re-opened to enable the continued discussion of IDN issues. The archive of the forum is available at <http://forum.icann.org/lists/idn-guidelines/> and comments should be submitted to idn-guidelines@icann.org.
17 October 2005	Draft Revised IDN Guidelines The French version of the draft revised Guidelines for the Implementation of Internationalized Domain Names ("IDN Guidelines") is now posted. Comment period to this draft has been extended to 23 October 2005, 23:00 UTC.
20 September 2005	Draft Revised IDN Guidelines: Public Comment Period ICANN has opened a 30-day public comment period on a draft revised version of the Guidelines for the Implementation of Internationalized Domain Names ("IDN Guidelines"). This draft reflects the experiences of the IDN registries in the implementation of Version 1.0 of the guidelines. Particular attention has been paid to concerns that have arisen about the deceptive use of visually confusable characters from different scripts in individual IDN labels.
14 September 2005	Formal Call for Papers Concerning Deployment of Internationalized Top Level Domains ICANN has opened a discussion forum to enable interested parties to discuss implementation issues with introducing internationalized top level domains. This will be the main topic at the IDN Workshop during the ICANN Vancouver meeting, and documents concerning this topic are being posted here for review and discussion by all interested parties.
23 February 2005	ICANN Statement Regarding IDN Homograph Concerns ICANN is aware of the recent publicity regarding the vulnerability of certain web browsers to URI and domain name spoofing that relies on the use of Internationalised Domain Name (IDN) resolution. ICANN encourages the global Internet community to participate in this public comment forum as part of an effort to improve public protection from abusive use of domain names while responsibly opening up opportunities for non-Latin language characters to be used in registered domain names.
IDN Announcement Archives