.hk
Top-level Internet domain for Hong Kong
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From the introduction of the domain in 1990 to 2002, the domain was administered by the Joint University Computer Centre (JUCC), which was incorporated in 1970 as a cooperative consortium of the information technology service centers of the eight government-funded tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. During this period, the Chinese University of Hong Kong was responsible for technical support, the University of Hong Kong coordinated fees, and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University was responsible for maintaining the accounts.
In 2002, by a Memorandum of Understanding with the government of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation (HKIRC) took over the administration of .hk from the Joint University Computer Centre. The Hong Kong Domain Name Registration Corporation Limited (HKDNR), a wholly owned subsidiary of HKIRC, is responsible for the day-to-day management of the domain registration service.
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Domains
".hk" domain names can be registered at both the second and third level. All domain names could contain alphanumeric characters and hyphens.
Internationalised domains
A Chinese domain name must include at least one Chinese character but may also contain English letters. In contrast, an English domain name cannot contain any Chinese characters. Since mid-January 2011, Chinese domain names with the ".hk" extension (but not those ending in ".香港") have been unavailable for registration. Domains already registered under these categories can still be used and renewed.
On 25 June 2010, ICANN approved the use of the internationalised country code top-level domain .香港 (.xn--j6w193g) by HKIRC. This TLD was added to the DNS on 12 July 2010.
The pre-launch priority registration for .香港 was started on 22 February 2011. The first .香港 domain was activated on 23 March 2011. 香港 domain categories were opened for public registration since 31 May 2011.