.ec Registration

The .ec extension is the country code top level domain name registration for Ecuador, the South American republic officially called the Republic of Ecuador. Registration of domains is sponsored by the official NIC (Network Information Center) website http://www.nis.ec.

The .ec registration is available for persons, companies and organizations with or without an active presence in Ecuador. While the direct .ec registration is for general use by anyone, the second level and third level domains for various categories are also available. These different categories are:

• .ec : use in general.
• .com.ec : commercial use in general.
• info.ec : information in general.
• net.ec : providers of Internet Services.
• fin.ec : financial Institutions/Services.
• med.ec : medical/Health/Pharma/ and medicine related
• pro.ec : professionals like lawyers, architects, accountants

While the above mentioned domain names do not require one to mandatorily have a presence in the country, there are certain .ec domain name extensions for which one must have a legal presence in the country. These include,

• org.ec : only for non-profit organizations and institutions, or non-governmental organizations that are registered in Ecuador.
• edu.ec : only for educational organizations or institutions such as schools, universities, colleges and institutes registered in Ecuador.
• gov.ec : only for use of the government of the Republic of Ecuador and its governmental institutions.
• mil.ec : only for use of the armed forces of Ecuador.

The fee for .ec domain registration varies depending on the type of domain levels. Also the fee charge for non Eucadorians is higher than that for the Ecuadorians. All fees are paid in US dollars. While the domain registration fee is a one time payment, the maintenance fee has to be paid annually with varying minimal period depending on the type of domain. Long term maintenance fee for up to ten years is accepted and is sometimes discounted when paid in advance. Government and military sites are exempt from paying fees for registration and maintenance.

The fee for domain transfer is 100US$ for Ecuadorians and 150 for non-Ecuadorians. An additional value added tax (VAT) of 12% is charged for all services offered by nic.ec.

New domains can be registered online and payments can be made by credit card, wire transfer or checks. It takes three working days for .ec registration domain names to be activated.