Here we try to answer some of the most common questions and in doing so help the public better understand the way our Foundation works. We also want to demonstrate the ways in which we have sought over the years to display openness and accountability towards the Internet community and the public in Serbia.
RNIDS is a foundation, established according to the Endowments and Foundations Act as a legal entity tasked with administering the national Internet domains. RNIDS is a professional, non-governmental, not-for-profit foundation, founded on 8th July 2006 by representatives of the Serbian Internet community who responded to a public call to finally come up with a systemic solution for the management of the .YU domain at the time. You can find more on our site about the history of the development of the national Internet domain registry over the last 20 years and the problems that were resolved by the establishment of RNIDS.
The Agreement on the Founding of RNIDS was signed on 18th December 2006 by 17 companies and organisations who in doing so gained the status of founding member. Membership of RNIDS in the capacity of co-founder is open to all legal entities and sole traders in Serbia, and the organisation today numbers 60 co-founders, including numerous prominent organisations, companies and academic institutions. These include: the University of Belgrade Faculty of Electrical Engineering, the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, the Svetozar Marković University Library, the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Telekom Serbia and the largest Serbian Internet providers and cable operators. A complete list of co-founders is available in the public register maintained by the Business Registers Agency, and on the page Co-founders and authorised representatives.
There are many other country Internet domain registries in Europe and the rest of the world which function in a similar way to RNIDS – for example the registries in Great Britain, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Israel, etc. A good overview of the various models of relationship between states and country Internet registries can be found in the document of the Council of European National Top Level Domain Registries – CENTR. In most countries the model for the organisation which manages the national Internet domains is very similar to that of RNIDS, i.e. a non-governmental entity , which is in keeping with global Internet governance trends.
The task of administering the national Internet domains (the Latin .RS and the Cyrillic .СРБ) was delegated to RNIDS by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which administers the global system of Internet addresses and numbers and which delegates all the other country and generic Internet domains worldwide.
As can be seen from the history of our Foundation, various state institutions have taken a close interest in the establishment and operation of RNIDS from the very beginning. ICANN delegated the .RS domain (2007) and the .СРБ domain (2011) to RNIDS only once official endorsement had been received from the Government and the relevant ministries of the Republic of Serbia, as well as from relevant actors in the local Internet community. This is standard procedure when national domains are delegated by this organisation. Over time, RNIDS has established good partnerships not just with the relevant ministries but also with a range of other state institutions, such as, for example, the Interior Ministry’s Department for High-Tech Crime, the Public Prosecutor’s office, the Intellectual Property Office and the Office for Information Technologies and e-Government.
There are no current domestic regulations specifically addressing Internet domains, hence this area comes under the domain of private law. In late 2010, a Cooperation Agreement was signed between the Ministry for Telecommunications and the Information Society and RNIDS. The Agreement does not concern matters of jurisdiction in the management of the national domains, rather it is aimed at promoting collaboration between RNIDS and the responsible ministry in the interests of the stable operation of the Internet in Serbia and of the registry of Internet domains, in accordance with the rules of ICANN. Under the terms of the Agreement, RNIDS has taken on additional obligations in terms of strict adherence to uptime parameters for infrastructural services, provision of financial reserves to ensure stable operation and an obligation to submit a special report on its activities to the ministry responsible for information society issues.
RNIDS does not receive funding from any state budget, nor has it ever received any donations; all revenues are from fees collected for national domain name registrations and annual membership fees paid by its co-founders. Revenues collected as fees for .RS and .СРБ. domain registrations are used by RNIDS exclusively to cover its operational costs, including payment of all tax obligations under applicable regulations. The not-for-profit status of the Foundation means that profits are not distributed to the co-founders – they are used solely in order to pursue the objectives for which the Foundation was established, including ensuring the necessary reserves for the stable operation of the registry, as per the agreement signed with the Ministry.
Pursuant to law, RNIDS has since its founding filed regular financial reports; these are registered with the Business Registers Agency and can also be found on the page Financial documents. In addition to this, RNIDS has since 2008 submitted its financial reports for independent auditing and all reports returned by the independent auditor to date have been positive. Since 2010, RNIDS has also published its annual financial plans on its website, and since 2012 has published all of its financial statements on a quarterly basis. Since 2013, RNIDS’ business activities have been additionally subject to inspection by an internal auditor. The Office and the Board of Governors submit regular reports to the RNIDS Conference of Co-founders, and these are also regularly published on the page Approved documents, together with the minutes from all meetings of RNIDS bodies, and other enactments.
Registrations are governed by the rules for the registration of .RS and .SRB domains. In brief, any member of the public or company, local or foreign, can quickly and easily register any .RS or .SRB domain they wish. Registration is carried out through the network of accredited registrars all over Serbia; more information can be found on the page The national domains.
RNIDS is comprised of: the Conference of Co-founders, the Board of Governors and the director. The Conference of Co-founders is comprised of authorised representatives of all the co-founders who participate in the work of RNIDS and oversee its operations. The Board of Governors comprises the highest level of management of RNIDS, concerning itself with the implementation of the objectives established by the Statute, the decisions and the other enactments of RNIDS. The Board of Governors has seven members and reports to the Conference of Co-founders. The director is the executive officer of RNIDS who is appointed by the Board of Governors from multiple candidates after a public application process. The director oversees the work of the RNIDS Office, which carries out day-to-day administrative and technical tasks for all bodies within the organisation.
