The State Council on Sept 6 released a circular calling for better management of domain names of government websites.

According to the circular, a government website should have only one Chinese-language domain name and one English-language domain name. Registered domain names are banned from being transferred to others, and idle domain names should be closed in a timely fashion.

Authorities in charge of government websites should make domain name management one of their major tasks, carry out regular inspection and investigate irregular registration, canceling, renting and transfer of domain names, the circular said.

In the circular, the State Council urged website management authorities to enhance coordination with administrations in charge of cyberspace affairs, public sector reform, industry and information technology, and public security, which are responsible for the supervision, recording and industrial management of domain names.

There are two suffixes for government website domains, “.gov.cn” for English domains and “.zhengwu”, which means government-related affairs, for its Chinese version.

Administrative units assuming no function in administration are not allowed to use “.gov.cn” domains, the circular said.

Governments above county level and State Council departments should use “www.□□□.gov.cn” structure for their portal websites, in which “□□□” is the pinyin or the English character string relating to the name of the region under administration or department.

The process of registration, closing, distribution, recalling and changing of domains should be improved, according to the circular.

The State Council also encouraged adopting domain name system secure network protocol technologies and anti-attack technologies to prevent domains being hijacked or misrepresented.

It also stressed implementation of strict and regular monitoring and assessment for swift emergency response.

All levels of government and their departments should conduct a thorough review of their domains and cancel irregular ones. The results should be submitted to the State Council General Office before April 30, 2019, according to the circular.