.tw

Introduced	31 July 1989
TLD type	Country code top-level domain
Status	Active
Registry	TWNIC
Sponsor	TWNIC
Intended use	Entities connected with  Taiwan
Actual use	Popular in Taiwan
Registration restrictions	Requirements vary depending on which second-level name registration is within; foreigners allowed in several categories
Structure	Registrations are at second level or at third level beneath some second-level labels
Documents	Guidelines for administration of domain name registration
Dispute policies	Taiwan Network Information Center Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy
DNSSEC	yes
Registry website	TWNIC

.tw is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Taiwan. The domain name is based on the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code TW. The registry is maintained by the Taiwan Network Information Center (TWNIC), a Taiwanese non-profit organization appointed by the National Communications Commission (NCC) and the Ministry of Transportation and Communication. Since 1 March 2001, TWNIC has stopped allowing itself to sign up new domain names directly, instead allowing new registration through its contracted reseller registrars. As of May 2023^[update], there are 17 registrars.^[1]

Registering .tw website domains

Internationalized ccTLDs

ICANN assigned two Internationalized country code top-level domains (IDN ccTLDs) for Taiwan on 25 June 2010:^[2]

• 台灣 : taiwan in traditional Chinese characters (DNS name: xn--kpry57d)
• 台湾 : taiwan in simplified Chinese characters (DNS name: xn--kprw13d)

Presently in November 2019, and since at least November 2015 ("IETF dnsop WG mailing list".), the simplified suffix is a DNAME alias for the traditional suffix. As a result any subdomain of the traditional xn--kpry57d TLD automatically has a CNAME alias from the simplified xn--kprw13d TLD. The traditional suffix is in active use.

Second-Level Domains

Registrations under .tw are possible in second-level space or under various domains as third-level domains:

• edu.tw: for educational and academic institutions
• gov.tw: for agencies of the Government of the Republic of China, operated by Taiwan
• mil.tw: for the Republic of China Armed Forces, operated by Taiwan
• com.tw: for companies or firms (Taiwanese or foreign) registered under the laws of their country
• net.tw: for network or telecommunications license holders
• org.tw: for non-profit organizations (Taiwanese or foreign) established according to the laws of their country
• idv.tw: for individuals (must verify their identity by e-mail)
• game.tw: unrestricted (but registrant must verify their identity by email), intended for gaming-related content
• ebiz.tw: unrestricted (but registrant must verify their identity by email), intended for online business-related content
• club.tw: unrestricted (but registrant must verify their identity by email)
• tw: unrestricted

Domain names in Chinese characters may also be registered at the second level. Furthermore, any registrant of a standard domain name who has chosen a domestic registrar may automatically get two more domain names in Chinese characters in the following second-level domains: 網路.tw, 組織.tw and 商業.tw. These second-level domains correspond to net.tw, org.tw and com.tw, respectively.

Statistics

As of March 2017, around 8.31％ of the .tw domains are served via secured HTTPS protocol, with the cPanel, Inc. Certification Authority being the most popular SSL certificate.^[3] Apache is the most popular web server, serving 47.60% of the .tw domains, followed by Microsoft-IIS serving 20.31% of the total .tw domains.^[3]