View source for .bz

{{Short description|Internet country code top-level domain for Belize}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2023}}
{{use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{About|the top-level domain|the file extension|bzip2}}
{{Infobox Top level domain|
name=.bz|
background=#CCF|
image=DotBZ domain logo.png|
introduced={{Start date and age|1991|9|3}}|
type=[[Country code top-level domain]]|
status=Active|
registry=[[Belize Network Information Center]] (managed by [[University Management Ltd]]|
sponsor=[[University of Belize]]|
intendeduse=Entities connected with [[Belize]]|
actualuse=Used for a random assortment of sites, many not in Belize|
restrictions=None|
structure=Registrations can be made directly at the second level as well as at the third level beneath various second level labels|
document=|
disputepolicy=[[UDRP]]|
website=[http://www.belizenic.bz/ Belizenic]|
dnssec=yes}}

'''.bz''' is the [[Internet]] [[country code]] [[top-level domain]] ([[ccTLD]]) for [[Belize]]. It is administered by the [[University of Belize]].

== Usage ==
At one point, '''.bz''' domains were being marketed by an American company as standing for "business", and that company took legal action against [[ICANN]] in an attempt to block the '''[[.biz]]''' domain as "[[unfair competition]]".<ref>{{cite web
 |access-date=2007-11-22 
 |url=http://www.icann.org/tlds/correspondence/esi-v-icann-13nov00.htm 
 |title=Order in Economic Solutions, Inc. v. ICANN 
 |date=2000-09-13 
 |publisher=ICANN 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071221065125/http://www.icann.org/tlds/correspondence/esi-v-icann-13nov00.htm 
 |archive-date=21 December 2007 
 |url-status=live 
}}</ref>  

Currently, the registry is in Belize, but is still marketing the domain outside the country as "meaning business".  [[Internationalized domain]]s with a wide assortment of non-ASCII characters are also available.

== Domains ==
There are some [[second-level domain]]s in use, however these are not required{{clarify|date=May 2025}}:
{| class="wikitable"
!Domain
!Intended purpose
|-
|.com.bz
|Commercial 
|-
|.edu.bz
|Educational 
|-
|.gov.bz
|Government
|-
|.net.bz
|Networking
|-
|.org.bz
|Organisations
|}
It also might have use for [[typosquatting]] for misspellings of [[.biz]] domains.

=== Domain hack ===
Many websites in Italy use this domain, because of the abbreviation of [[Bolzano]], the capital of the province of [[South Tyrol]], and the fact that the official abbreviation of the province is BZ. Many websites use the Italian subdomain .bz.it. 

Servers for the [[open source]] game ''[[BZFlag]]'' often use names ending in '''.bz'''.

==See also==
*[[Internet in Belize]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/bz.html IANA .bz whois information]
* [http://www.icann.org/announcements/icann-pr10nov00-2.htm ICANN advisory about lawsuit]
* [http://www.irist.com/bz-domain/bz-requirements-and-faqs/ .bz Requirements and FAQs]

{{CcTLD}}
{{Belize topics}}
{{Americas topic|Internet in }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bz}}
[[Category:Country code top-level domains]]
[[Category:Telecommunications in Belize]]
[[Category:Internet properties established in 1991]]


{{Belize-stub}}
{{Compu-domain-stub}}

[[sv:Toppdomän#B]]