A sponsored TLD is a specialized top-level domain that has a sponsor representing a specific community served by the domain. The communities involved are based on ethnic, geographical, professional, technical or other theme concepts proposed by private agencies or organizations that establish and enforce rules restricting the eligibility of registrants to use the TLD.
Generally speaking, a sponsored TLD is a specialized TLD that has a sponsor representing the narrower community that is most affected by the TLD, while an unsponsored TLD operates under policies established by the global Internet community directly through the ICANN process.[2] For example, the .aero TLD is sponsored by SITA, which limits registrations to members of the air transport industry.
Since 2005[update]: IANA states that the sponsoring organization is Employ Media LLC[3] (private company), but also presents a delegation report that states Employ Media LLC is a registry, and the sponsoring organization is The Society for Human Resource Management[4] (nonprofit organization)
ICANN only applied the term sponsored TLD to TLDs in the first two rounds of new gTLDs. It did not use the distinction between sponsored and unsponsored for new gTLDs in the 2012 round.[11]
^".tel Registry Agreement". ICANN. 2016-12-01. Retrieved 2021-02-13. Effective 28 February 2017, the Registry Agreement was assigned by Telnic Limited to Telnames Limited
