The following rules have been set up by Dansk Internet Forum (“DIFO”) under section 14(1) of the Danish Act No. 598 of 24 June 2005 on Internet Domains Specifically Allocated to Denmark
1. Establishment and composition of the Complaints Board for Internet Domain Names
Para. 1. The Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation establishes a complaints board for Internet domain names ("Complaints Board"). The Complaint Boards conducts its business independently of the Minister and Dansk Internet Forum, which has been appointed by the National IT and Telecom Agency to administer the Internet domain.dk (“Registry”).
Para. 2. The Complaints Board comprises three members and three substitutes, who are appointed by the Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation after consultation of the Complaints Board. When appointing members to the Complaints Board the Minister must consider it important to ensure that the Complaints Board overall represents theoretical and practical expertise in law, including expertise in name and trademark rights.
Para. 3. In addition, the Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation appoints two members and two substitutes with commercial and consumer expertise to assist in handling cases involving non-commercial users or non-commercial registrants and cases of fundamental importance. The chairman of the Complaints Board decides when a matter is of fundamental importance. The representatives of consumer and commercial interests are appointed after consultation of the consumer’s and industry’s organisations.
Par. 4. Members of the Complaints Board are appointed for a term of four years.
Para 5. The Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation appoints the chairman of the Complaints Board from among the members of the Complaints Board. The chairman and his substitute(s) must be a High Court judge or a Supreme Court judge.
2. Administration
Para. 1. The Complaints Board may retain the services of a secretary to attend to the preparation of cases, take part in any conciliation procedure, head the secretariat and represent the Complaints Board in external affairs.
Par. 2. The Complaints Board sets it own rules of procedure.
3. Areas of competence
Para. 1. The Complaints Board is competent to deal with:
(1) Disputes between registrants and a third party
(2) Disputes between registrants and the Registry
(3) Complaints about the Registry’s decisions under section 11(3) of the Internet Domains Act.
Para. 2. The Complaints Board may make a decision to
(1) suspend, withdraw or transfer a domain name registered or used contrary to section 12 of the Internet Domains Act, business conditions and terms set up in pursuance of the Danish Internet Domains Act, section 11(1), or contrary to any other legislation, and
(2) confirm, cancel, change or refer back the Registry’s decision.
Para 3. The Complaints Board has no competence to make decisions on payment of damages or compensation.
4. Submission of complaints
Para. 1. A complaint can be submitted by anyone having an individual and essential interest in the outcome of the case and by the Registry.
Para. 2. Complaints about decisions made by the Registry must be submitted within four weeks from the date when the complainant was notified of the decision.
Para. 3. Complaints must be submitted to the Complaints Board on paper or electronically, cf. paragraph 5.
Para. 4. Submission of a complaint must be accompanied by payment of a fixed complaints fee. The complaints fee is DKK 500. If, however, the complainant’s interest in the domain name is mainly of a non-commercial nature the complaints fee is DKK 150. A complaint will not be dealt with until the complaints fee has been paid, cf. paragraph 5.
Para. 5. Information on the address to which the complaint should be sent and the place of payment of the complaints fee is available on the website www.domaeneklager.dk.
Para. 6. If a case on the right to the domain name in question is pending between the parties before the courts or if either party has brought such an action before a court of law the Complaints Board can reject or defer the case. The Complaints Board shall reject the case if it concerns a dispute covered by a valid arbitration agreement. However, this does not apply if the defendant responds in the case without invoking the arbitration agreement.
5. Complaints procedure
Para. 1. The Complaints Board’s secretariat will review the complaint on its receipt. If, cf. paragraph 3, there appears to be no doubt that the complaint cannot be dealt with by the Complaints Board the secretariat will inform the complainant of this together with reasons for the decision. The attention of the complainant will also be drawn to the fact that the decision can be brought before the Complaints Board if the complainant still wants it. In that case, the complaint will be brought before the Board by the secretariat. If a complaint is rejected in accordance with this provision the fee will be repaid to the complainant.
Para. 2. If the Complaints Board is competent to deal with the complaint, or if nothing can be advanced to show that the Board is not competent the secretariat will prepare the hearing of the case.
Para. 3. As part of the case preparations, the secretariat shall – at no further cost to the complainant – place the complainant in a queue for the waiting list for the disputed domain name, cf. General Conditions item 5.3.1. However, this is not applicable to complaints regarding suspension of domain names.
Para. 4. The secretariat must inform the defendant about the complaint and enclose all the material received regarding the complaint with the exception of material that the defendant is undoubtedly already familiar with. The defendant is requested to make a statement as soon as possible and no later than two weeks after receipt. The comments of the defendant shall then be presented to the complainant for comments with a similar time period for response. The complainant's rejoinder will then be similarly presented to the defendant. If it is evident that the response of the defendant or the rejoinder of the complainant do not contain new information or evaluations and that the other party is therefore undoubtedly familiar with the contents of this material, the secretariat need not present the response to the opposing party.
Para. 5. The chairman of the Complaints Board, or a person authorised by the chairman, may in special cases decide that the time periods mentioned in paragraph 4 shall be prolonged; that further information shall be obtained in order to make a decision in the case; or that the case shall be stayed pending the outcome of another case before a court or an administrative authority concerning a legal issue of significance to the outcome of the case.
Para. 6. The secretary may propose to the parties that they should try to settle the matter. The conciliation procedure may last no longer than 4 weeks.
Para. 7. If the case is referred to the Complaints Board for consultation, the chairman of the Complaints Board shall decide whether the case can be decided in writing or if a meeting is necessary. However, cases in which consumer and commercial representatives take part shall always be decided at a meeting. The chairman can make a decision to obtain further information for use in deciding the case or that the case shall be stayed pending the outcome of another case as mentioned in paragraph 5 or of the conciliation procedure as mentioned in paragraph 6.
6. Judicial review
Para. 1. The decisions of the Complaints Board are binding and cannot be brought before any administrative authority.
Para. 2. The Complaints Board’s decision can be brought before the courts no later than 8 weeks after the person concerned has been notified of the decision.
Para. 3. If a decision made by the Complaints Board is brought before the courts the Complaints Board may grant a stay of execution provided that before the date of enforcement of the decision the secretariat of the Complaints Board is notified by the defendant of the action brought and enclose the necessary documentation of the institution of such proceedings. In other cases the Complaints Board may grant a stay of execution where a matter is brought before the courts and this is found to be appropriate.
7. Reopening
The chairman may decide that a case on which the Complaints Board has made a decision shall be reopened if a request to this effect is made within eight weeks after notice of the decision has been given to the person concerned. Reopening is only possible if justified by special reasons, particularly in the event of:
(1) the unavoidable absence of a party who has not spoken in the case, or
(2) new information which – had it been available during handling by the Complaints Board – would probably have resulted in a different outcome of the case.
8. Legal force of the Complaints Board’s decision
The Complaints Board’s decision will not prevent either party from submitting a complaint to the Board concerning the same domain name but on a new basis.
9. Publication
Decisions made by the Complaints Board will be published on the website www.domaeneklager.dk. The Complaints Board will decide if publication is to respect any requests to observe confidentiality of personal details, cf. item 9 of the General Conditions. The efforts of the secretary to settle a dispute are confidential.
10. Coming into force
The present rules come into force on 22 June 2009.
On behalf of Dansk Internet Forum
Mads Bryde Andersen Lise Fuhr Chairman Director
On 16 June 2009 the Danish Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation approved the rules on the Complaints Board for Internet Domain Names as prescribed by the Internet Domains Act, cf. section 14(3).