<s>
.de	B-General_Concept
is	O
the	O
country	B-Application
code	I-Application
top-level	I-Application
domain	I-Application
(	O
ccTLD	B-Application
)	O
for	O
the	O
Federal	O
Republic	O
of	O
Germany	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DENIC	O
(	O
the	O
Network	B-Protocol
Information	I-Protocol
Centre	I-Protocol
responsible	O
for	O
.de	B-General_Concept
domains	O
)	O
does	O
not	O
require	O
specific	O
second-level	B-Protocol
domains	I-Protocol
,	O
and	O
there	O
are	O
no	O
official	O
ccSLDs	B-Protocol
under	O
.de	B-General_Concept
ccTLD	B-Application
,	O
as	O
it	O
is	O
the	O
case	O
with	O
the	O
.uk	B-Application
domain	O
range	O
which	O
until	O
2014	O
required	O
.co.uk	O
domain	O
for	O
example	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Prior	O
to	O
1990	O
,	O
East	O
Germany	O
had	O
a	O
separate	O
ISO	B-General_Concept
3166-1	I-General_Concept
code	O
(	O
dd	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
had	O
never	O
delegated	O
a	O
ccTLD	B-Application
,	O
.dd	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
.de	B-General_Concept
is	O
currently	O
the	O
second	O
most	O
popular	O
ccTLD	B-Application
in	O
terms	O
of	O
number	O
of	O
registrations	O
with	O
.cn	O
being	O
the	O
first	O
most	O
popular	O
ccTLD	B-Application
and	O
.uk	B-Application
being	O
third	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
point	O
of	O
registration	O
for	O
.de	B-General_Concept
domains	O
was	O
at	O
the	O
Department	O
of	O
Computer	O
Science	O
of	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Dortmund	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
uni-dortmund.de	O
was	O
among	O
the	O
first	O
registered	O
.de-domains	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
.de	B-General_Concept
registrations	O
may	O
be	O
directly	O
ordered	O
from	O
DENIC	O
but	O
it	O
is	O
faster	O
and	O
cheaper	O
to	O
do	O
so	O
via	O
a	O
DENIC	O
member	O
(	O
registrar	B-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Registrations	O
of	O
internationalized	B-Language
domain	I-Language
names	I-Language
(	O
IDN	O
)	O
are	O
also	O
accepted	O
so	O
that	O
all	O
diacritics	O
of	O
German	O
,	O
many	O
diacritics	O
of	O
other	O
languages	O
and	O
the	O
eszett	O
,	O
ß	O
,	O
may	O
be	O
used	O
.	O
</s>
