Enter Cameroon market with a .COM.CM Domain

No. The charter describes .com.cm as the zone for for-profit commercial entities, but that is guidance rather than a gate. The same text limits prior document checks to three zones only: those for government, universities and political parties. Because .com.cm is not among them, allocation is not held back, the name is not provisionally reserved pending review, and individuals can register too. The registry nevertheless reserves the right to request supporting documents at any stage.

No. ANTIC's naming charter in force defines an eligible holder as «any applicant, Cameroonian or not, resident in Cameroon or not», and asks for no residency, no local agent, no tax number and no trustee service. Names are allocated first come, first served, while pre-registration and reservation are forbidden. What you accept in return is a legal link: the content of your site and the intellectual property rights attached to it fall under Cameroonian law.

Both sit in ANTIC's register, follow the same rulebook and opened together on 15 October 2008. The difference lies in their place in that rulebook: the naming charter lists the sectoral sub-zones and names .com.cm as the zone for for-profit commercial entities, while .co.cm is not mentioned at all. The second difference is size: on 15 August 2026 certificate logs showed 250 distinct names under .com.cm and 74 under .co.cm. Choose .com.cm for a commercial reading, .co.cm for a better chance of a free word.

The registry's 2021 dispute policy states the test plainly: when asking ANTIC to suspend or delete a name, the trademark you rely on must be one protected through OAPI, the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle. The criterion is therefore not a purely national registration but protection established across the region OAPI covers. The same policy lists bad-faith registration, cybercriminal use and breaches of the first come, first served rule as separate grounds. If no decision follows, the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center or ANTIC's national procedure takes over.

Two characters. ANTIC's charter in force states separately that names under the sub-extensions of .cm must also be at least two characters long. Only letters, digits and hyphens may be used; a hyphen may not start or end the label, names made solely of digits are banned, and accented letters are not accepted. Measurement supports this: the single-letter a.com.cm has been registered since 2012, predating the current text, while the two-letter ab.com.cm read as free on 15 August 2026.

The charter in force ties deletion straight to the expiry date: unless the holder has expressed a wish to renew, the name is deleted on that day, falls back into the public pool and may be allocated to any other applicant. No separate redemption stage, recovery fee or right of recall is defined. A newer draft from the registry would soften the calendar into suspension on the expiry date and deletion seven calendar days later, but it has not entered into force. On a commercial address that also means your mail stops the same day.

For a change of registrar the holder starts the request; the losing registrar is obliged to cooperate and the gaining registrar must ensure the move leaves administrative ownership untouched. The registry's newer draft additionally requires every outstanding balance with the old registrar to be settled before the transfer. A change of holder is a separate operation: the incoming holder must meet the charter's documentation requirements and the registry may ask for more. Start the process from the domain transfer page.