A country-code domain does not exist because someone registered a trademark called .md.
It exists because MD is an eligible country code associated with the Republic of Moldova in ISO 3166-1.
IANA’s policy is explicit: when the country or territory underlying a ccTLD is removed from the relevant standard, the ccTLD loses its eligibility and enters retirement.
The normal retirement period is five years, potentially extendable to a maximum of ten years.
When the Republic of Moldova reunifies with Romania and MD is eventually removed from ISO 3166-1, .md will lose its eligibility as a country-code top-level domain.
Then the retirement process begins.
Just as it did with Yugoslavia’s .yu.
Yesterday, I looked at what Moldovan and Romanian politicians are saying about the possible reunification of the Republic of Moldova with Romania.
Today, I want to look at something potentially more important.
Not words.
Actions.
2022 — First joint sitting of the Moldovan and Romanian Parliaments.
2023 — Moldova officially replaces “Moldovan language” with Romanian in legislation.
2023 — Former Romanian Finance Minister and Senate President Anca Dragu becomes Governor of Moldova’s National Bank.
2024–2026 — Joint parliamentary committees increasingly work on legal harmonization and European integration.
2025–2026 — Romania remains Moldova’s main trading partner.
2026 — Moldova and Romania expand joint border controls, military cooperation and transport links.
2026 — New high-voltage electricity connections with Romania advance.
28 August 2026 — Former Romanian Economy Minister Claudiu Năsui becomes Moldova’s Minister of Economic Development and Digitalization.
Different laws become compatible.
Institutions cooperate.
Officials move between governments.
Energy grids connect.
Roads and railways connect.
The border becomes easier to cross.
The two systems become less separate.
And then?
And when political reunification completes that process:
Moldova ceases to exist as a separate state
→ MD is removed from ISO 3166-1
→ .md loses eligibility
→ IANA retirement
→ .md disappears from the DNS root
Yugoslavia already showed the mechanism.
.yu existed.
Yugoslavia disappeared.
.yu followed.
Moldova will reunify.
MD will disappear.
.md will follow.
The only unknown is when.
“Ona je prosto označavala jednu zemlju koja više ne postoji… A kad ne postoji skraćenica na ISO listi po nekom osnovu, ICANN nema osnov da je zadržava dalje.”
“It simply represented a country that no longer existed… And when the code no longer exists on the ISO list, ICANN has no basis to keep it.”
— Slobodan Marković, on the deletion of.yu
Translated from Serbian
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