(a) To register any second-level domain within dot-gov, County or Parish governments must register the County's or Parish's name or abbreviation, the word “county” or “parish” (because many counties have the same name as cities within the same State), and a reference to the State in which the county or parish is located. However, the use of the State postal code should not be embedded within a single word in a way that obscures the postal code.

(b) The preferred format for county or parish governments is to denote the State postal code after the county or parish, optionally separated by a dash. Examples of preferred domain names include—

(1) Richmondcounty-ga.gov;

(2) Pwc-county-va.gov; and

(3) Countyofdorchestor-sc.gov.

(c) If third-level domain naming is available from the State government, counties or parishes are encouraged to register for a domain name under a State's registered second-level (e.g., richmondcounty.ga.gov).