UK .eu registrants urged to consider domain name change

UK registrants of the .eu country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) are being urged to consider an alternative domain or seek legal advice in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Guidance issued by the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport on December 21, 2018 advised businesses to check the eligibility of their domains after March 29, 2019, the date the UK is scheduled to exit the EU. 

In a notice to stakeholders in March 2018, the European Commission confirmed that in the event of a no-deal Brexit, the EU regulatory framework for the .eu ccTLD will no longer apply to the UK from the withdrawal date.

This will mean that UK individuals and businesses will no longer be eligible to register or renew .eu domains after a no-deal Brexit.

According to a report by EURid, the registry operator for .eu, 273,000 .eu domains were registered in the UK at the end of the third quarter in 2018. There are currently 3.75 million .eu domains in total, and the UK is the fourth-largest source of registrations.

With regard to existing UK registrants of the .eu domain that expire before March 29, the guidance suggests that stakeholders seek legal advice on whether they should transfer their registration to another TLD.

The guidance states that “if your current .eu registration is due to expire after 29 March 2019, you may wish to discuss transferring your registration to another top-level domain”, such as .com, .co.uk, .net or .org.

As for future registrations, under a no-deal Brexit, UK registrants may no longer be eligible and therefore unable to register a .eu domain.

The department’s guidance states that “delivering the deal negotiated with the EU remains the government’s top priority” but it “must prepare for every eventuality, including a no-deal scenario”.

In April 2018, the European Commission published proposals for new .eu regulation. These are currently under negotiation in both the European Council and Parliament.