UK firms could lose .eu domains with no-deal Brexit

In the event of a no-deal Brexit, a number of UK businesses and individuals face losing their .eu registered domains by next year.

The UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has issued an advisory warning that new European regulations on .eu domain names will place limits on who is entitled to own one.

The new rules, which come into effect on 19 October, ensure that only European Union citizens, as well as businesses established within or residents of the EU or the European Economic Area (EEA), will be allowed to own a .eu domain.

In the event of a no-deal brexit on 31 October, UK businesses which fail to meet this criteria face losing their .eu domain following a ‘grace period’ which will last until 1 January.

Any businesses or individuals which fail to demonstrate their compliance with the .eu regulatory framework by this time will not be able to renew their current .eu domain licence and will have their domain names revoked.

The confiscated domains will not be assigned to anyone else until 1 November as a further grace period, but following this time, the domains will be considered revoked and available for general registration.

In the event of a no-deal Brexit, the Department for Digital is advising UK-based .eu domain owners to consider migrating their domains to other top-level domains such as .com, and to consider seeking legal advice on the terms of their contractual agreements governing their domains.

UK residents and companies may also need to check whether domains registered in individual EEA countries, such as France’s .fr domain or Italy’s .it, will remain valid following a no-deal Brexit.

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