The UK lost its eligibility for a.eu website when it left the European Union, leaving many domain owners in limbo. As Brexit continues, 81,000.eu domains registered by 50,000 UK individuals are suspended, and their owners have three months to transfer their domains or prove they are EU citizens.
81,000 UK Owned EU Domains Suspended As Brexit Transition Ends
More than 81,000 UK-owned EU domains will be put on hold as the Brexit transition ends. In order to recover these domains, UK-based customers will need to prove citizenship in an EU country or provide the address of the company’s registered office. After they have provided the required information, the affected domain names will then be put on sale again.
EURid, the registry responsible for the.EU domain name, has taken this measure to ensure the smooth transition for the UK’s exit from the EU. As the transition period comes to an end on 1 January 2021, the registry will suspend over 81,000 UK-owned.EU domains. The majority of affected domain owners will re-direct their traffic to a new domain, but this will take additional work.
As the Brexit transition ends, the number of UK-based.EU domains has decreased dramatically. The number of UK-based users has gone from 300,000 at the start of this year to just under 81,000 now. This number will eventually be zero. The registrants will then have until April to make sure they comply with the new regulations.
Once the registrant’s contact data has been updated, the.EU domain name will be reinstated. In the meantime, the registrant will need to provide proof that he is a citizen of a EU27 member state. If the contact data is not updated, the domain name will be taken off the list and become available for general registration again in January 2022. The whole process could take a while.
After Brexit, many UK-based.eu domains will be suspended. This means that these domain names will no longer be able to support a website or email. Registrants will have three months to prove that they are the owners of these domain names and that they have the necessary citizenship to operate the website.
In the meantime, EURid has begun suspending UK-based.EU domains in anticipation of the Brexit transition. UK-based registrants should update their registration data as soon as possible. Otherwise, these domain names will remain suspended. This is a result of a change in the domain name registration process.
The suspension affects more than eight thousand.EU domain names because the registrants have not updated their addresses. However, this rule is not retroactive. UK-based registrants who already own.FR domain names do not have to change their addresses. If they do, they can renew the domains as usual or transfer them to another entity.
