top | item 16714581

Notice to stakeholders: withdrawal of the UK and EU rules on .eu domain names

67 points| stryk | 8 years ago |ec.europa.eu | reply

100 comments

order
[+] bograt|8 years ago|reply
Those who want the UK to remain in the EU will see this as just one damaging consequence of the UK's decision to leave. Conversely, Brexiteers will see this as an example of maladministration by an EU bureaucracy, and another demonstration of why the UK needs to exit. Sadly, there will be no consensus.

Putting aside the politics, this seems like a very poor decision. Historically, I believe most registering authorities have made great efforts to grandfather-in prior domains, for practical reasons apparent to most visitors of this site.

Additionally, shoddy treatment of 10% of current registrees will do nothing to increase the perceived value of an .eu domain. I also note that it appears the EU commission didn't even discuss the policy with the company that manages the .eu domain:

https://eurid.eu/en/news/ec-releases-communication-concernin...

[+] solarkraft|8 years ago|reply
> Additionally, shoddy treatment of 10% of current registrees will do nothing to increase the perceived value of an .eu domain.

It does for me. Creates the image of an exclusive TLD with only genuine, trustable EU registrees.

[+] icebraining|8 years ago|reply
This doesn't seem to immediately affect existing registrations, so they can renew for up to ten years before the withdrawal date, and start redirecting people to some other domain.
[+] pmlnr|8 years ago|reply
Apart from my fury, which is caused by having a .eu as my main domain and living in the UK - reverse DNS, mail, etc, all quite hard to change due to trust databases -, this leaves me with yet another enforcement that we are in desperate need of domains - or something similar - that is yours, yours for life, and can not be taken away.

.onion would be ideal, but Tor itself has been criminalised so well, that vanilla people are and would be frightened to visit them - and they might even be right, given the amount of supervision ISPs have nowadays.

.bit is not a solution, it's just another registrar in it's essence, and a rather complicated one, that needs namecoin.

Is anyone aware of a work-in-progress solution or had nobody thought about this during the re-decentralize haste?

[+] tscs37|8 years ago|reply
It's the registrar rules being enforced exactly like they always have been. The Rules say "EU only". If the UK is no longer in the EU then the simply conclusion is that the domain ownership will be revoked.
[+] jwilk|8 years ago|reply
The rules say: EU, or Iceland, or Norway, or Liechtenstein.
[+] avian|8 years ago|reply
Can a mod change the click-bait title of this submission to the actual title of the linked page?

"Notice to stakeholders: withdrawal of the United Kingdom and EU rules on .eu domain names"

[+] ealexhudson|8 years ago|reply
Please don't. The page title doesn't make clear the actual impact of this, the "click bait" is much more informative.

I sincerely hope no-one in the UK is running a substantial business on an .EU domain; the damage of this could be significant for them.

[+] dang|8 years ago|reply
Sure.

Submitted title was "European Commission to cancel 317k .eu domains with registrants in UK".

[+] alicewales|8 years ago|reply
At least pro-Brexit campaign group LEAVE.EU will have to find a new domain name. It's not just their domain, it's the name of their organisation as a whole...
[+] clort|8 years ago|reply
Strictly, the organisation can be disbanded at that point anyway.
[+] trengrj|8 years ago|reply
I dislike the idea that domain names can be geographically restricted. Additionally this .eu cancellation seems a wanton and bureaucratic attack on the U.K. given Brexit has only recently been triggered.
[+] pjc50|8 years ago|reply
It's very Brexit to say that, when rules which have always applied to non-EU countries will apply to the UK once the UK is a non-EU country, this is an "attack".

(The web page says "As of the withdrawal date", not today)

[+] teamhappy|8 years ago|reply
Most domains are restricted in some may - usually geographically. Some have even stricter rules (.cat for example requires you to publish your website in the Catalan language).

After Brexit people living in the UK no longer fulfill the requirements to own a .eu domain. Seems pretty straight forward to me.

[+] gohbgl|8 years ago|reply
The eu domain name is politically restricted. The UK is still part of the continent Europe.
[+] pi-squared|8 years ago|reply
Recently - exactly one year ago. And there is exactly one year left.
[+] tscs37|8 years ago|reply
There is plenty of restriction on various TLDs. If you don't like them you can always register in another TLD with less strict rules or run your own DN System.
[+] pjc50|8 years ago|reply
Someone should probably archive the "leave.eu" site before this happens, for Brexit recriminations.
[+] hanoz|8 years ago|reply
I can't find any reference to a condition that forbids owners from renewing a .eu domain after leaving the EU in more usual circumstances, like emigration. If true it would be a very unreasonable condition which would seriously undermine the value of the domain for would be registrants, so I'm surprised it's not something that's been highlighted before. If it's not the case then clearly brexit exiteers ought to be treated at least as well.

In reality this announcement is likely to be politically motivated posturing on an issue which is to be agreed as part of the brexit negotiations, not something that is going to be decreed unilaterally.

[+] pjc50|8 years ago|reply
You're not looking hard enough, or maybe at all.

https://eurid.eu/media/filer_public/76/48/7648e621-0c5d-4c09...

Must be "a natural person resident within the European Union, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein"

If the Registrant files a request for a Domain Name registration and is unable to meet, or no longer meets, the above conditions, the Registry is entitled to reject the request or to revoke the Domain Name concerned at any time in accordance with Sections 6 .4 and 8.4 of the Terms and Conditions.

(Why Liechtenstein? Not part of the EU:

"Liechtenstein is a member of the United Nations, European Free Trade Association, and the Council of Europe, and while not being a member of the European Union, the country participates in both the Schengen Area and European Economic Area. It also has a customs union and a monetary union with Switzerland")

> "is to be agreed as part of the brexit negotiations"

They need to get a bloody move on with this. There's a year left and a huge list of things in the same state of needing to be agreed.

[+] candiodari|8 years ago|reply
Instance #945792 of the EU commission coming out with it's usual message:

"Bad voters ! BAD BAD BAD voters !"

"FU"

All the people defending this decision: do you seriously think a majority of Europeans would defend this decision ? Because that's the yardstick a government in a democratic nation should be measured by.

[+] Oletros|8 years ago|reply
Bad voters? The requirements has not been changed
[+] mgiannopoulos|8 years ago|reply
So lots of business for EU registrars offering proxy/“private registration” services. Good job EC! /s
[+] icebraining|8 years ago|reply
Proxies are not allowed under the rules. You might fly under the radar, but if the Registry sees that your website company info doesn't match the registration info, you're liable to lose the domain.
[+] teamhappy|8 years ago|reply
Nope.

If that would be enough they would already offer it like they do for many other TLDs. You need more than a "contact" (i.e., address) inside the EU to register a .eu domain.

[+] partycoder|8 years ago|reply
Is English going to remain being an official language of the EU?
[+] flother|8 years ago|reply
Apart from the practical advantages of keeping English, it’s an official language of Ireland and Malta, and de facto official in Cyprus. All three are member states of the European Union.

Interestingly enough, there is no official language in either England or the UK — although other languages do have official status in other parts of the UK.

[+] craigsmansion|8 years ago|reply
I think it will always remain an unofficial language in the EU and removing it as an official language is likely too much of a hassle.

I do hope the withdrawal of the UK will lead to respective citizens of Ireland and Malta enjoying and practicing their own language more, with English being promoted to the language for international cooperation, but nowhere really spoken at home in the EU, because, well, cosmic irony I guess.

[+] wiredfool|8 years ago|reply
Unknown. There's still Ireland. But Ireland is a much smaller influence than the UK is.
[+] icebraining|8 years ago|reply
Ireland and Malta also have English as their official language, so I assume so.
[+] nkkollaw|8 years ago|reply
The UK's move to leave the EU will probably be the most regretted in history.

The level of pain and expenses that they are and will endure is really something else.

And for what..? Go figure.

[+] pjc50|8 years ago|reply
Blue passports? /s

Really it's the victory of a decades-long press "fake news" campaign. For years papers and politicians alike have misreported EU directives, ECJ decisions, ECHR decisions (not even part of the EU), and UK human rights law decisions. This is the result.

The UK media have also given up on providing an accurate picture of the country outside London, and on any kind of industrial or trade news coverage that isn't entirely driven by press releases. And the 2008 crisis made life worse for a lot of people in ways the government has done nothing to address.

[+] funshed|8 years ago|reply
"for what?" to "take back control" and restore democracy.
[+] dotcoma|8 years ago|reply
The EU is always so classy.

Or maybe they just wanted to prove the Brits right in wanting to leave.

[+] oakesm9|8 years ago|reply
This is just a reminder that the rules that were already in place for all other "third countries" (non-EU or EEA countries) will apply to the UK if/when they become that. If the negotiations turn out that we stay part of the EEC, then this won't apply as the UK won't be a "third country".
[+] boudin|8 years ago|reply
I don't get what's not classy, it's just a reminder of the fact that you need to be part of EEA to register a EU domain. If hard brexit applies, this will apply for the UK.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/.eu

It was the responsibility of the leave campaign to study all the implications of leaving EU and explaining those to the public, I find it actually rather classy of the EU to take time to give information that should have been provided by the leave campaign leaders in the first place.

[+] zerostar07|8 years ago|reply
This is an ridiculous and blatantly hostile move, esp. considering the fact that most EU countries don't even have that policy for their own ccTLD. EU has nothing to win here and this doesn't benefit the .eu domain.
[+] icebraining|8 years ago|reply
This is not a move. This is just an application of the rules that have always applied to .eu domains to the new situation.

The rules of ccTLDs of member countries are completely irrelevant.

[+] yorwba|8 years ago|reply
That title is highly editorialized. The actual effect is just that .eu domains will have to be renewed through a registrar that's established in the EU. Most major registrars probably already fulfill that requirement, and those that don't shouldn't have any problem with founding an EU subsidiary.

EDIT: Missed the part where "Accredited .eu Registrars will not be entitled to process any request for the registration of or for renewing registrations of .eu domain names by those [UK] undertakings, organisations and persons." Still, I bet the vast majority of domains will be transferred to some shell entity in the EU, even if it's just domain owners selling off domains they can't renew anymore.

[+] icebraining|8 years ago|reply
.eu domains are restricted to EU, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein residents and organizations[1]. By leaving, UK residents and organizations not established in one of those countries lose the right to register or renew a domain. Plus, even existing registration can be summarily revoked by the Registry.

[1] https://eurid.eu/d/93742/Registration_Policy_EN.pdf

[+] christop|8 years ago|reply
No, the text says that all .eu registrars will no longer be able to accept .eu registrations or renewals from entities in the UK.
[+] nkkollaw|8 years ago|reply
What about the "and natural persons who reside in the United Kingdom" part..?