Following on from our how Brexit will affect .eu domain names blog post in February and the continuation post in May, the European Commission has released a new statement regarding .eu domain names and Brexit.
Based on the United Kingdom's request in April, the UK's withdrawal date for leaving the European Union has been extended until the 1st November 2019.
Subject to the transition period provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement, as of the 1st November 2019, the EU regulatory framework for the .eu Top Level Domain will no longer apply to the United Kingdom.
According to this framework, from the 19th October 2019 only the following persons are eligible to register .eu domain names:
- a Union citizen, independently of their place of residence;
- a natural person who is not a Union citizen and who is a resident of a Member State;
- an undertaking that is established in the Union; or
- an organisation that is established in the Union, without prejudice to the application of national law.
As of the withdrawal date, undertakings and organisations that are established in the United Kingdom but not in the EU and third country nationals (ie. non-EU-27 citizens) who reside in the United Kingdom will no longer be eligible to register .eu domain names.
This also applies to current .eu domain holders (registrants) who, if they do not meet the eligibility requirements, will not be able renew .eu domain names that were registered prior to the withdrawal date.
Revocation of registered .eu domain names
Where the holder of a .eu domain name no longer meets the eligibility criteria, the Registry for .eu will be entitled to revoke the domain name on its own initiative and without submitting the dispute to any extrajudicial settlement of conflicts.
Preparing for Brexit
If you know that you won't be eligible for a .eu domain name post Brexit, it's definitely worth registering a new, non .eu domain name now and moving your site to that new domain. You then have plenty of time for 301 redirects on your .eu domain to work and make sure that changing your domain doesn't hinder your SEO too much.
If you're a client of Toolkit Websites and you have a .eu domain and are not based in the EU, only in the UK, we can register a new domain for you and perform our Domain Name Migration service to move your website to that domain.
