In April this year, it was announced that owners of EU domains who are based in the UK will lose them after Brexit.
Does it seem a bit petty?
While there’s no restriction on businesses based in the EU purchasing a .co.uk address upon which to run their UK business, the EU are being snotty and decided that if you’re not in the EU then you can’t have an EU domain. This does seem an over-reaction, how many companies own a .fr or .de domain for the localised country sites? It’s normal for businesses trading in a territory to have a localised website on a domain familiar to residents in that area.
This is the EU though and they love a bit of red tape and regulation so if they decide that anyone not based in the EU will no longer allowed a .EU domain there’s not a lot to be done, so here’s what you need to know:
.EU Domain cancellation dates
EURid, the .eu registry manager has been given two possible dates upon which cancellation of UK owned .EU domains will be cancelled.
No Deal scenario
If the UK exits the EU with no withdrawal agreement then .EU domains will be cancelled on the 30th of March 2019.
Brexit Deal scenario
If the UK exits the EU with a withdrawal agreement then .EU domains will be cancelled on the 1st of January 2021.
Transition Deal scenario
It is possible that the above dates could be varied by a transition deal, however it’s likely just a delay rather than ongoing permission to keep a .EU domain indefinitely.
How to keep a .EU domain after Brexit
If you have an address in any of the EU countries, you can use it as your domain’s administration contact and will be able to keep your .EU domain. In this instance, it is recommended that you update your domain registration details as soon as possible.
If you don’t have an EU postal address then you will lose your domain. In this instance you will need to purchase a replacement domain and the sooner you act the better. You’ll want to redirect your .EU domain to your new domain, update all of your literature and email signatures and inform clients of your new website. The quicker you do this the more time search engines will have to reindex your site on it’s new domain and update their search engine results.
Sadly of course, you’ll lose any SEO benefits you previously had from backlinks to your .EU domain.
15 Responses
In a twist that they probably welcome, this would mean that Leave.Eu will lose their domain name.
My eu address can be used as a domain administration contact for a small fee to anyone.
Get in touch with me via email on my site.
Good to know. Running an SEO report and finding your most useful links would be a good idea. Then you can contact these sites and suggest an update to avoid a dead link on their site.
Sorry I am a little confused. We have domains ending .fr and .de Will these domains be affected or only the .eu domains? I noticed when I went to purchase a new .fr domain recently I was told I needed a loca office in France to do this already. If anyone could clarify that would be appreciated? Thanks
What is the UK government doing to stop EU residents from using .co.uk domains in retaliation ?
Just one small act of revenge from the EU dictatorship, there will be many more to come.
More petty antagonistic behaviour that serves no purpose other than to drive more people over the edge and away from sensible thinking.
Very funny, fake news
Out of thousands TLDs only few requires physical presence, and .EU is not one of them
You can own .EU and co.uk even if you live in Russia