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More Than 80K .EU Domains Suspended Due to Brexit Regulations

About 81,000 .eu domains owned by 50,000 UK registrants have been suspended as the Brexit transition period comes to an end.

These measures came into effect on January 1, 2021. As stating, .EU domains must be owned by citizens or organizations located in the European Union. Because of Brexit, this is no longer the case for UK citizens and residents.

It was in 2018, that the European Commission suggested that .EU domains owned by UK citizens could be canceled at the end of the Brexit transition period.

Respectively, the number of UK registered domains ending in .EU shrunk from over 300,000 in 2017 to 81,000 at the beginning of 2021.

Back in October, EURid, the registrar for .EU domains began notifying UK registrants about these new measures coming into effect.

On 1 October 2020, EURid has notified by email all UK registrants and their registrars that they will lose their eligibility as of 1 January 2021 unless they demonstrate their compliance with the .eu regulatory framework by updating their registration data before 31 December 2020.” – EURid.

What Does This Mean for Suspended EU Domains?

The domains suspended on January 1, 2021, can no longer be used for websites, email addresses, or other web-based applications and services. Further to this, registrants of suspended domains have until April to meet the new regulation and show that they are eligible to hold the domain.

After April 1, 2021, UK registrants who cannot prove that they are eligible for an Internet .EU domain will have their domain moved to “withdrawn” status. A withdrawn domain is a domain that cannot support any service.

On January 1, 2022, any domain names still in the “withdrawn” status will be revoked from ineligible UK registrants and become generally available for re-registration.

The following are eligible to hold .EU domain names as per the new regulations:

  • 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 organization that is established in the Union, without prejudice to the application of national law.

The affected domain names will be reinstated as soon as the UK registrants update to reflect valid contact information.

Until end of March, UK registrants can prove their eligibility by showing:

  • They are a legally established entity in one of the eligible EU27 or the EEA Member States; or
  • They are resident in one of the eligible EU27 or the EEA Member States; or
  • They are citizens of one of the EU27 Member States

Ref: [1], [2], [3]

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