7 ms·

British-owned .EU domains may be turned off on Brexit

58 points by eicnix 8y ago

nodex-alex 8y ago
What a load of rubbish. Can the indonesian gov take back all the .io? Can the USA gov claim back all the .com? More scaremongering for no real gain other than clickbait
Exuma 8y ago
Wow that would be terrible news to wake up to.
- dingaling 8y ago
  I've been advising UK colleagues to avoid .eu and other EU ccTLDs for domains recently specifically for this reason. Even if it is possible to buy them now, what happens at renewal? Even simple things like cross-border taxes could be a hindrance. Too much uncertainty as to whether the UK will be receive a 'Swiss pass' or not. Actually .ch is a good stable ccTLD.
  - foepys 8y ago
    Do you have .io domains? If so, you need to get rid of them now because the status of the British Indian Ocean Territory is a lot less clear than the status of any EU country.
    - dingaling 8y ago
      I don't know anyone personally with .io mainly due to the price and obscurity. I do know people that have moved from privately-run TLDs like .info and .space to the Big Three or .uk after huge price increases. That was messy. For all the failings of UK law it does still require a court order to seize a .uk domain. Back that primary domain with a less-catchy .com or .net for infrastructure and you have a stable, price-reslient arrangement.
MistahKoala 8y ago
I struggle to think of any business or important organisation that relies on .EU for its identity and operations - the only ones I've seen use it are political campaigns. Presumably the answer is to just use a proxy register based in the EU, if this even becomes an issue?
- klearvue 8y ago
  Here is a real business (albeit an Estonian one): https://www.leapin.eu/ https://www.leapin.eu/
  - MistahKoala 8y ago
    But still not in the UK or affected by these changes.
- kokey 8y ago
  I have the bad luck of setting a company up in Ireland and thinking I might relocate it to the UK at some point, so I set it up with a .eu domain. It was also easier to get a .eu domain since a .ie requires more paperwork to prove you are actually in Ireland. We did relocate the company to the UK, but now the UK is relocating itself out of .eu so now we have to change the business e-mail addresses.
  - HelloNurse 8y ago
    As far as EU is concerned, you voted Leave and you deserve much worse than changing your email addresses.
    - tim333 8y ago
      Approx 74% of the British population didn't vote to leave, probably including the poster above. Also at the time of the vote the majority of eligible voters probably didn't want to leave as the non voters polled about 60-40 remain. Still our government seem to think "the will of the people" must be rammed through even if it's not what most of the actual people wanted or now want and will cost goodness knows how many billions.
pmlnr 8y ago
This is one of those cases where German rigidity shows so well. Yes, strictly speaking, .eu is for EU only. On the other hand, the scenario of a country leaving EU was never before tested. Instead of sticking rigorously to the letter in the .eu regulations, how about revisiting the regulation? Nope, that's not the procedure. (Disclaimer: I'm an EU citizen living in the UK, and I obviously don't like the whole Brexit happening. Due to this I moved my UK hosted .eu domain back to Hungary. On the other hand, if the new EU copyright proposal passes, I'll join the Brexit camp.)
- JohnGB 8y ago
  There is zero incentive for any EU country to be flexible with the UK exiting the EU, as that would incentivise even more disruption. If you cancel your membership at a club, you shouldn't expect to maintain some membership benefits of said club, no matter how small they may be. This (and many more) effects were clear to anyone wishing to look into them before the Brexit vote, and so nothing is happening that couldn't have easily been anticipated. As a side note, I don't believe that the Brexit decision is legal under UK law, as it's a parliamentary democracy, and as such the referendum was non binding. For a decision like this to be made, parliament has to vote on it, and as far as I'm aware, parliament has done no such thing yet.
  - blibble 8y ago
    > As a side note, I don't believe that the Brexit decision is legal under UK law, as it's a parliamentary democracy, and as such the referendum was non binding. For a decision like this to be made, parliament has to vote on it, and as far as I'm aware, parliament has done no such thing yet. well you haven't been paying much attention then, as Parliament voted to allow the Government to invoke Article 50 in early 2017 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2017/9/pdfs/ukpga_20170009_en.pdf http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2017/9/pdfs/ukpga_201700...
    - billpg 8y ago
      These people would disagree... https://twitter.com/a50challenge https://twitter.com/a50challenge
jackweirdy 8y ago
Newspaper editors, thank me later: EU: "leave.eu to leave .eu", leaving .eu to EU
ultim8k 8y ago
Does this make any sense? Years now companies like bit.ly used to get tlds from other countries just to make a nice sounding word. How is .eu any different? BTW I personally find .eu tld tasteless.
- Aaargh20318 8y ago
  Each TLD can set their own requirements. For example, .edu domains are only available to educational institutions, .mobi requires you to have a mobile website, etc.
detaro 8y ago
previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16714581 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16714581
jjp 8y ago
The document [1] that it all hinges off doesn't say that it will all be turned off on exit day but says that post-exit if you have an .eu domain and you no longer meet the eligibility criteria then you won't be able to renew it (section 1 of document 1). For individual registrants, it hinges off residency, not nationality. So if you are British but resident in the EU you are fine as long as you are using your non-UK address to register. If you are a citizen of an EU country but registered with your UK address then you'll also be caught up. [1] https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/notice_to_stakeholders_brexit_eu_domain_names.pdf https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/notice_to_stakeho...
hugh4life 8y ago
Maybe there needs to be a tld for Europe that is not mean the European Union. ".euro" or ".europe".

58 points by eicnix 8y ago

What a load of rubbish. Can the indonesian gov take back all the .io? Can the USA gov claim back all the .com? More scaremongering for no real gain other than clickbait

Exuma 8y ago

Wow that would be terrible news to wake up to.

dingaling 8y ago
I've been advising UK colleagues to avoid .eu and other EU ccTLDs for domains recently specifically for this reason. Even if it is possible to buy them now, what happens at renewal? Even simple things like cross-border taxes could be a hindrance. Too much uncertainty as to whether the UK will be receive a 'Swiss pass' or not. Actually .ch is a good stable ccTLD.
- foepys 8y ago
  Do you have .io domains? If so, you need to get rid of them now because the status of the British Indian Ocean Territory is a lot less clear than the status of any EU country.
  - dingaling 8y ago
    I don't know anyone personally with .io mainly due to the price and obscurity. I do know people that have moved from privately-run TLDs like .info and .space to the Big Three or .uk after huge price increases. That was messy. For all the failings of UK law it does still require a court order to seize a .uk domain. Back that primary domain with a less-catchy .com or .net for infrastructure and you have a stable, price-reslient arrangement.

MistahKoala 8y ago

I struggle to think of any business or important organisation that relies on .EU for its identity and operations - the only ones I've seen use it are political campaigns. Presumably the answer is to just use a proxy register based in the EU, if this even becomes an issue?

klearvue 8y ago
Here is a real business (albeit an Estonian one): https://www.leapin.eu/ https://www.leapin.eu/
- MistahKoala 8y ago
  But still not in the UK or affected by these changes.
kokey 8y ago
I have the bad luck of setting a company up in Ireland and thinking I might relocate it to the UK at some point, so I set it up with a .eu domain. It was also easier to get a .eu domain since a .ie requires more paperwork to prove you are actually in Ireland. We did relocate the company to the UK, but now the UK is relocating itself out of .eu so now we have to change the business e-mail addresses.
- HelloNurse 8y ago
  As far as EU is concerned, you voted Leave and you deserve much worse than changing your email addresses.
  - tim333 8y ago
    Approx 74% of the British population didn't vote to leave, probably including the poster above. Also at the time of the vote the majority of eligible voters probably didn't want to leave as the non voters polled about 60-40 remain. Still our government seem to think "the will of the people" must be rammed through even if it's not what most of the actual people wanted or now want and will cost goodness knows how many billions.

pmlnr 8y ago

This is one of those cases where German rigidity shows so well. Yes, strictly speaking, .eu is for EU only. On the other hand, the scenario of a country leaving EU was never before tested. Instead of sticking rigorously to the letter in the .eu regulations, how about revisiting the regulation? Nope, that's not the procedure. (Disclaimer: I'm an EU citizen living in the UK, and I obviously don't like the whole Brexit happening. Due to this I moved my UK hosted .eu domain back to Hungary. On the other hand, if the new EU copyright proposal passes, I'll join the Brexit camp.)

JohnGB 8y ago
There is zero incentive for any EU country to be flexible with the UK exiting the EU, as that would incentivise even more disruption. If you cancel your membership at a club, you shouldn't expect to maintain some membership benefits of said club, no matter how small they may be. This (and many more) effects were clear to anyone wishing to look into them before the Brexit vote, and so nothing is happening that couldn't have easily been anticipated. As a side note, I don't believe that the Brexit decision is legal under UK law, as it's a parliamentary democracy, and as such the referendum was non binding. For a decision like this to be made, parliament has to vote on it, and as far as I'm aware, parliament has done no such thing yet.
- blibble 8y ago
  > As a side note, I don't believe that the Brexit decision is legal under UK law, as it's a parliamentary democracy, and as such the referendum was non binding. For a decision like this to be made, parliament has to vote on it, and as far as I'm aware, parliament has done no such thing yet. well you haven't been paying much attention then, as Parliament voted to allow the Government to invoke Article 50 in early 2017 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2017/9/pdfs/ukpga_20170009_en.pdf http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2017/9/pdfs/ukpga_201700...
  - billpg 8y ago
    These people would disagree... https://twitter.com/a50challenge https://twitter.com/a50challenge

jackweirdy 8y ago

Newspaper editors, thank me later: EU: "leave.eu to leave .eu", leaving .eu to EU

ultim8k 8y ago

Does this make any sense? Years now companies like bit.ly used to get tlds from other countries just to make a nice sounding word. How is .eu any different? BTW I personally find .eu tld tasteless.

Aaargh20318 8y ago
Each TLD can set their own requirements. For example, .edu domains are only available to educational institutions, .mobi requires you to have a mobile website, etc.

detaro 8y ago

previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16714581 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16714581

jjp 8y ago

The document [1] that it all hinges off doesn't say that it will all be turned off on exit day but says that post-exit if you have an .eu domain and you no longer meet the eligibility criteria then you won't be able to renew it (section 1 of document 1). For individual registrants, it hinges off residency, not nationality. So if you are British but resident in the EU you are fine as long as you are using your non-UK address to register. If you are a citizen of an EU country but registered with your UK address then you'll also be caught up. [1] https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/notice_to_stakeholders_brexit_eu_domain_names.pdf https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/notice_to_stakeho...

hugh4life 8y ago

Maybe there needs to be a tld for Europe that is not mean the European Union. ".euro" or ".europe".