Petteri Pyyny
13 Dec 2020 13:53
One of the consequences that very few people probably thought about when Brexit became a reality is the change in TLD domains.
One of the oldest "new-ish" TLDs is .eu top-level domain space, launched back in 2005. As per .eu domain's rules, the domain cannot be held by anyone other than a citizen or organization located within European Union.
As Britain finally exits European Union at the end of 2020 (the exit happened on 1st of January, 2020, but there has been one-year long transition period), also all .eu domains held by British nationals or British organizations are going to be suspended. That is, unless the organization has subsidiaries within the EU to whom it can transfer the ownership of the domain before the transition period is over.
This might come as a shock to some Britons owning .eu domains, but shouldn't be one: .eu domain has always been restricted to EU nationals and organizations and as Britain ceases to be within EU, the suspension of those domains is just logical one.
.eu domain authority EURid has already started notifying UK-based .eu domain owners about the upcoming deadline. EU nationals residing in the UK owning .eu domains don't need to worry - the ownership of the domain isn't restricted to where person is living at, as long as the domain owner's nationality is within EU borders.
As an additional concession, UK nationals residing in a EU member state will keep their .eu domains, as long as their residence stays within EU borders.