
British-owned .EU domains may be turned off on Brexit - eicnix
https://dot-eu-is-going.uk/
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detaro
previously:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16714581](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16714581)

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jackweirdy
Newspaper editors, thank me later:

EU: "leave.eu to leave .eu", leaving .eu to EU

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jjp
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_stakeho...](https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/notice_to_stakeholders_brexit_eu_domain_names.pdf)

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pmlnr
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.)

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JohnGB
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.

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easytiger
> There is zero incentive for any EU country to be flexible with the UK
> exiting the EU

Millions of non British EU citizens living in the UK would likely beg to
differ

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tpm
No they wouldn't. The EU standing up for them - which it does - is the only
way they will have more rights than any other migrant worker from around the
world. Being flexible would mean abandoning them to get some trade-only, no-
free-movement deal.

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hugh4life
Maybe there needs to be a tld for Europe that is not mean the European Union.
".euro" or ".europe".

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ultim8k
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.

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Aaargh20318
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.

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Exuma
Wow that would be terrible news to wake up to.

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dingaling
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.

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foepys
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.

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dingaling
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.

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MistahKoala
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?

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Symbiote
How about the European Union, at europa.eu?

My employer's database has a few hundred email addresses ending .eu. The vast
majority are scientific institutions, local government, or EU institutions.

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MistahKoala
Well, the EU aren't leaving the EU, are they? So far as I'm aware, no local
government in the UK uses .EU as they're on the .GOV.UK SLD.

