Protecting your .UK presence

The clock is ticking on who can register a .UK domain in your name. Nominet, the governing body of UK domain names, released shorter .UK domain names in 2014 as opposed to the longer .co.uk domain names.

This moves the UK in line with many other countries, such as France (.FR) and Germany (.DE).

Until 25 June 2019, you can register your.UK domain name if you already own the .co.uk domain name. From 1 July 2019, anyone else can register any available.UK domain name, regardless of whether they already own .co.uk or not.

We have included the answers to common questions below:

How can I check if I have a reserved domain?

You can check your rights to a shorter .uk domain by visiting the Nominet online checker here https://www.nominet.uk/whois/

I qualify for rights and I’m interested. How do I register my second-level domain?

You will need to register the .uk domain name yourself before 6am BST (UTC+1) on the 25th of June 2019. We suggest contacting your current registrar who will be able to help you with this.

What happens if I don’t register the corresponding shorter .uk domain?

When your rights expire on June 25th, the ‘reserved’ domain will be available for registration by someone else.

If I don’t take up the corresponding .UK domain, what happens to my existing registration?

Your existing domain is unaffected and will continue as usual. Remember to continue to renew your registration each year.