Proxy Service for UK-owned .eu domains Post-Brexit

Brexit has wrought many changes in internet laws in the UK. One of the major changes involves the registering of .eu TLDs by UK citizens. As of 30 March 2019, UK Citizens with online businesses with a registered domain at .eu will be unable to use their domain due to BREXIT.

This is problematic if you operate a business that caters to European customers and wishes to keep your .eu domain. No worries we have a solution for you. We are unveiling our Proxy Service to allow UK Citizens with .eu domains to continue servicing their EU customers. A proxy service can bypass the geolocation restriction of registering and owning a .eu domain. Whether you are an existing holder of a .eu domain or wishing to register one a proxy will allow you to do just that.

In this article we outline in a quick-fire guide what a Proxy Service is and how you can use it to help you maintain your .eu domain, their benefits, and how to set the service up.

Protecting your .EU domain after 29 March 2019

The UK Registrar estimates that round 300,000 .eu domain names are registered with UK addresses.  While a great number of these are quite possibly private domain names; there will be a significant amount of business websites catering to the European Market—with a few large e-commerce operations in the mix. We can only crank a guess at the number of resources invested in starting and building brand names at .eu, which can go down the drawn as a result of Brexit. Once the EU reclaims the domain names there will be no possibility of forwarding the traffic from those .eu domain extensions to a valid UK domain. As a result, many businesses stand to lose millions of pounds in investments. Can this be circumvented?

Circumvention: Using a Proxy Service

With Hosting.uk you can rest assured that we are fully prepared to mitigate the problem. Brexit poses threats to UK businesses using .eu domain names. So, we have extended a circumvention plan to help you retain your domain. We are happy to announce the rollout of our Proxy Service. This service is legally sound and offers you a perfectly packaged solution.

ICANN the body that registers all domain names keeps are a record of the country of registration of each domain name. Making it quite easy for the European Union to have access to registration information including addresses of all registered .eu domain names.

In fact .eu domains registered outside of the European Union have already been flagged! What’s more is that once the appeals process is over concerning Brexit, actions will be taken against UK holders of .eu domain names. Less you forget ICANN registrar has the complete list of domain names.

The good news is that our company is a part of a larger group of companies with operations within the European Union and thus can provide a European Address for .eu registrations using our Proxy Service.

How the Proxy Service Works

The use of our proxy service is very simple, exceedingly effective and will protect our clients from significant investment losses by allowing them to retain their .eu domain names. The process is as follows:

  • We acquire/reregister .eu domain names that were previously registered at a UK address of the client.
  • The domain names are registered using one of our European Union proxy address thereby legitimising registration of the domain.
  • UK then enters into an agreement with our customer to license the use of the .eu domain name for their business activities within the European Economic Market.

There you have it; it is that simple. Essentially the .eu domain name is registered as an active address within the European Union and then simply licensed to a third party (you the client). In theory Hosting.uk retains ownership of the domain name. Although effectively the customer owns the rights to the name, which is directed to your hosting account.

The Importance of Protecting Your Brand

It is unclear when the European Union and the United Kingdom will reach an agreement on the trade particulars post-Brexit. What is apparent is that for geo-specific TLDs, in order to register one you must be in that geographic location. Therefore, it is imperative to protect your brand and your hard work invested in building your European customer base.

Using our Proxy Service is a failsafe in case trade agreements remain suspended for some time. What is certain is that the European Commission issued a statement in March 2018 that stated that UK citizens holding .eu domains will no longer be eligible to retain them. While the aforementioned applies to existing owners, any UK citizens hoping to register a .eu domain name with plans to establish an online business for European customers will be barred from using the geo-specific TLD. So regardless of whether or not they reach an agreement, .eu TLDs are not viable outside of the EU. This is something a proxy service can fix.

This is why protecting your brand awareness with your European clientele is crucial. There is no need to lose this market for your business. Nor is it necessary to rule out building a new brand with European customers. The beauty of the internet is that anything is possible.

Conclusion

What is certain is that no matter what happens with the trade agreement, the EU made a decision. They will reclaim .eu domain names from UK holders. Therefore, this is the time to be proactive about ensuring your business remains safe after Brexit.

Let us help you continue to serve the greater European Union market even once Brexit takes effect. Your customers in the EU deserve to know that you are there to service them. So why not show your presence by being identifiable by your TLD .eu?