Summary and implications
Nominet, the UK's registry operator, has announced that, from summer 2014, shorter .uk domain names − such as website.uk − will be made available for registration. This brings the UK in line with other country level domains (e.g. .fr and .de).
The move represents the biggest modification of the .uk namespace since its introduction and will affect the 10 million holders of existing third-level UK domains (such as .co.uk or .org.uk) who will need to consider whether to register equivalent .uk domains.
.uk domains available for registration
Holders of existing third level .uk domains (such as .co.uk or .org.uk) will be offered the shorter equivalent of their existing domain registration. They will then have five years to decide whether they wish to use it in addition to, or instead of, their existing registration.
Where identical domain name extensions are owned by different parties (for example, one party owns website.org.uk and another owns website.co.uk), the .co.uk registrant will be given priority.
Unique .uk domains, for which equivalent third-level extensions have not already been registered, will be made available on a first-come-first-served basis.
Price Nominet's charges will be the same as for current .co.uk domains: £3.50 for a single year or £2.50 per year for multi-year registrations.
What this means for you All of Nominet's existing domains (.co.uk, .org.uk, .net.uk, .me.uk, .plc.uk, .ltd.uk and .sch.uk) will continue unaffected.
A definitive launch date for.uk domains is expected to be announced by Nominet in February 2014, which has also committed to publish a major communication programme ahead of its introduction.
In the meantime, brand owners should carefully consider .uk domain extensions which may be of interest, ahead of the upcoming changes in 2014.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
