Terms and Conditions of the Nominet Registry
WARNING: by registering a domain name within the .uk Top
Level Domain (a "Domain Name"), you enter into a contract of
registration with Nominet UK ("We", "Our" or "Us") on the
following terms and conditions. This is a separate contract
to any arrangement you may have with any third party for the
provision of internet services.
Nominet is the Registry for all internet Domain Names
ending in .uk and provides a public service for the
.uk namespace on behalf of the Internet community.
You can find out more information about Nominet from our web
site at
http://www.nominet.org.uk. Nominet is a not - for -
profit company limited by guarantee which is performing
services on a cost recovery basis. This is why we consider
it reasonable to limit our liability in certain respects so
that we may continue to offer our services in the interests
of the whole internet community.
This Contract includes our current Rules For The .uk
Domain And Sub-Domains ("Rules") and the Policy and
Procedure for our Domain Name Dispute Resolution Service
("Policy" and "Procedure" as appropriate). Copies of the
Policy, Procedure and Rules are at
http://www.nominet.org.uk/drs.html or can be obtained
from us.
You may have registered a Domain Name through a third
party (usually, but not always, your internet service
provider). In these terms and conditions, the term "Agent"
means such a third party.
- What we will do
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1.1. |
We will process your application to register a Domain
Name and consider whether or not to accept it in
accordance with the criteria laid down in the Rules; |
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1.2. |
If your application is accepted, we will inform you or
your Agent. If your application is rejected, we will
inform you or your Agent as soon as reasonably
practicable and return to you or your Agent (as
appropriate) any payments received; |
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1.3. |
Unless the current Rules of the relevant sub-domain
state to the contrary, we will register Domain Names
on a first come, first served basis. Until we accept
your application, there is no guarantee that the
Domain Name you applied for will be entered in the
Register as such. We therefore recommend that you do
not take any action in respect of a Domain Name until
you have received confirmation from us that your
application has been accepted. |
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1.4. |
After your application has been accepted, we will
enter the Domain Name and other relevant details
(namely the data described in clause 6 below, together
with details of your Agent, if any) in the Domain Name
register database for the requested second level of
the .uk top level domain (the "Register"). |
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1.5. |
We will use the information in the Register entry for
the Domain Name to enable the resolution of requests
for the Domain Name, by pointing to the authoritative
name servers listed in the Register Entry for the
Domain Name. For further information about the
technical requirements for registering a Domain Name,
please contact your Agent. |
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1.6. |
After your application has been accepted and we have
received your registration fee, we will issue you with
a registration certificate and a reply form. |
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1.7. |
Subject to clause 8 below, we will transfer your
Domain Name and update the Register accordingly on
receipt of correctly completed transfer documentation
from you and any relevant transfer fee applicable at
the time of transfer. We will not transfer a Domain
Name whilst it is the subject of legal proceedings or
proceedings under our Dispute Resolution Service. |
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1.8. |
Please note that subject to clauses 8.5 and 8.6 we
will not refund any fees after your Domain Name and
details have been entered in the Register. |
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1.9. |
Subject to clauses 8.7 and 8.8 below, we will only
make changes to the details contained on the Register
(other than the registrant field), if we receive
instructions and approval from you or your Agent. |
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1.10. |
Subject to clauses 8.7 and 8.8, we shall only alter
the details contained in the "registrant" field of the
Register if we receive authorisation directly from
you. |
- What you must do
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2.1. |
You must ensure that we receive the registration or
renewal fee within one month after the issue of our
invoice. For the avoidance of doubt, if you use an
Agent it will be your responsibility to ensure that
the Agent has paid the registration or renewal fee to
us within one month of the issue of our invoice. |
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2.2. |
You must sign and return to us the reply form which we
will send to you after registration or renewal as
appropriate. |
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2.3. |
You must inform us promptly of any change in your
registered details, and those of your Agent if
applicable. It will be your responsibility to maintain
and update any details you submit to us and to ensure
that your details are up to date, and accurate. In
particular, it is your responsibility directly or by
your Agent to ensure that we have your full and
correct postal address. |
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2.4. |
You must promptly inform us of any court proceedings
brought in respect of the Domain Name. |
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2.5. |
Any name server listed in the Register entry for the
Domain Name must respond authoritatively to requests
for the Domain Name at all reasonable times. |
- Renewal of your Domain Name Registration
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3.1. |
The registration period is two years from the date of
entry into the Register of your Domain Name
registration. Provided you pay us your renewal fee and
subject to clause 8 below, you will have the right to
renew the Domain Name registration by entering into a
new Contract with us for further periods of two years. |
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3.2. |
Subject to clause 3.3 below, when the Domain Name
registration falls due for renewal, we will contact
your Agent (at the Agent's address appearing in the
Register) to request payment of the relevant renewal
fee. |
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3.3. |
If no Agent is listed on the Register entry for the
Domain Name, or if the Register entry for the Domain
Name indicates that you wish to be invoiced direct, we
will request payment of the relevant renewal fee
direct from you at the registrant address appearing in
the Register. |
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3.4. |
If we fail to receive the renewal fee within thirty
(30) days of our making a request for the renewal fee,
we will suspend your registration for at least 6 weeks
and if we do not receive payment within the suspension
period we will cancel your registration without
further notice to you. During any period of
suspension, we will not point to any name servers
listed in the Register entry for the Domain Name, and
you will be unable to use or transfer the Domain Name. |
- Exclusions and Limitations of Liability
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4.1. |
Nominet does not carry out any investigation as to
whether you are entitled to register or have any
rights in the Domain Name. By registering the Domain
Name we are not acknowledging that you have any rights
in the name comprised in the Domain Name, and we are
not authorising you to use the Domain Name in the
course of trade. |
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4.2. |
Nothing in these terms and conditions limits or
excludes our liability for death or personal injury
caused by our negligence or for fraudulent
misrepresentation. |
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4.3. |
We shall not be liable to you whether in contract,
tort (including negligence) or otherwise for: |
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4.3.1. |
any loss of profit, revenue or other type of
economic loss (whether direct or indirect); |
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4.3.2. |
loss of business or contracts; |
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4.3.3. |
loss of anticipated savings or goodwill; or |
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4.3.4. |
any losses which a court holds to be
consequential, or indirect losses; arising out of
or in connection with the Contract, including but
not limited to: |
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4.3.5. |
any error or omission in entries to the Register;
and |
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4.3.6. |
loss of registration and/or use (for whatever
reason and whether temporary or otherwise) of the
Domain Name. |
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4.4. |
All conditions and warranties which may be implied by
law into any Contract with you are excluded to the
fullest extent permissible by law. |
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4.5. |
Our aggregate liability to you whether under these
terms and conditions or otherwise (including liability
for negligence) shall not exceed £5,000. |
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4.6. |
If you are a consumer (ie you are not registering or
intending to use the Domain Name in the course of a
business, trade or profession) (a "Consumer"), the
provisions of clauses 4.3 4.4 and 4.5 above will not
apply to you. |
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4.7. |
Nothing in these terms and conditions will reduce your
statutory rights relating to faulty or misdescribed
goods. For further information about your statutory
rights contact your local authority Trading Standards
Department or Citizens Advice Bureau. |
- Warranties
By entering into this agreement you consent to and
warrant the following:
|
5.1 |
That you (or your Agent) have obtained the consent of
any individual whose personal data is to be held on
the Register in accordance with clause 6; |
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5.2 |
That the details and information submitted by you to
us are true and correct, and that any future additions
or alterations to your details and information will be
true and correct, and that you will submit them in a
timely manner. Unless you are a Consumer, you shall
pay us (including the current or past members of
Nominet UK's Council of Management) any and all
reasonable costs, claims and expenses (whether direct
or indirect) arising out of any claim resulting from
your breach of this warranty; and |
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5.3 |
That by registering or using the Domain Name (in
whatever manner) you will not knowingly infringe the
intellectual property rights of a third party, that
you are entitled to register the Domain Name, and that
you have not registered the Domain Name in breach of
trust. Our right to rely upon this warranty will
continue to be available after completion of the
registration process and will not be affected by any
surrender, cancellation or transfer of the Domain
Name. Unless you are a Consumer, you shall pay us
(including the current or past members of Nominet UK's
Council of Management) any and all reasonable costs,
claims and expenses (whether direct or indirect)
arising out of any claim that your registration or use
of the Domain Name directly or indirectly infringes
the intellectual property rights of a third party. |
- Personal Data
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6.1 |
The Register is a public register for the purposes of
data protection legislation. The Register will include
your name and postal address, telephone and fax number
and email address together with any other relevant
details. This information (if it refers to
individuals) is 'personal data' for the purposes of
data protection legislation.
Personal data submitted by you will be:
- Posted onto the Register;
- Posted onto the WHOIS database by us. The WHOIS
database is provided on our web site at
http://www.nominet.org.uk. Other Agents which
provide an online Domain Name registration service
may point to our WHOIS database. We will publish
your name and address but will not publish your
telephone or fax number or email address as part of
the WHOIS database; and
- Used as part of the Public Register Subscription
Service ("PRSS"), under which we provide a
compressed form of the Register to subscribers. We
provide the PRSS only to trusted third parties,
based within the European Economic Area, under
strict contractual terms which prohibit the use of
PRSS data for the purposes of direct marketing. The
PRSS enables subscribers to perform WHOIS queries
and reverse look-ups. We will publish your name and
address but not your telephone or fax number or
email address as part of the PRSS;
- We may provide your personal data to
governmental or law enforcement agencies at their
written request in connection with the conducting of
any investigation of criminal activities; and
- We will provide your personal data to third
parties only if required to do so by a court order.
You may write to us to request a copy of the
personal data held by us about you. We may charge a
reasonable fee for the provision of such data. As
required by the Data Protection Act 1998, we will
adopt appropriate security procedures in relation to
the storage and disclosure of information provided by
you in order to prevent unauthorised access. Our
security procedures mean that we may occasionally
request proof of your identity before we are able to
disclose personal information to you. Other than the
uses identified above, we will not disclose your
personal information to others.
You should be aware that personal data posted on
the WHOIS database may be accessible to countries
outside the European Economic Area. By registering a
Domain Name you consent to your personal data being
transferred out of the European Economic Area and to
our use of your personal data for the purposes
specified above. |
- Domain Name Dispute Resolution Service
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7.1. |
You will be bound by the Policy and Procedure of our
Dispute Resolution Service which are incorporated into
these terms and conditions and made a part of the
Contract by reference. The current version of the
Policy and Procedure can be found at our web site:
http://www.nominet.org.uk/drs.html |
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7.2. |
If a dispute arises, you agree to be bound by the
Policy and Procedure which are current at the time
that proceedings under the Dispute Resolution Service
are commenced until the dispute is over. |
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7.3. |
Neither we nor our directors, officers, employees or
servants nor any expert shall be liable to a party for
anything done or omitted in connection with any
proceedings under the Dispute Resolution Service
unless the act or omission is shown to have been in
bad faith. |
- Termination/Cancellation, Suspension and Amendment
of the Register
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8.1. |
You or your Agent may surrender registration of the
Domain Name by notice in writing to us at any time
prior to our receiving payment. |
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8.2. |
After we have received payment for a Domain Name, only
you (and not your Agent) may surrender the Domain
Name. |
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8.3. |
After payment has been received but prior to the issue
of a registration certificate you may surrender the
registration by writing to us on headed notepaper
which corresponds to the registrant address field of
the Register entry for the Domain Name. |
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8.4. |
If a registration certificate has been issued, you may
surrender the Domain Name by correctly completing the
surrender of registration form (on the reverse of the
registration certificate). |
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8.5. |
If you are a Consumer, then you may cancel the
Contract by giving notice to us by any of the means
set out in clause 10.4 below at any time up to and
including 7 working days following the day on which
the Contract is concluded, i.e. the date on which we
give notice to you or your Agent that we have accepted
your application to register a Domain Name. If you
register or use the Domain Name in the course of a
business, trade or profession, you will not have this
right to cancel the Contract. |
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8.6. |
If you cancel the Contract in accordance with clause
8.5 then we will provide you or your Agent (as
appropriate) with a full refund of our registration
fee within 30 days from the day on which we receive
notice of your cancellation. If we refund your Agent,
you may have to seek direct from your Agent any
further component of the fees which you have paid. |
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8.7. |
We may cancel or suspend the registration of a Domain
Name by providing you with notice in writing in the
event of the following: |
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8.7.1. |
if we do not receive your registration or renewal
fees in accordance with clause 2.1 above; |
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8.7.2. |
if you are in breach of the terms of this Contract
(including the Rules) and in the case of a breach
which is capable of remedy you fail to remedy this
within 30 days of receiving written notice from us
to do so; |
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8.7.3. |
if we receive independent verification that you
have provided grossly inaccurate, unreliable or
false registrant contact details, or failed to
keep such contact details up to date; |
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8.7.4. |
if you are in breach of the warranties contained
in clauses 5.1 and 5.3 of the Contract; or |
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8.7.5. |
if the Domain Name is being administered in a way
likely to endanger the operation of the Domain
Name System. |
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8.8. |
We may transfer, suspend, cancel or amend the Domain
Name registration in the following circumstances: |
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8.8.1. |
upon receiving written instructions from you to
take such action together with any relevant fee; |
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8.8.2. |
upon receiving a copy of a perfected order of a
court of competent jurisdiction requiring such
action, or where the retention of a Domain Name by
you would be inconsistent with the terms of a
perfected court order received by us or any other
legal requirements; |
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8.8.3. |
if such changes are necessary in order to correct
an error relating to the Domain Name registration;
or |
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8.8.4. |
following a Decision requiring such action or an
agreement reached between the parties and approved
by us relating to proceedings under the Dispute
Resolution Service. |
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8.9. |
If a name server listed for the Domain Name
registration does not respond authoritatively to
requests for the Domain Name, we may remove the name
server from the Register entry for the Domain Name.
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- Change of Agent
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9.1. |
If you wish to change your Agent, you should first
approach your current Agent to arrange this. If your
approach is unsuccessful, we may at your request
record a change of Agent directly onto the Register
entry for your Domain Name registration. On receipt of
your request, we will approach your Agent (unless
exceptional circumstances apply). We will only comply
with your request if: |
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9.2. |
we are satisfied that you have first approached your
Agent, and that the approach has been unsuccessful;
and |
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9.3. |
we are not informed by your Agent that there is an
express term in your contract with your Agent which
can prevent us from recording such a change. |
- General
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10.1. |
If any clause of these terms and conditions is held to
be unenforceable in whole or in part the other terms
and the rest of the provisions shall continue to be
valid and enforceable. |
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10.2. |
We may transfer our rights and obligations under the
Contract to any third party. You may transfer the
Contract, only on the transfer of the Domain Name, in
accordance with clauses 1.7 and subject to clause 8
above. |
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10.3. |
The internet is an emerging and evolving medium and
the regulatory and administrative framework under
which we operate is constantly developing. For these
reasons we reserve the right to make reasonable
modifications to the terms and conditions of this
Contract (including the Policy, Procedure and Rules)
at any time during the term. We will only do so when
we have good reason. No change will have the effect of
requiring an increase in fees from you in advance of
the next renewal of the Domain Name. Except where we
are acting in pursuance of a statutory requirement or
a court order, changes will be implemented across the
board in all of our Domain Name contracts following a
process of open public consultation. Each such change
will be published in advance (where practicable, 30
days in advance) on our web site:
http://www.nominet.org.uk/ and will become binding
and effective upon the date specified therein. You
should review our web site regularly in order to be
aware of all such changes. If you do not agree with
any change or proposed change to these terms and
conditions you are entitled to terminate the Contract
by providing us with thirty (30) days notice in
writing, in which case you will receive a pro-rata
refund of your registration fee in respect of any
unexpired portion of the term. |
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10.4. |
If you wish to contact us our postal address is
Nominet UK, Sandford Gate, Sandy Lane West, Oxford,
OX4 6LB, England and our telephone number is +44(0)
1865 332211. Our offices are open from 9.00a.m. to
5.30pm (UK local time) Monday to Friday, except for
public holidays. Except as set out in the Policy and
Procedure any notice to be given under the Contract
shall only be deemed to be served if delivered by hand
or sent by pre-paid post, by fax or e-mail, to the
party to whom it is given at its last known postal or
e-mail address or fax number. Except as otherwise set
out in the Policy and Procedure the notice will be
effective: if delivered, on delivery; if sent by fax
or email, on the date of sending; and if by post, on
the date of posting. For the avoidance of doubt, any
notice sent to you will be deemed served if sent to
the address appearing in your Registrant's address
field. |
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10.5. |
This contract is a binding document. Consumers should
read it carefully and ensure that it contains
everything you want and nothing you are not prepared
to agree to. These terms and conditions, together with
the Rules Policy and Procedure, constitute the entire
agreement between you and us for the registration of
the Domain Name, and supersedes all prior agreements,
understandings and representations whether oral or
written. |
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10.6. |
These terms and conditions shall be governed by the
relevant United Kingdom law, and by agreeing to be
bound by them you agree to submit to the exclusive
jurisdiction of the relevant courts of the United
Kingdom. |
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