FAQs

DENIC is a cooperative and its full name is “DENIC eG”. It is the registry for the domains below the Top Level Domain .de, i.e. it administers all second level domains that end in .de. Additionally, DENIC is the registry for all ENUM-domains which cover the German telephone number space.

The domain administration is an operation requiring the most sophisticated technology. Its most essential components are the provision of an automatic electronic registration system and the operation of the domain database and the name-server service for the .de zone and the German ENUM zone. DENIC's database thus contains information about which domains have already been registered, who the domain holder is and, by no means least important, on which computer the services associated with the domain are to be found.

The registration of a .de domain can be arranged through any provider who is either a DENIC member themselves or who works with a DENIC member. The usual practice is that registration will be offered to you as part of the package of planning your Internet presence or that it will be an automatic part of an Internet-access package.

Once you have decided in favour of a particular provider, you can also apply to register your domain directly through them. We would ask you to understand that we are unable to give any prices for the registration of .de domains in cases like this since, each provider decides themselves what to charge.

If you don't want to have your domain registration undertaken by a provider, you have the alternative of entrusting it to our DENICdirect service. We will then charge our services to you in accordance with the most recent DENIC price list. In arriving at your decision, please consider that we will not provide you with any additional Internet services, such as web space or e-mail accounts. These are services that you will then have to organize yourself or order from a provider. For these reasons, most domain holders prefer to have registration handled by a provider.

Regardless of the route by which you arrange to have your domain registered, a contractual relationship is created between you as the domain holder and DENIC as the registry. To conclude the contract, it is necessary that the registration is in compliance with the conditions stipulated in DENIC's Domain Guidelines. The contractual provisions are summarized in DENIC's DomainTerms and Conditions.

DENIC always registers domains on a “first-come, first-served” basis. If someone else registered before you, the only thing you can do initially is to settle for a different name for your domain.

If you have a right to the domain, please also read our information about the DISPUTE procedure.

The information page you see is a special web page set up by DENIC. The domain holder currently has no Internet presence under this URL.

If you yourself are the holder of the domain concerned, please get in touch with the customer service of DENIC eG:

DENIC eG
Theodor-Stern-Kai 1
60596 Frankfurt am Main
Germany

Our service staff is available from Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 18:00 (CE(S)T):

Phone
National: (069) 27 235 270
International: +49 69 27 235 270

Fax
National: (069) 27 235 238
International: +49 69 27 235 238

e-mail: direct[at]denic[dot]de

TRANSIT is an efficient and fast service of DENIC that ensures that you as the domain holder will not lose your domain if it is no longer administered by a provider. Even if there is no provider, your domain will not be deleted immediately and is not available for registration to anybody else while the TRANSIT procedure is running.

For the TRANSIT procedure to be performed, the domain is transferred to direct administration by DENIC and managed by the DENICdirect service. DENIC sends a letter to the domain holder and informs them that their domain has obtained the TRANSIT status and explains the next steps to be taken.

You as the domain holder must then decide within a set period what is going to happen with the affected domain. You have three options:

1. You choose to continue to have the domain administered by DENICdirect by paying the charges for the service.

2. Provider transfer – You choose to keep the domain, i.e. transfer it to a new provider with the help of the provider transfer password (AuthInfo).

3. Domain deletion – You choose to definitely give up your position as holder of the domain by submitting a deletion request.

You can submit a deletion request or generate your individual provider transfer password (AuthInfo) directly via our TRANSIT Service Center. For your access data please refer to the TRANSIT letter.

Please Note!

For the TRANSIT procedure to work properly, the holder data stored in the DENIC database must always be up-to-date because the TRANSIT letter is sent to the address indicated in the database. If the letter cannot be delivered, a termination of the domain contract will be sent without notice to the domain holder to the e-mail address stored in the DENIC database and the domain will be deleted in the end.

DENIC sends you a demand for payment when your domain has been transferred to the DENIC TRANSIT service because your provider no longer administers the domain. For the TRANSIT procedure to be performed, the domain is transferred to direct administration by  DENICdirect. The TRANSIT service ensures that you do not inadvertently lose your domain. It is a service with cost.

DENIC has sent you as the domain holder a TRANSIT letter. This letter informs you that your domain has obtained the TRANSIT status and explains which steps you must now take. The letter also requests you to pay the costs incurred by the administration through DENICdirect.

In case you decide against having your domain administered by the service DENICdirect, we offer the following accommodation: DENIC will not charge you any costs, if you

1. Select a new provider to administer the domain in the future by carrying out a provider transfer, or

2. Delete the domain by submitting a deletion request and thus definitely give up your position as holder of the domain within the period set in the TRANSIT letter.

Please note: If the TRANSIT period expires and you have neither transferred nor deleted the domain nor made any payment, DENIC will terminate the domain contract without notice and delete the domain. The legal basis for this is Section 7 (2) (k) of the DENIC Domain Terms and Conditions. Therefore, it is essential that you as the domain holder react to the TRANSIT letter in order to avoid an unintended termination of the domain contract.

You will not be charged any cost by DENIC if you make use of the options following below within the period set in the TRANSIT letter:

1. Provider transfer – You choose to keep the domain, i.e. transfer it to a new provider with the help of the provider transfer password (AuthInfo)

2. Domain deletion – You choose to definitely give up your position as holder of the domain by submitting a deletion request.

You can submit a deletion request or generate your individual provider transfer password (AuthInfo) directly via our TRANSIT Service Center. Simply log in with your personal TRANSIT password we sent to you with our TRANSIT letter. You will be guided through the procedure step by step.

Please note: If you do not react within the period set in the TRANSIT letter, i.e. if

• payment in full has not been made, or
• no provider transfer has taken place, or
• the domain has not been deleted,

DENIC will terminate the domain contract without notice and delete the domain. The legal basis for this is Section 7 (2) (k) of the DENIC Domain Terms and Conditions. Therefore, it is essential that the domain holder reacts to the TRANSIT letter in order to avoid an unintended termination of the domain contract.

The data about a domain, which includes its holder, are recorded by DENIC when the domain is registered.

If a party has a legitimate interest, DENIC can communicate the data of the holder of a domain. For more details please refer to our specific information and the forms you need.

DENIC's function is limited to the registration and administration of domains and it is thus not responsible for the contents of websites.

If you happen to find a website whose contents appear illegal or harmful to young people, you should report it to the appropriate law-enforcement agency (such as the police or the public prosecutor's office). Alternatively, you can contact the complaints' unit of the Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle der Multimedia-Diensteanbieter FSM, which was founded in 1997 by several associations in order to prevent the spreading of contents that is illegal or harmful to young people (e.g. incitement of the people, display of violence, so-called hard pornography) via online services. Please note: FSM is not responsible for complaints concerning the following subjects:

• Spam mails (unsolicited advertising e-mails) without pornographic content or content harmful to young persons. Contact: eco e.V.
• Breach of the duties with regard to provider identification of non-members of the FSM. Contact: Zentrale zur Bekämpfung unlauteren Wettbewerbs e.V. (Centre for Combating Unfair Competition) 
• Infringements of data privacy laws. Contact: Responsible State Data Protection Officer 
• Contents of news groups and forums. Contact: ICTF Working Group of eco e.V. (Association of the German Internet Economy)

If you are concerned with the contents of websites, the first thing you must do is to clearly understand the fundamental difference between websites and domains. It is possible to make a website reachable under a domain, but that is not the only way, since websites can be addressed by entering the appropriate IP address too. It is also possible for a website to be accessible through several domains and under a number of different Top Level Domains. To give you an example: the domains www.denic.de, www.nic.de and www.denic.info all route you to DENIC's website. A domain is actually only a reference to a computer ("host"), which itself (with the exception of the example just given) is not operated by DENIC, but by someone else. DENIC has no means of accessing such computers.

From this it follows that DENIC has nothing to do with either the contents or technicalities of websites accessible under .de domains. DENIC cannot determine the contents of websites (nor can it even influence them); it doesn't even have them saved on its own servers. All DENIC does is to provide the link between the domain and the website by registering the domain on its name servers.

From this, it is already clear that DENIC is not in a position to do anything to prevent the spread of a particular website. The most it could do would be to break its link with a particular domain. That wouldn't really achieve anything, since the possible legal or other problems concern the website itself and not its link to a particular domain. For this reason alone, DENIC is under no obligation to break such links, as has also already been confirmed in a court judgement.

But there is something else to be considered too. DENIC would, of course, only be able to intervene if it had first verified that the questionable website was indeed illegal or morally offensive. DENIC is not in a position to carry out such checks, nor does it have any duty to do so. It would actually be highly undesirable to want to impose such a duty on DENIC, because it would end up making DENIC into a general policing and censorship body for the whole Internet, insofar as it was active under .de.