Since the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) became effective in May 2018, DENIC no longer records an administrative contact (Admin-C) for reasons of data economy. Consequently, no contact data is available.

According to item VI of the DENIC Domain Guidelines, the domain holder is obliged to provide accurate and complete data – including an e-mail address – with the domain request.

If this obligation is not fulfilled, you as the domain holder risk the loss of your domain, as incorrect or missing data entitle DENIC to terminate the domain contract without notice. This also applies to the TRANSIT procedure, if no valid e-mail address has been stored that can be used for the communication between you as the domain holder and DENIC.

For storing your correct e-mail address, please contact your current provider or, if the domain is undergoing the TRANSIT process, your future provider or DENIC directly.

DENIC is responsible for operating the name servers for the Top Level Domain .de.

The authoritative name servers for this zone can be found at

https://www.denic.de/en/service/name-service/

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 Thursday, 8:00 to 18:00 CE(S)T and
Friday 8:00 to 16:00 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

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.

There are several possible explanations for this phenomenon:

When a domain is registered with DENIC, it is immediately visible via our whois service, so it is then possible to access certain data about the domain, in particular, the name of its holder. At the same time, technical data is added to the DENIC database regarding the domain's connectivity. Providing connectivity data involves indicating between two and five name servers through which the domain information is available or arranging for at least one direct entry (NSentry) to be made on the DENIC name server.

Once a domain has been fully connected, it is possible to use it to process various services (www, e-mail, ftp, etc.), but it is not mandatory to do so. What this means is that although "de-beispieldomain.de" has been registered, there doesn't have to be a host called "www.de-beispieldomain.de". There are no rules that lay down which services must be provided through a domain, and certainly there is no obligation whatsoever to create a homepage. It is possible for domain holders to decide to use their domains solely for the functions of transmitting e-mail or for file transfers using ftp. The use a domain (in whatever way) at any given point in time cannot be verified either technically or administratively. There would thus be no point in making the effective use of a domain into a precondition for its registration.

Another possibility is that the elusive domain does have its associated homepage, but that its server istemporarily inaccessible.

There is also the possibility that you have made a mistake in entering the URL.

It might be that the technical data have changed since you last accessed it (which will already be documented in our whois database), but that DENIC has not yet generated a new .de zone with the latest information.

In no circumstances does the inaccessibility of a website bestow any sort of right on you to demand its deletion. You can't call for the deletion of any website producing a message such as "under construction" either.

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.

You may use  to query .de and .9.4.e164.arpa domains and also any other domain under any NAST Top Level Domain. Please note, however, that for all domains under other TLDs (such as .com or .net domains) a generic test series will be performed, which does not take any TLD-specific settings into consideration. Hence, tests performed with the same name servers with identical configurations, for a .de and a .com domain for example, may lead to different results.

In case you do not know the requirements for the respective TLD, please contact the authoritative registry. You may consult the website of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority to find out this registry.

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

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

Phone
National: (069) 27 235 0
International: +49 69 27 235 0

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

Our hotline is available
from Monday to Thursday, 8:00 to 18:00 CE(S)T
and Friday 8:00 to 16:00 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: info[at]denic[dot]de

The DENIC zone files contain – roughly spoken – a list of all .de-domains together with information on the name servers that belong to them. DENIC does not hand over these zone files (or parts of it) to any third parties. Such disclosure would run counter to the imperatives of data protection and would undermine the defence of domain holders against possible abuse. Germany's Federal Data Protection Act is rather far-reaching in this respect. Protected "person-related data" includes not only information that is related directly to a particular individual, but also any data that could be used to identify individuals. Since it would be easy to combine the zone file with DENIC's whois query to extract data and to link them to individuals, the data contained in the zone file is protected because it is person-related.

Generally, DENIC collects and processes data about domains and their holders solely for the purpose of domain administration, and that does not require the zone file to be published. Moreover, from the perspective of domain administration, there are no circumstances in which a third party could justifiably need such a file. On the contrary: there would be a big danger of the zone file being used for activities that might jeopardize the interests of domain holders. Spammers or hackers might use it easily as a data source, since there are all existing .de-domains listed in the zone file. Combined with the whois query, these domain data could be person-related. Once the zone file had been published or rendered publicly available, DENIC would have lost any means of monitoring or influencing its use or of establishing and preventing any breaches of others' rights. Even the copyright that DENIC holds for the zone file, prohibiting unauthorized copies and further dissemination, would not provide any real protection.

In this respect, DENIC can be reasonably compared with a bank. No bank publishes a complete list of all the account numbers it has issued; in the same way, DENIC does not make the zone files available either.

RRI is the abbreviation of Realtime Registry Interface and is an realtime interface with which DENIC-members can send requests in realtime to the registration system.

Currently, administration of the IP address space worldwide is divided up over five different organizations: RIPE NCC, AfriNIC, ARIN, APNIC and LACNIC. . It is RIPE NCC in Amsterdam that is in charge of the European space.

RIPE NCC assigns big address blocks to its members, the Local Internet Registries (LIRs), and these, in turn, make addresses available to the users in their particular regions.

Domains are an addressing technique for identifying and localizing computers (or "hosts") in the Internet. Computers recognize one another solely by means of their IP addresses, which are purely numerical. The IPv4 standard, which is still the dominant one, requires them to be in the form xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, where each xxx stands for a number between 0 and 255. A typical IP address might, for instance, be 10.136.66.12. When one computer wants to communicate with another one via the Internet, it sends it "Internet packets" which are addressed to the recipient's IP address.

It is human nature that we usually find it a lot easier to memorize terms and descriptions than rows of figures. That was the reason the Domain Name System (DNS) was developed and it makes it possible to use words, names and terms instead of digits more or less at will (although a few rules have to be complied with). That now makes it possible for Internet users to access hosts either through their IP address or by entering the domain. The DNS can also be used for calling other services and information.

When a domain is called in the Internet, special computers, known as name servers, assume the task of translating it into the corresponding IP address. Because each domain and each IP address is unique, they can both only be registered once in the world.

The DNS itself has a hierarchical structure. A number of Top Level Domains (TLDs), such as .de or .com, are defined as its topmost layer. Under these TLDs, it is possible to register second-level domains, which are nearly always referred to simply as "domains". DENIC administers those domains that come under the Top Level Domain .de.

The European Commission decided, as a means of encouraging e-business in Europe and to support the creation of a own European Internet identity, to establish the Top Level Domain .eu. The organization EURid, which was set up jointly by the national registries for .be, .se and .it, has been chosen as the .eu registry.

There are two ways of ensuring a domain's connectivity:

The first of these is for the domain to be delegated by DENIC name servers to other name servers. This means that DENIC enters the addresses of at least two name servers in its databases. Any inquiry DENIC receives about this domain is passed on to these name servers. In order to ensure that the name servers concerned are accessible and competent, we perform a check of functionality the first time entries are made for them.

Secondly, there is the alternative of linking up to five services on DENIC's own name servers that have something to do with your domain, such as www.de-example.de or mail.de-example.de, directly with the IP address of the host or a mail server through which this service is handled (such links are known as “NSentries”). In this second case, you do not need to have a name server of your own.

A classical IP address is made up of four bytes (as defined in Internet Protocol Version 4 - “IPv4” for short). Generally, Internet addresses are written in such a way that each byte is represented by a decimal number and the bytes are separated from one another by dots (example: 192.168.4.13).

This system was first introduced in the 1980s. Theoretically, it has a capacity of around 4 000 000 000 IP addresses.

In practice, however, the vast majority of these addresses are not available for use on account of groupings and other mechanisms, so that, as the Internet continued its rapid expansion, it became necessary to think about extending this address scheme. These addresses, which are only 32-bits long are beginning to run out, and new ranges of functions that ought to be integrated are creating the need for additional address space.

For this reason, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) developed a new version of the Internet Protocol (IPv6), and in 1998 it was given the status of a draft standard [RFC2460]. According to this newer model there are no longer just four bytes available for each IP address, but 16. This increases the total number of addresses to 2^128 (aprroimately 3.4 E+38).

The answer to this question depends on whether your domain is being administered by a DENIC member or by DENICdirect.

In the first case (your domain is being administered by a DENIC member), it is only your provider who is in a position to deal with questions and any other matters concerning your domain. If, despite that, you contact DENIC directly, there is nothing we can do except pass your message on to the DENIC member in charge, so there is no way that you can save time. If it happens that you can no longer contact your provider or if you make no progress with your provider, DENIC is able to give you provisional assistance until you find a new provider.

In the second case (your domain is being administered by DENICdirect), you can contact DENIC directly with any matter that may concern you. As a DENICdirect customer, you should realize that you can help shorten the processing time considerably and reduce the need for clarifying details afterwards by using the special standard forms that DENIC provides for many different types of transaction.

This particular information page has been set up for the holder of the domain concerned, who possibly was not reachable by post, to make him aware that the domain (website) is not accessible and that he/she should contact DENIC as soon as possible.

No. DENIC's job is just to administer domains, not IP addresses. The latter function has been entrusted to RIPE NCC in Amsterdam for the European space.

If you need IP addresses for access to the Internet, you will generally be able to get them from your Internet Service Provider (ISP), provided he/she belongs to RIPE's Local Internet Registries(LIRs).

It you don't want to connect up to the Internet, it will presumably be possible for you to work with a so-called "private address space". This concept is described in detail in RFC1918 (Address Allocation for Private Internets).

No. DENIC is only responsible for the registration of domains under the Top Level Domain (TLD) .de (for Germany).

The second-level domain "example.de.vu" has nothing to do with the Top Level Domain .de, but is a domain under the county code TLD .vu (which stands for Vanuatu). DENIC has nothing at all to do with the registration of this domain.

DENIC provides forms for many transactions. That makes the job easier for both you and us. All you have to do is print out the forms and complete them. This way DENIC can be sure it will receive the declarations needed. Clarifications become unnecessary and delays are avoided.

The reason why DENIC asks you to send in the provided forms signed by you or your legal representative is to prevent misunderstandings at some later date.

Naturally, it is DENIC's policy to assist its customers in any way it can when they have problems. However, it cannot give legal advice on individual cases. DENIC is not able to help you if, for instance, you want to know how to react to a written warning or what sort of chances you have of defending your domain in a legal dispute or how you can manage to force a domain holder to delete his/her domain. In such cases, you will have to seek specialist advice elsewhere, such as from a lawyer or a patent lawyer if trademark rights are the subject-matter. In Germany, the local professional chamber of lawyers (Rechtsanwaltskammer) and in some localities the local professional associations of lawyers (Anwaltsvereine) will be able to help you find the correct lawyer to handle your particular problem. Some of the German federal states have set up public legal-advice centres (Rechtsauskunftsstellen) and in some cases there may be a scheme of legal-aid vouchers to help you if you are unable to afford lawyers' fees. If in doubt about this last point, you will be able to get more information from the ministry of justice of the federal state concerned (Landesjustizministerium), or the nearest local court (Amtsgericht) might be able to assist you. In many cases, the best first step is often to try and find out more yourself by using the Internet, where there are many websites that provide legal information. There are also various mailing lists for online law, where you may find others willing to discuss your problem with you.

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)

No. DENIC does not "block" domains in such a way that they are no longer available for registration. That even applies if you believe that you have rights on account of your name or a brand or trademark you own to stop anyone apart from yourself from holding a particular domain. Given the many thousands of millions of people and legal entities throughout the world, nobody can ever say for certain that they are unique and that there is no-else or no organization that might not have the right to register the domain for themselves. That fact that DENIC has no obligation to "block" domains was expressly confirmed in a judgement handed down by the Court of Appeals in Dresden when it found against a leading politician in the German federal state of Saxony who had taken action against DENIC with the aim of forcing it to "block" the registration of a domain called kurt-biedenkopf.de. Despite that, there is an easy way to prevent domains from being registered by others and then used in a way you would not like: you should get in first and register them yourself.

If you are concerned with the contents of websites, first of all you must make sure to clearly understand the fundamental difference between websites and domains.

While domains (under .de) are registered with DENIC, websites are located on servers, and these are not operated by DENIC but by the respective domain holder or their provider. DENIC does not have access to these servers.

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; they are not even saved on DENIC's own servers.

From this alone, it is already clear that DENIC is not in a position to do anything to prevent the spread of a particular website. And this is why DENIC has no obligations in this respect, as has also already been confirmed explicitly in a court judgement.

Fundamentally, holding a domain is inheritable, so the heir of the late domain holder replaces the deceased person. Such an heir will need to show evidence of the inheritance to their provider and will then be entered in DENIC's database as the new domain holder. The heir, of course, also has the right to delete the domain or to transfer it to someone else.

Users who have not activated any Javascript may use the "Plain-HTML" version of our domain query:

Go to domain query

Please understand that we do not accept e-mails in the following cases for security reasons:

• The address of the e-mail recipient is invalid. Please check the recipient's address on typing errors. You find valid e-mail addresses of DENIC eG on our contact page.
• The e-mail exceeds the size limit. Please check if your e-mail contains large file attachments and/or if the file attachments can be compressed or split into several e-mails.
• The e-mail is identified as spam. Please check the content of your e-mail and notify your system administrator.
• The e-mail contains a virus. Please check the content of your e-mail and notify your system administrator.

If the DENIC mail server rejects an e-mail for any of the aforementioned reasons, it will communicate this to the mail server of the sender. Whether you as the sender receive a delivery error notification to your inbox depends on the configuration of your mail server. If you are not sure about this, please contact your system administrator.

First of all, you need DNSSEC-capable name server software to be installed on your primary and all your secondary name servers. An additional tool for carrying out the signing of your domains would be helpful. You will find practical information about DNSSEC operation in the RFC 4641. When you have completed the preparatory work, you need a provider who supports DNSSEC in order to have your key material stored in DENIC's registration database.

However, there are service companies and software that will do this detail work for you. We have compiled some examples for you at the fourth DNSSEC Testbed Meeting.

A general distinction is made between generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs), such as .com, or .info, and country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs), such as .de.

You will find information about the gTLDs on the website of the international organization ICANN.

The website of IANA gives you an overview of the more than 240 ccTLDs that exist today. Here, you also find a list of the names and addresses of the registries in charge of each ccTLD.

Many registries make information about domains and domain holders publicly available through a so-called whois search. For many of the gTLDs, you can use the whois search offered by Internic. If this is not possible, please contact the particular registry in charge of the TLD you are interested in to get further information.

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.

No, because DENIC is only in charge of .de domains. If you want to register a domain under a generic Top Level Domain (e. g. .com, .net, .org, .info etc.), you can do so through any of the registrars accredited with ICANN.

 If you want to register a domain under any ccTLD (country code Top Level Domain) other than .de, you should ask your provider if he/she handles such domains or you should contact the competent registrydirectly.