Terms and Conditions
of the Nominet Registry
(.co.uk and .org.uk)
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/ref/drs-policy.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
| 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; |
| 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; |
| 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. |
| 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"). |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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
| 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. |
| 2.2. |
You must sign and return to us the reply form which we
will send to you after registration or renewal as appropriate. |
| 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. |
| 2.4. |
You must promptly inform us of any court proceedings brought
in respect of the Domain Name. |
| 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
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 4.3. |
We shall not be liable to you whether in contract, tort
(including negligence) or otherwise for: |
| |
| 4.3.1. |
any loss of profit, revenue or other type of economic
loss (whether direct or indirect); |
| 4.3.2. |
loss of business or contracts; |
| 4.3.3. |
loss of anticipated savings or goodwill; or |
| 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: |
| 4.3.5. |
any error or omission in entries to the Register;
and |
| 4.3.6. |
loss of registration and/or use (for whatever reason
and whether temporary or otherwise) of the Domain
Name. |
|
| 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. |
| 4.5. |
Our aggregate liability to you whether under these terms
and conditions or otherwise (including liability for negligence)
shall not exceed £5,000. |
| 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. |
| 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; |
| 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 |
| 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
| 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
| 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 |
| 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. |
| 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
| 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. |
| 8.2. |
After we have received payment for a Domain Name, only
you (and not your Agent) may surrender the Domain Name. |
| 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. |
| 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). |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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: |
| |
| 8.7.1. |
if we do not receive your registration or renewal
fees in accordance with clause 2.1 above; |
| 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; |
| 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; |
| 8.7.4. |
if you are in breach of the warranties contained
in clauses 5.1 and 5.3 of the Contract; or |
| 8.7.5. |
if the Domain Name is being administered in a way
likely to endanger the operation of the Domain Name
System. |
|
| 8.8. |
We may transfer, suspend, cancel or amend the Domain Name
registration in the following circumstances: |
| |
| 8.8.1. |
upon receiving written instructions from you to
take such action together with any relevant fee; |
| 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; |
| 8.8.3. |
if such changes are necessary in order to correct
an error relating to the Domain Name registration;
or |
| 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. |
|
| 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. |
- Change of Agent
| 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: |
| 9.2. |
we are satisfied that you have first approached your Agent,
and that the approach has been unsuccessful; and |
| 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
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
|
