Chose your color

Frequently visited

Frequently asked questions

  • I am looking for a domain name registrant. Where can I look it up?

    The Whois is an easy-to-use tool for checking the availability of a .nl domain name. If the domain name is already taken, you can see who has registered it.

    On the page looking up a domain name you will find more information about what a domain name is, how the Whois works and how the privacy of personal data is protected. Alternatively, you can go straight to look for a domain name via the Whois.

  • I would like to transfer my domain name to another registrar. What is the procedure?

    To get your domain name transferred, you need the token (unique ID number) for your domain name. Your existing registrar has the token and is obliged to give it to you within five days, if you ask for it. The procedure for changing your registrar is described on the page transferring your domain name.

  • The details registered about me/my company are incorrect or out of date. How can I get them updated?

    To update the contact details associated with your domain name, you need to contact your registrar. Read more about updating contact details.

  • Why is my domain name in quarantine?

    When a domain name is cancelled, we aren't told the reason, so we can't tell you. You'll need to ask your registrar. The advantage of quarantine is that, if a name's cancelled by mistake, you can always get it back.

    One common reason is that the contract between you and your registrar says you've got to renew the registration every year. If you haven't set up automatic renewal and you don't renew manually, the registration will expire.

  • Ik heb een klacht over mijn provider/registrar. Kan ik daarvoor bij SIDN terecht?

    Wanneer je een klacht hebt over of een geschil met je registrar dan zijn er verschillende mogelijkheden om tot een oplossing te komen. Hierover lees je meer op pagina klacht over registrar. SIDN heeft geen formele klachtenprocedure voor het behandelen van een klacht over jouw registrar.

  • What conditions do I have to meet as a registrar?

    Would you like to be able to register domain names for customers or for your own organisation by dealing directly with SIDN? If so, you can become a .nl registrar. Read more about the conditions and how to apply for registrar status on the page becoming a registrar.

More frequently asked questions

“Development of internet standards is no longer a purely technical matter”

Retention of multistakeholder model is crucial for public core of the internet

Europe on the globe, where the Netherlands is colored with the colors of the Dutch flag.
  • Thursday 26 October 2023

Human rights and democratic principles must be integral to the technical standards underpinning further development of the internet and new digital technologies. The Dutch government is therefore working to expand the Freedom Online Coalition (FOC), established by the Netherlands in 2011. [1] The intention is to counter the growing influence of non-Western countries over standardisation processes and prevent the abuse of technical applications for mass surveillance or oppression.

Those are amongst the aims set out in the recently presented International Cyber-Strategy 2023-2028, in which the Dutch government expresses concern regarding the geopolitical and geo-economic aggression of Russia and China, the internet's increasing importance for national security, prosperity and economic activity, and the daily threats it faces from cybercriminals and state actors.

Multistakeholder model under threat

According to the Dutch government, the days when community organisations, the private sector, academics and the technical community – represented in the Internet Governance Forum, IGF – automatically had a say in the development of new technology standards (e.g. by the IETF, W3C and IEEE) have gone. That multistakeholder model is under increasing threat from states that want technical discussions to take the form of multilateral processes. For example, countries such as Russia and China have consistently pushed for management of the internet to be transferred to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU, a UN agency, thus placing it under inter-state control. [1]

However, the authors of the Cyber-Strategy also identify the EU as a threat to the multistakeholder model. European legislation designed to regulate the internal market frequently has implications for the Domain Name System (DNS), thus eroding the traditional multistakeholder process, the authors say.

Interoperability

Key issues of concern flagged up by the Cyber-Strategy include digital surveillance (facial recognition, big data analysis, state-perpetrated hacking); freedom of expression and press freedom in relation to propaganda, hate speech and disinformation; the regulation of tech platforms (via the Digital Services Act) and AI (via the Artificial Intelligence Act); and quantum computing and quantum cryptography.

The document also highlights the importance of retaining interoperability, i.e. the ability of all internet-enabled devices to communicate with others on the basis of open standards. The fragmentation, or 'Balkanisation' of the internet's public core is also identified as a serious threat to the global economy and geopolitical stability. Retention of the multistakeholder model is seen by the government as the best means of resisting politicisation. By backing the model's retention, the government has implicitly placed itself in opposition to those who, at the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, called for Russian domains and networks to be disconnected from the global internet.

Reinforcement of the FOC

The current internet governance model, with the IGF at its centre, is to be renegotiated at the next World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+20) in 2025. [1, 2] In that context, the Dutch government expresses the view that existing cooperative bodies such as the EU, NATO and the trans-Atlantic alliance are no longer able to defend our online interests. The Netherlands therefore wants to see the FOC reinforced, and has put itself forward to chair the forum in 2024.

Over the next 5 years, the government hopes to see at least 10 more countries join the FOC's 37 existing members. Other goals include boosting synergy between the FOC and other coalitions, and strengthening ties with the EU. Progress on those fronts would increase the FOC's legitimacy, facilitating joint action and giving the bloc a strong voice in UN negotiations.

Recruiting emerging, non-Western countries to the FOC is seen as an effective way to propagate democratic principles and values. The widely supported Declaration for the Future of the Internet could serve as a common basis for cooperation amongst countries with different cultural traditions.

Another approach advocated in the strategy document is to foster the development of emerging countries' capacity, in the form of knowledge and skills. That would enhance the connectivity and security of such countries' infrastructures, thus making the internet more secure for the rest of the world as well. The promotion of technological security should serve as a guiding principle in that context, with national interests subordinated to the greater good.

"Safeguard the public core"

"We believe in an internet that is open, diverse, free and safe for all," says SIDN's CEO Roelof Meijer. "That depends on assuring core values, such as universality, interoperability, accessibility and decentralisation. And on community organisations, the private sector, academics and the technical community all having a say in the development of the internet. It is therefore vital that we defend the multistakeholder model and safeguard the internet's public core."