One of the conclusions of the last Domain Name Debate was that private registrants should be given the option of further restricting access to their personal details via the Whois on our website. Since 2010, the only information about a domain name's registrant shown in the Whois has been the registrant's name and the administrative contact e-mail address (usually the registrant's address).
From 1 March 2016, private registrants' names will no longer be available from the Whois, while business registrants will have the option of making more information about themselves available.
Distinction between business and private registrants
From 1 March, distinction will be made between business registrants and private registrants for the purpose of controlling access to personal details via the Whois. We define a 'private registrant' as a natural person not acting in a professional or commercial capacity. A 'business registrant' is the registrant of a domain name registered for a business or an organisation. The changes are summarised in the following table.
Private | Business | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Present situation | New situation | Present situation | New situation | |
Name registrant | Mandatory | Not shown | Mandatory | Mandatory |
Registrant's postal address | Not shown | Not shown | Not shown | Optional, default = not shown |
Administrative contact e-mail | Mandatory | Mandatory | Mandatory | Mandatory |
The changes bring us into line with various other European registries, including EURid (.eu), DNS Belgium (.be) and Nominet (.uk). All those registries allow private registrants to withhold some of their registration data from the Whois.
Label in Domain Registration System
From 1 March, the Whois will show a limited set of details about any domain name whose registrant is recorded as being a person. If the label 'Natural person' is assigned to the registrant in our Domain Registration System, the registrant's name will automatically be withheld from view. Wherever the label Natural person is not assigned to the registrant, the registration will be treated as a business registration. With business registrations, the name of the registrant will be visible in the Whois. By default, a business registrant's postal address will not be available from the Whois. However, business registrants will have the option of making their addresses visible. To get your address made visible, please contact your registrar. Your registrar can also help if for any reason the wrong property has been assigned, so that your registration is being treated as a business registration when it's actually a personal registration, meaning that more information about you is available from the Whois than there should be.
Obtaining additional registrant contact details
Under certain circumstances, it is important that more information can be obtained about a registrant, even if the registrant is a private individual. We already allow lawyers and court bailiffs practising in the Netherlands to obtain additional registration data. From 1 March, additional information will be available on request to anyone with a demonstrable legitimate interest. That means anyone who can show that they need additional information for one of the following purposes:
In order to resolve a technical problem relating to the working of the internet
In order to protect intellectual property rights
In order to prevent or deal with illegal or damaging internet content
A reasoned request for additional information can be made using the Request Form for .nl Registrant Contact Details, which can be downloaded from our website.
Amendment of General Terms and Conditions
The changes described above will necessitate the amendment of our General Terms and Conditions for .nl Registrants, our Data Protection Policy and the associated Guide. At the bottom of this page, you will find a link for downloading a document in which the various changes to the General Terms and Conditions are highlighted. The amended General Terms and Conditions and the updated Data Protection Policy come into force on 1 March 2016.