The registrant and the contacts

Module 3: Registering and the registrant · Reading time: 9 minutes

Learning objective: After this lesson you can choose who becomes the registrant of a domain name, you know which contacts each extension has, and you avoid the trap of a domain registered in your web builder's name.

Key concepts: registrant (holder), administrative contact, technical contact, billing contact, legal entity, natural person, company as registrant, web builder or employee as registrant

The registrant decides

The registrant (in Dutch: houder, also called the holder) is the person or organisation that holds the right to use the name. The registrant is the registry's contracting party. That is more than a formality. Only the registrant can:

• transfer the domain to another registrar;
• restore a cancelled name from quarantine;
• hand the name over to someone else (change of registrant).

So whoever is listed as the registrant in the register is the one who decides about the name. Not whoever pays the invoices, not whoever built the website and not whoever has the account password. For the registry, what is in the register is what counts.

The registrant must be the real registrant. For .nl and .eu, the name may not be registered in the name of the registrar, a reseller or a privacy service. If you want to shield your details, there are other ways to do that (lesson 4.2).

Legal entity or natural person

A registrant is either a natural person (a human being) or a legal entity (an organisation with its own rights and obligations, such as a private or public limited company, a foundation or an association with articles of association).

If you use the domain for an organisation that is a legal entity, register it in the name of that organisation. The domain then stays with the organisation when people leave, when the board changes or when the director dies. Just like the lease on the premises, the domain then belongs to the organisation.

A sole proprietorship is not a legal entity. The business owner is the registrant, possibly with the trade name added as the organisation. That is fine, but know what it means: if the sole proprietorship later becomes a private limited company, moving the domain to the company is a change of registrant (lesson 6.4). It does not happen automatically with the registration in the trade register (in the Netherlands the KVK).

A private individual with a personal blog or a family website is the registrant themselves. Private individuals get more privacy in the public data than organisations (lesson 4.2).

The contacts per extension

Besides the registrant, a domain can have contacts. Which ones depends on the extension:

The administrative contact for .nl matters more than it sounds. Email from SIDN to the admin-c counts as received by the registrant. If that is the address of a former employee or of a web builder you have fallen out with, you might miss a confirmation of a change of registrant, even though it counts as received.

The technical contact is the party that handles the technical side, often your registrar or your web builder. That can perfectly well be someone other than the registrant. The technical contact does not decide about the name.

A billing contact is not in the registry's register. It is an arrangement with your registrar: who gets the invoice for the renewal? It does matter, though. If the renewal invoice goes to someone who doesn't pay attention to it, you risk your domain expiring (module 5).

The trap: the domain in someone else's name

Many business owners let their web builder "just sort out the domain". The web builder orders it from their own registrar, in their own name, because that is quicker. Years later you want to switch, or the web builder stops trading. Then it turns out they are the registrant. You cannot transfer, restore or hand over the domain. You depend on their cooperation.

The same happens with a domain in the name of an employee, a business partner or a board member. As long as relations are good, you notice nothing. When someone leaves, falls out with you or dies, it becomes a problem.

Here is how to prevent it:

• Let the web builder be the technical contact by all means, but the registrant must be you or your organisation.
• After registering, check in the public data or with your registrar who is listed as the registrant.
• If the domain is already in someone else's name, arrange a change of registrant now, while relations are still good.
• Use a general address of the organisation as the contact address, not the personal address of one employee.

Bakkerij Example in Utrecht had its website built by a web builder. The bakery's domain was registered in the web builder's name. When the bakery wanted to switch, it first had to have a change of registrant carried out, with the web builder's permission. Fortunately he cooperated. Had he been unreachable, it would have taken much longer.

In practice: how it works at WebOké

On the domain page in My WebOké you see the registrant on the Domain contacts card. The Contacts tab shows the Registrant and the Administrator (admin contact). There you can set the correct details with Change registrant, Link another registrant and New contact. If you change the name or organisation of the registrant, the screen shows "Note: this is a change of registrant". Other registrars work in a similar way: look for the contact details or the owner of the domain.

If you register a domain for a client or another organisation, you choose a different contact as the owner when ordering.

Summary

• The registrant decides about the name: only the registrant can transfer, restore and hand over the domain.
• If you use the name for a legal entity (company, foundation, association), register it in the name of that organisation.
• Which contacts exist depends on the extension; for .nl, email to the admin-c counts as received by the registrant.
• The web builder may be the technical contact, but not the registrant.

Quiz

Exercise

Exercise A3.2: Who should be the registrant? (case study). Read the four situations. For each situation, choose who should be the registrant of the domain name. The program compares your choices with a fixed answer key. If something is wrong, you get a hint and can try again.

1. Company with a web builder. Bakkerij Example BV in Utrecht is having a new website built by a web builder. The web builder offers to register the domain bakkerijvanderveen.example for the bakery.
2. Foundation. Stichting Buurtmoestuin Example, a foundation registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (KVK), wants a domain for its website and the board's email. The treasurer handles the order.
3. Freelancer. A self-employed photographer with a sole proprietorship registers a domain for his portfolio and his business email.
4. Personal blog. Someone starts a personal blog about walking and registers a domain for it.

Choices per situation:

• the organisation (company, foundation, association)
• you yourself as a person
• the web builder
• the registrar

Further reading

• What is a domain holder?
• Manage domain contacts in one overview
• WebOké manual 5.10: Domain contacts and changing the owner
• WebOké manual 2.4: Setting up your domain: nameservers, linking to your package and the owner