CO.UK

.UK is the so-called country code Top-Level-Domain (ccTLD) of the United Kingdom. An .CO.UK domain is normally used by companies who are located in the UK or who have business relationships with the UK. An ORG.UK domain is intended for organizations or groups affiliated to the UK. For other generic websites, including personal domains, ME.UK is available for individuals with ties to the UK.

Introduced	1985
Country	United Kingdom
Registry	Nominet
IDN Capable	No
Webpage	Register .UK

Registry

TLD	.co.uk
Allowed TLDs	.co.uk, .me.uk, .org.uk
Registry	Nominet
Dispute Policy	Rules
Registrar	1api GmbH
WHOIS-Server	whois.nic.uk
WHOIS-Update	5 min.
Min. Characters	1
Max. Characters	63
Character Set	Letters and numbers Hyphens ("-"), however not at the beginning or directly in front of the TLD IDN: not allowed
Limitations	Registrant Contacts: Required: 1 / Maximum: 1 Admin Contacts: Required: 0 / Maximum: 1 Tech Contacts: Required: 0 / Maximum: 1 Billing Contacts: Required: 0 / Maximum: 1
{{{Possible Extensions}}}
IDN capable	No
Restore capable	Real-Time
Handle Updates	Supported
Registration System	Real-Time
Allowed number of NS	0 to 10
Registry Nameservercheck	No
Host IP-Addresses Type	IPv4 / IPv6
Hosts managed as	Object
Root Nameserver Update	random times a day
SEC DNS Interface	DS data interface
Transferclass	Push
Transfer Authcode required	No
Transfer Real-Time	Yes
Transfer Lock	Yes
Owner Change by	Update
Trade Real-Time	Yes
Transfer included	No
Trade ACK by	-
Trade NACK by	-

Periods

{{{Possible Extensions}}}
Registration Periods	1-10 years
Add Grace Period	0 days
Accounting Period	-1 week
Finalization Period	-1 day
Failure Period	89 days
Payment Period	-61 days
Deletion Restorable Period	1 day
Deletion Hold Period	0 days
Explicit Renewals	Yes
Renewal Periods	1-10 years

API

Domain Registration

Domains can be registered in Real-Time with the API AddDomain command.

command = AddDomain
domain  = (DOMAIN)

REQUIRED

ownercontact0 = (CONTACT)
admincontact0 = (CONTACT)
techcontact0 = (CONTACT)
billingcontact0 = (CONTACT)
nameserver0 = (NAMESERVER)
nameserver1 = (NAMESERVER)

OPTIONAL

auth = <TEXT> | <NULL>
transferlock = 0 | 1 | <NULL>
subuser = <TEXT> | <NULL>

Domain Transfer

The losing registrar has to inititate the transfer to push the domain to the gaining (new) registrar. The gaining registrar has to be aware of the planned domain transfer. Hence the transfer has to be requested with the API TransferDomain command.

command = TransferDomain
domain = (DOMAIN)

REQUIRED

action = REQUEST | APPROVE | DENY | CANCEL | USERTRANSFER

OPTIONAL

order = CREATE | REPLACE | UPDATE

subuser = <TEXT> | <NULL>
period = <PERIOD>
transferlock = 0 | 1 | <NULL>

Delete Domain

Per Nominet requirement, only the registrant can cancel the .UK domain name. You should only cancel a .UK domain if you are sure that you no longer need it. Once you submit the request it cannot be reversed. The registrant needs to login to their Nominet account to delete the domain. https://secure.nominet.org.uk/auth/login.html

If you request a deletion via Hexonet, the domain will remain active until it expires.

Domains can be deleted with the API DeleteDomain command.
There is a Deletion Restorable Period of 1 day.

command = DeleteDomain
domain = (DOMAIN)

Restore Domain

Restores can be processed in realtime. A restore is possible within 1 day upon deletion. Please use the command RestoreDomain.

command = RestoreDomain
domain = (DOMAIN)

OPTIONAL

renewalmode = <NULL> | <TEXT>
subuser = <TEXT>

Ownerchange

An Ownerchange is free of charge and can be done with the API ModifyDomain command.

TLD specific

Contact Validation Process

Nominet validates registrant data at the point of registration, or when the data is changed. An update of the contact will automatically trigger a re-validation. The verification process by Nominet is described on their website

What should be checked prior to creating a contact?

Formal requirements of valid contact data:

• Registrant name/organization, value has to contain a minimum of 4 characters with at least 3 letters
  
• Street value must contain non-numerical characters
  
• City, country and zip code must be given to be validated
  
• Phone number has to be in the following form +Countrycode.Area code.Subscriber number
  

Email address has to meet the following requirements:

• Must contain an @ character
  
• At least one character in front of the @ character
  
• Must end with a valid TLD
  
• No space/blank at the beginning or end
  

New Validation Workflow

If Nominet cannot validate the information, it has to be validated by the reseller. Hexonet creates a corresponding EVENT message in this case:
Object: "domain:<domainname>.uk"
Event Class/Subclass: "DOMAIN_MODIFICATION MODIFICATION_PENDING"
Event Data: "Please correct or update the data, or send proof of identity to [email protected]
Subject: [[domainname.uk|http://domainname.uk/]: Confirming validation and document accuracy] Allowed file types: [.pdf, .jpg, .jpeg], not larger than 5MB."

The registrant may either correct or update the data provided; or send appropriate documentation to allow validation of the data provided. An update of the contact will automatically trigger a re-validation.
The client has to send proof of identity. Please make sure that the right recipient and the subject fitting the format below will be used:

Recipient: "[email protected]"
Subject: "<domainname>.uk: Confirming validation and document accuracy"
Allowed file types for attachments are: [.pdf, .jpg, .jpeg], not larger than 5MB.

Failed validations will trigger an event for each domain related to the contact

Object: "domain:<domainname>.uk"
Event Class/Subclass: "DOMAIN_MODIFICATION MODIFICATION_PENDING"
Event Data: "Validation failed, please correct or update the data, or send proof of identity to [email protected]
Subject: [[domainname.uk|http://domainname.uk/]: Confirming validation and document accuracy] Allowed file types: [.pdf, .jpg, .jpeg], not larger than 5MB."

The registrant has to provide appropriate proof of identity, e.g. driving license, passport, national ID card (for non-UK citizens), national insurance card (for UK citizens), official company letterhead, company stamp.
The email will be processed by Hexonet and the contact will be validated automatically. Successful validations will trigger an event for each domain related to the contact:

Object: "domain:<domainname>.uk"
Event Class/Subclass: "DOMAIN_MODIFICATION MODIFICATION_SUCCESSFUL"
Event Data: "registrant contact validation successful"

Domain suspension after validation failed:

If neither the contact is updated nor validated, a data quality lock will be applied after 29 days. Related domains will receive the property X-NOMINET-DATA-QUALITY-LOCK=1. This will suspend the domain name and it will stop resolving.

Transfer In procedure

First of all, a transfer should be requested for the domain with the TransferDomain command or via the control panel.

Then the registrant of the domain name has to contact their current registrar and ask them to change the Registrar-Tag to 1API-DE. As soon as this has been completed, the domain name transfer should succeed automatically. Please note that when a .UK domain is transferred, the remaining registration period remains unchanged. Please do not forget to initiate the transfer in our system, otherwise the domain can not be assigned to your account and will not be renewed.

Grandfathering

Nominet offers Registrants, who already own a .CO.UK domain the possibility to register the name-pendant under .UK. The HEXONET internal handling. In case that the .CO.UK domain is registered with HEXONET, the corresponding UK domain can be registered by using exactly the same registrant details, the UK domain has, in addition the client has to provide the authorization-code of the already existing .CO.UK domain. In case that the corresponding .CO.UK domain is not registered with HEXONET, the domain can only be registered by adding the identical registrant contacts. Once the order has been submitted, Nominet sends and email to the registrant, asking to validate his identity. Once validated, the domain will go active.

Transfer Out procedure

Please contact the gaining registrar to determine their Registrar-Tag and then use the PushDomain command or Control Panel to Push the domain to that new tag. Please note that pushing a tag is irreversible and cannot be cancelled. You must either contact the registrar who it got pushed to, or the registry.

COMMAND = PushDomain
DOMAIN = (domain)
TARGET = (tag)

.SCH.UK domains

If a school wishes to hold a .sch.uk domain, they need to submit their request to the registry in writing on their school letterhead.

There is one .sch.uk domain per school, and the registry enters the registrar/provider tag at the time of registration. If the school already has a .sch.uk domain name registered, they can have a crossover period of up to three months where both domain names can remain active. After this period, the old domain name will be cancelled.

Once the domain has been registered with the Registry, you can request that it be assigned to us, using IPS tag '1API-DE' and you need to request a transfer in of the domain via your account.

Addons

The following overview shows you all available Domain Addons which can be used for this special kind of TLD. It also shows the respective API parameters which are required to activate the Domain Addons:

Addon Class	Parameter to (de)activate *1)	Renewal term *2)	Affected Parameters *3)
Proxy (WHOISTRUSTEE_UK)	X-ACCEPT-WHOISTRUSTEE-TAC = 0 | 1	1 month	All Contacts

*1) Parameter to (de)activate: When accessing our backend through the API, you can either activate the addon with X-ACCEPT-WHOISTRUSTEE-TAC=1 or deactivate it with
      X-ACCEPT-WHOISTRUSTEE-TAC=0

*2) Renewal Term: Is the minimum renewal term of the "Addon Class"

*3) If you are using a "Proxy" Domain Addon normally all contact handles are affected (registrant, admin, tech, and billing contact).
      

RegistrarOC

Restore Process

To restore a domain as a RegistrarOC customer, you simply have to execute the RestoreDomain command. HEXONET directly forwards the restore request to the registry, which performs the restore in real-time. As soon as the restore is complete, the domain will get assigned to your account with the original domain data.

Please do not initiate a restore directly at the registry (e.g. using the registrar webinterface). All restore operations must be performed through our system.