Individuals and companies from the United Kingdom that use a .eu domain name risk losing their authority if the country leaves the European Union on March 29 without a deal. For this, EURid, the administrator of the .eu domain, warns Wednesday.

The .eu domain may only be used by residents and companies located in one of the member states of the European Union or the European Economic Area (EEA). A ‘no deal Brexit’ would automatically ensure that Britons do not meet that requirement from 30 March.

EURid gives owners of a .eu domain name established in the United Kingdom or the British overseas territory Gibraltar until 30 May 2019 the time to update their data if they wish to keep their domain name.

In that case, the administrators must ensure that the domain name is registered in one of the other 27 EU Member States or within the EEA (Iceland, Norway or Liechtenstein).

All .eu domain names that are still registered within the United Kingdom or Gibraltar on May 30 will be taken out of service in case of a ‘no deal Brexit’. This means that the domain name can no longer be used for websites or e-mail addresses.

Withdrawn domain names that do not comply with the rules on 30 March 2020 will be released from that moment. Residents and businesses in the European Union can then register the domain name for their own use.