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Terms and Conditions of the
Nominet Registry
WARNING: by registering a domain name within the .uk Top
Level Domain (a "Domain Name"), you enter into a contract of registration
with Nominet UK ("We", "Our" or "Us") on the following terms and
conditions. This is a separate contract to any arrangement you may have
with any third party for the provision of internet services.
Nominet is the Registry for all internet Domain Names ending in
.uk and provides a public service for the .uk namespace on
behalf of the Internet community. You can find out more information about
Nominet from our web site at http://www.nominet.org.uk/. Nominet
is a not - for - profit company limited by guarantee which is performing
services on a cost recovery basis. This is why we consider it reasonable
to limit our liability in certain respects so that we may continue to
offer our services in the interests of the whole internet community.
This Contract includes our current Rules For The .uk Domain And
Sub-Domains ("Rules") and the Policy and Procedure for our Domain Name
Dispute Resolution Service ("Policy" and "Procedure" as appropriate).
Copies of the Policy, Procedure and Rules are at http://www.nominet.org.uk/ref/drs-policy.html
or can be obtained from us.
You may have registered a Domain Name through a third party (usually,
but not always, your internet service provider). In these terms and
conditions, the term "Agent" means such a third party.
- What we will do
| 1.1. |
We will process your application to register a Domain Name and
consider whether or not to accept it in accordance with the
criteria laid down in the Rules; |
| 1.2. |
If your application is accepted, we will inform you or your
Agent. If your application is rejected, we will inform you or your
Agent as soon as reasonably practicable and return to you or your
Agent (as appropriate) any payments received; |
| 1.3. |
Unless the current Rules of the relevant sub-domain state to
the contrary, we will register Domain Names on a first come, first
served basis. Until we accept your application, there is no
guarantee that the Domain Name you applied for will be entered in
the Register as such. We therefore recommend that you do not take
any action in respect of a Domain Name until you have received
confirmation from us that your application has been
accepted. |
| 1.4. |
After your application has been accepted, we will enter the
Domain Name and other relevant details (namely the data described
in clause 6 below, together with details of your Agent, if any) in
the Domain Name register database for the requested second level
of the .uk top level domain (the "Register"). |
| 1.5. |
We will use the information in the Register entry for the
Domain Name to enable the resolution of requests for the Domain
Name, by pointing to the authoritative name servers listed in the
Register Entry for the Domain Name. For further information about
the technical requirements for registering a Domain Name, please
contact your Agent. |
| 1.6. |
After your application has been accepted and we have received
your registration fee, we will issue you with a registration
certificate and a reply form. |
| 1.7. |
Subject to clause 8 below, we will transfer your Domain Name
and update the Register accordingly on receipt of correctly
completed transfer documentation from you and any relevant
transfer fee applicable at the time of transfer. We will not
transfer a Domain Name whilst it is the subject of legal
proceedings or proceedings under our Dispute Resolution
Service. |
| 1.8. |
Please note that subject to clauses 8.5 and 8.6 we will not
refund any fees after your Domain Name and details have been
entered in the Register. |
| 1.9. |
Subject to clauses 8.7 and 8.8 below, we will only make
changes to the details contained on the Register (other than the
registrant field), if we receive instructions and approval from
you or your Agent. |
| 1.10. |
Subject to clauses 8.7 and 8.8, we shall only alter the
details contained in the "registrant" field of the Register if we
receive authorisation directly from
you. |
- What you must do
| 2.1. |
You must ensure that we receive the registration or renewal
fee within one month after the issue of our invoice. For the
avoidance of doubt, if you use an Agent it will be your
responsibility to ensure that the Agent has paid the registration
or renewal fee to us within one month of the issue of our
invoice. |
| 2.2. |
You must sign and return to us the reply form which we will
send to you after registration or renewal as appropriate. |
| 2.3. |
You must inform us promptly of any change in your registered
details, and those of your Agent if applicable. It will be your
responsibility to maintain and update any details you submit to us
and to ensure that your details are up to date, and accurate. In
particular, it is your responsibility directly or by your Agent to
ensure that we have your full and correct postal address. |
| 2.4. |
You must promptly inform us of any court proceedings brought
in respect of the Domain Name. |
| 2.5. |
Any name server listed in the Register entry for the Domain
Name must respond authoritatively to requests for the Domain Name
at all reasonable times. |
- Renewal of your Domain Name Registration
| 3.1. |
The registration period is two years from the date of entry
into the Register of your Domain Name registration. Provided you
pay us your renewal fee and subject to clause 8 below, you will
have the right to renew the Domain Name registration by entering
into a new Contract with us for further periods of two
years. |
| 3.2. |
Subject to clause 3.3 below, when the Domain Name registration
falls due for renewal, we will contact your Agent (at the Agent's
address appearing in the Register) to request payment of the
relevant renewal fee. |
| 3.3. |
If no Agent is listed on the Register entry for the Domain
Name, or if the Register entry for the Domain Name indicates that
you wish to be invoiced direct, we will request payment of the
relevant renewal fee direct from you at the registrant address
appearing in the Register. |
| 3.4. |
If we fail to receive the renewal fee within thirty (30) days
of our making a request for the renewal fee, we will suspend your
registration for at least 6 weeks and if we do not receive payment
within the suspension period we will cancel your registration
without further notice to you. During any period of suspension, we
will not point to any name servers listed in the Register entry
for the Domain Name, and you will be unable to use or transfer the
Domain Name. |
- Exclusions and Limitations of Liability
| 4.1. |
Nominet does not carry out any investigation as to whether you
are entitled to register or have any rights in the Domain Name. By
registering the Domain Name we are not acknowledging that you have
any rights in the name comprised in the Domain Name, and we are
not authorising you to use the Domain Name in the course of
trade. |
| 4.2. |
Nothing in these terms and conditions limits or excludes our
liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or
for fraudulent misrepresentation. |
| 4.3. |
We shall not be liable to you whether in contract, tort
(including negligence) or otherwise for: |
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| 4.3.1. |
any loss of profit, revenue or other type of economic
loss (whether direct or indirect); |
| 4.3.2. |
loss of business or contracts; |
| 4.3.3. |
loss of anticipated savings or goodwill; or |
| 4.3.4. |
any losses which a court holds to be consequential, or
indirect losses; arising out of or in connection with the
Contract, including but not limited to: |
| 4.3.5. |
any error or omission in entries to the Register;
and |
| 4.3.6. |
loss of registration and/or use (for whatever reason and
whether temporary or otherwise) of the Domain
Name. | |
| 4.4. |
All conditions and warranties which may be implied by law into
any Contract with you are excluded to the fullest extent
permissible by law. |
| 4.5. |
Our aggregate liability to you whether under these terms and
conditions or otherwise (including liability for negligence) shall
not exceed £5,000. |
| 4.6. |
If you are a consumer (ie you are not registering or intending
to use the Domain Name in the course of a business, trade or
profession) (a "Consumer"), the provisions of clauses 4.3 4.4 and
4.5 above will not apply to you. |
| 4.7. |
Nothing in these terms and conditions will reduce your
statutory rights relating to faulty or misdescribed goods. For
further information about your statutory rights contact your local
authority Trading Standards Department or Citizens Advice
Bureau. |
- Warranties
By entering into this agreement you consent to and warrant the
following:
| 5.1 |
That you (or your Agent) have obtained the consent of any
individual whose personal data is to be held on the Register in
accordance with clause 6; |
| 5.2 |
That the details and information submitted by you to us are
true and correct, and that any future additions or alterations to
your details and information will be true and correct, and that
you will submit them in a timely manner. Unless you are a
Consumer, you shall pay us (including the current or past members
of Nominet UK's Council of Management) any and all reasonable
costs, claims and expenses (whether direct or indirect) arising
out of any claim resulting from your breach of this warranty;
and |
| 5.3 |
That by registering or using the Domain Name (in whatever
manner) you will not knowingly infringe the intellectual property
rights of a third party, that you are entitled to register the
Domain Name, and that you have not registered the Domain Name in
breach of trust. Our right to rely upon this warranty will
continue to be available after completion of the registration
process and will not be affected by any surrender, cancellation or
transfer of the Domain Name. Unless you are a Consumer, you shall
pay us (including the current or past members of Nominet UK's
Council of Management) any and all reasonable costs, claims and
expenses (whether direct or indirect) arising out of any claim
that your registration or use of the Domain Name directly or
indirectly infringes the intellectual property rights of a third
party. |
- Personal Data
| 6.1 |
The Register is a public register for the purposes of data
protection legislation. The Register will include your name and
postal address, telephone and fax number and email address
together with any other relevant details. This information (if it
refers to individuals) is 'personal data' for the purposes of data
protection legislation.
Personal data submitted by you will be:
- Posted onto the Register;
- Posted onto the WHOIS database by us. The WHOIS database is
provided on our web site at http://resellers.tucows.com/.
Other Agents which provide an online Domain Name registration
service may point to our WHOIS database. We will publish your
name and address but will not publish your telephone or fax
number or email address as part of the WHOIS database;
and
- Used as part of the Public Register Subscription Service
("PRSS"), under which we provide a compressed form of the
Register to subscribers. We provide the PRSS only to trusted
third parties, based within the European Economic Area, under
strict contractual terms which prohibit the use of PRSS data for
the purposes of direct marketing. The PRSS enables subscribers
to perform WHOIS queries and reverse look-ups. We will publish
your name and address but not your telephone or fax number or
email address as part of the PRSS;
- We may provide your personal data to governmental or law
enforcement agencies at their written request in connection with
the conducting of any investigation of criminal activities;
and
- We will provide your personal data to third parties only if
required to do so by a court order.
You may write to us to request a copy of the personal data held
by us about you. We may charge a reasonable fee for the provision
of such data. As required by the Data Protection Act 1998, we will
adopt appropriate security procedures in relation to the storage
and disclosure of information provided by you in order to prevent
unauthorised access. Our security procedures mean that we may
occasionally request proof of your identity before we are able to
disclose personal information to you. Other than the uses
identified above, we will not disclose your personal information
to others.
You should be aware that personal data posted on the WHOIS
database may be accessible to countries outside the European
Economic Area. By registering a Domain Name you consent to your
personal data being transferred out of the European Economic Area
and to our use of your personal data for the purposes specified
above. |
- Domain Name Dispute Resolution Service
| 7.1. |
You will be bound by the Policy and Procedure of our Dispute
Resolution Service which are incorporated into these terms and
conditions and made a part of the Contract by reference. The
current version of the Policy and Procedure can be found at our
web site: http://resellers.tucows.com/drs.html |
| 7.2. |
If a dispute arises, you agree to be bound by the Policy and
Procedure which are current at the time that proceedings under the
Dispute Resolution Service are commenced until the dispute is
over. |
| 7.3. |
Neither we nor our directors, officers, employees or servants
nor any expert shall be liable to a party for anything done or
omitted in connection with any proceedings under the Dispute
Resolution Service unless the act or omission is shown to have
been in bad faith. |
- Termination/Cancellation, Suspension and Amendment of the
Register
| 8.1. |
You or your Agent may surrender registration of the Domain
Name by notice in writing to us at any time prior to our receiving
payment. |
| 8.2. |
After we have received payment for a Domain Name, only you
(and not your Agent) may surrender the Domain Name. |
| 8.3. |
After payment has been received but prior to the issue of a
registration certificate you may surrender the registration by
writing to us on headed notepaper which corresponds to the
registrant address field of the Register entry for the Domain
Name. |
| 8.4. |
If a registration certificate has been issued, you may
surrender the Domain Name by correctly completing the surrender of
registration form (on the reverse of the registration
certificate). |
| 8.5. |
If you are a Consumer, then you may cancel the Contract by
giving notice to us by any of the means set out in clause 10.4
below at any time up to and including 7 working days following the
day on which the Contract is concluded, i.e. the date on which we
give notice to you or your Agent that we have accepted your
application to register a Domain Name. If you register or use the
Domain Name in the course of a business, trade or profession, you
will not have this right to cancel the Contract. |
| 8.6. |
If you cancel the Contract in accordance with clause 8.5 then
we will provide you or your Agent (as appropriate) with a full
refund of our registration fee within 30 days from the day on
which we receive notice of your cancellation. If we refund your
Agent, you may have to seek direct from your Agent any further
component of the fees which you have paid. |
| 8.7. |
We may cancel or suspend the registration of a Domain Name by
providing you with notice in writing in the event of the
following: |
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| 8.7.1. |
if we do not receive your registration or renewal fees
in accordance with clause 2.1 above; |
| 8.7.2. |
if you are in breach of the terms of this Contract
(including the Rules) and in the case of a breach which is
capable of remedy you fail to remedy this within 30 days of
receiving written notice from us to do so; |
| 8.7.3. |
if we receive independent verification that you have
provided grossly inaccurate, unreliable or false registrant
contact details, or failed to keep such contact details up
to date; |
| 8.7.4. |
if you are in breach of the warranties contained in
clauses 5.1 and 5.3 of the Contract; or |
| 8.7.5. |
if the Domain Name is being administered in a way likely
to endanger the operation of the Domain Name
System. | |
| 8.8. |
We may transfer, suspend, cancel or amend the Domain Name
registration in the following circumstances: |
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| 8.8.1. |
upon receiving written instructions from you to take
such action together with any relevant fee; |
| 8.8.2. |
upon receiving a copy of a perfected order of a court of
competent jurisdiction requiring such action, or where the
retention of a Domain Name by you would be inconsistent with
the terms of a perfected court order received by us or any
other legal requirements; |
| 8.8.3. |
if such changes are necessary in order to correct an
error relating to the Domain Name registration; or |
| 8.8.4. |
following a Decision requiring such action or an
agreement reached between the parties and approved by us
relating to proceedings under the Dispute Resolution
Service. | |
| 8.9. |
If a name server listed for the Domain Name registration does
not respond authoritatively to requests for the Domain Name, we
may remove the name server from the Register entry for the Domain
Name. |
- Change of Agent
| 9.1. |
If you wish to change your Agent, you should first approach
your current Agent to arrange this. If your approach is
unsuccessful, we may at your request record a change of Agent
directly onto the Register entry for your Domain Name
registration. On receipt of your request, we will approach your
Agent (unless exceptional circumstances apply). We will only
comply with your request if: |
| 9.2. |
we are satisfied that you have first approached your Agent,
and that the approach has been unsuccessful; and |
| 9.3. |
we are not informed by your Agent that there is an express
term in your contract with your Agent which can prevent us from
recording such a change. |
- General
| 10.1. |
If any clause of these terms and conditions is held to be
unenforceable in whole or in part the other terms and the rest of
the provisions shall continue to be valid and enforceable. |
| 10.2. |
We may transfer our rights and obligations under the Contract
to any third party. You may transfer the Contract, only on the
transfer of the Domain Name, in accordance with clauses 1.7 and
subject to clause 8 above. |
| 10.3. |
The internet is an emerging and evolving medium and the
regulatory and administrative framework under which we operate is
constantly developing. For these reasons we reserve the right to
make reasonable modifications to the terms and conditions of this
Contract (including the Policy, Procedure and Rules) at any time
during the term. We will only do so when we have good reason. No
change will have the effect of requiring an increase in fees from
you in advance of the next renewal of the Domain Name. Except
where we are acting in pursuance of a statutory requirement or a
court order, changes will be implemented across the board in all
of our Domain Name contracts following a process of open public
consultation. Each such change will be published in advance (where
practicable, 30 days in advance) on our web site: http://resellers.tucows.com/
and will become binding and effective upon the date specified
therein. You should review our web site regularly in order to be
aware of all such changes. If you do not agree with any change or
proposed change to these terms and conditions you are entitled to
terminate the Contract by providing us with thirty (30) days
notice in writing, in which case you will receive a pro-rata
refund of your registration fee in respect of any unexpired
portion of the term. |
| 10.4. |
If you wish to contact us our postal address is Nominet UK,
Sandford Gate, Sandy Lane West, Oxford, OX4 6LB, England and our
telephone number is +44(0) 1865 332211. Our offices are open from
9.00a.m. to 5.30pm (UK local time) Monday to Friday, except for
public holidays. Except as set out in the Policy and Procedure any
notice to be given under the Contract shall only be deemed to be
served if delivered by hand or sent by pre-paid post, by fax or
e-mail, to the party to whom it is given at its last known postal
or e-mail address or fax number. Except as otherwise set out in
the Policy and Procedure the notice will be effective: if
delivered, on delivery; if sent by fax or email, on the date of
sending; and if by post, on the date of posting. For the avoidance
of doubt, any notice sent to you will be deemed served if sent to
the address appearing in your Registrant's address field. |
| 10.5. |
This contract is a binding document. Consumers should read it
carefully and ensure that it contains everything you want and
nothing you are not prepared to agree to. These terms and
conditions, together with the Rules Policy and Procedure,
constitute the entire agreement between you and us for the
registration of the Domain Name, and supersedes all prior
agreements, understandings and representations whether oral or
written. |
| 10.6. |
These terms and conditions shall be governed by the relevant
United Kingdom law, and by agreeing to be bound by them you agree
to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the relevant courts of
the United Kingdom. | |