.DE Registrations

.DE is the country code TLD for Germany, and is regulated by the DENIC Registry.

.DE names must follow a specific format and must be 3 to 63 characters in length. The names can include numbers, letters (A-Z), and a hyphen (-), and must begin and end with either a letter or a number. As well, the hyphen (-) cannot be used as the third or fourth character.

Note: There are certain names that are not available for registration. Consistent with ICANN and gTLD procedures, all existing TLDs and two-character country codes are reserved from registration. For example, COM.DE or NET.DE will not be accepted. In addition, all German license-plate numbers are reserved for possible third-level registrations. A complete list of reserved names can be found at: http://www.denic.de/en/richtlinien.html

The registration period for .DE domains is one year.

.DE Residency Requirements

Registrations in the .DE TLD space are second-level registrations. In order to register a .DE domain name, either the Registrant (Owner) or the Administrative Contact must be based in Germany with a verifiable German address.

Note: There are no proxy registrations whereby one individual registers a .DE name on behalf of another.

.DE Registration Process

The following outlines the basic steps in registering a .DE domain name, assuming that the name being requested is available.

1. Registrant requests a .DE domain 
   The Registrant either submits their request for a .DE domain name through the RCL, or notifies you directly to submit the request on their behalf.

2. Registration is submitted to DENIC
   Once the request has been submitted with us, the system sends the registration information to DENIC.

3. Confirmation
   Registrations through DENIC are asynchronous, which means that, once the registration has been submitted, there is a waiting period that could take from several hours up to two business days before confirmation is received. During this waiting period, money for the registration is placed on hold and changes to the domain are not accepted unless they are changes made to an existing contact.

4. Registration completes
   When the registration process completes, DENIC sends an email to us indicating success or failure. If the registration failed, the email includes the reason for the failure. If the registration could not be completed due to inactive nameservers, the email also indicates how much time is left to activate them. If the nameservers are not activated in that time period, the name is deleted and the Registrant receives an email informing them of the deletion.