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Changes in the .ee domain rules

The proposed amendments have been discussed both with the council and the .ee registrars, in addition, EIF met with RIA representatives to get an expert opinion in light of changing the name server requirement, feedback was also collected from the community. In light of the implementation of the NIS2 cybersecurity directive, EIF received feedback from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, based on which the .ee domain rules were adjusted to comply with NIS2 requirements. 

We want to reduce multiple requests for the .ee registrant's data, and make the domain administrative contact in certain situations and the request for technical contact completely optional. Since the administrative contact is the legal or authorized representative of the domain name registrant, they have the same rights as the registrant in domain name related actions. Thus, asking for an administrative contact becomes mandatory when registering a domain if it differs from the domain registrant: for example, if the domain is registered by a child, a legal entity or a legal representative. Requesting a technical contact, however, becomes completely voluntary and remains in the situation where the domain registrant wants to add, for example, a registrar as a contact. The change helps an informed domain user not to specify a technical contact that overlaps with an administrative contact, and is a reasonable remedy in cases where a registrar is designated.

Strong identification of domain registrants is important. We will make the list of services suitable for personal identification more flexible - we will remove accepted electronic personal identification tools from the domain rules and turn it into a list approved by the board. In addition, it has become known that the PayPal Verified solution used for foreign registrants is no longer relevant today and does not offer a strong identification solution for the .ee registry. Therefore, it is necessary to find a suitable alternative - one of them is the eeID electronic identification service created by EIF, which brings together national and international authentication solutions on one platform. We are also open to other strong personal identification tools and ask registrants to let us know if they want to use them so that we can assess their suitability.

As the third major change, we are changing the requirement for .ee domain name server records. According to the new rules, in the future, in order to add a domain zone, we require that it be associated with one working name server. In addition, in order to ensure the domain's availability in the public data network, its name server must be operational and usable in any case. This takes into account that the Domain Name System (DNS) works and that a domain name is available with a single working name server record, and that there are several developments in the field that encourage change. In addition, the rights of registrars and EIF will change in actions related to incorrect name servers. At the same time, the domain registrant has the right to add more name servers to his domain name in the future. EIF wishes to simplify the registration procedure based on practical considerations, and we still stick to our official recommendation of using two nameserver records.

In addition, domain rules have received enhancements in light of the requirements of the NIS2 Cybersecurity Directive. According to this, in the case of a legal entity registrant, EIF publishes the phone number in addition to other data through the WHOIS service, but this is the case if it is not the data of a private person related to the legal entity domain registrant. Therefore, we publish only those telephone numbers that have already been published in the Business Register - this is how we ensure that telephone numbers belonging to natural persons are protected through EIF. In addition, the principles of issuing data to third parties have been updated.

In light of the .ee domain rules and the NIS2 directive, the registry agreement and the list of electronic personal identification devices accepted by the EIF board have also received additions - all documents related to the changes are available on our website.

According to feedback from the community, the proposed amendments are due to take effect on February 1, 2025.