Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

nic.at Introduces Changes To Whois Data Collected To Comply With GDPR

nicat AustriaA week before the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force on 25 May, the Austrian ccTLD registry nic.at has introduced changes to its Whois policy as well as to the registration and management of .at domains.

The most important changes that came into effect for the Austrian country code top level domain (ccTLD) on 16 May are:

1) New Whois policy

Under the new Whois policy, registration data for individuals (natural persons) will not published any longer. Data on individuals will only includes the domain name, the registrar responsible and necessary technical information. Whois data for businesses (legal persons) that register domain names will continue to be published as before and individuals can request the publication of their data.

2) New Terms and Registration Guidelines

Following this policy, new terms and registration guidelines were necessary for .at-domains. The new versions are valid as of 16 May 2018.

3) Privacy policy

All information specifying how much of your data is recorded by nic.at, for which purpose, on which legal basis and how to claim your data protection rights can be found in our privacy policy.

4) Check of data accuracy by domain holder

Domain holders (registrants) can at any time request their current Whois data online by using the web form “motivated request”. They can also ask for their domain certificate (featuring only the domain holder’s name and address) to be sent to their email address via an online form.

5) Information on private domain holder’s data to third parties

Only people who provide proof of identity and are able to prove a legitimate interest in finding out who the domain holder is, will get information on private domain holders’ data. They can be law enforcement agencies, lawyers or people who contact nic.at following domain disputes and who can prove that their rights have been infringed. They have to start a webform request with defined obligations for supporting documents on this webform.

6) Abolishment of admin-c

As the admin-c never had any legal function in the administration of .at domains, it is abolished as of 16 May 2018.