What is DENIC? The .de registry and what it means for your domain

DENIC is the registry for .de, the country code domain of Germany. It is a cooperative based in Frankfurt am Main that keeps the register of every .de domain name, sets the rules for .de and makes sure each .de domain can be found on the internet. You register a .de domain through a provider such as LJPc hosting, and anyone can own one, wherever you live.

Below you can read what DENIC does, who can register a .de domain, which names are allowed, how a transfer with the AuthInfo code works and what the holder data checks introduced in December 2025 mean for you.

What is DENIC?

DENIC is the registry of Germany: the organisation that manages the .de extension. Every country has one. For .nl it is SIDN, as explained in register a .nl domain, and for .be it is DNS Belgium. The key facts, according to DENIC itself:

• A cooperative of providers. The name combines DE with NIC, short for Network Information Center. DENIC eG is an eingetragene Genossenschaft, a registered cooperative, founded on 17 December 1996 by 37 German internet service providers. Its members are providers and registrars, more than 280 in total.
• Not for profit. Under its own guidelines DENIC runs .de without aiming for profit, for the benefit of everyone who uses the internet.
• .de has existed since 5 November 1986. That is when the extension was entered in the IANA database. DENIC has managed it since 1996.
• More than 18 million .de domain names. The 18 millionth .de domain was registered in June 2026.

The full history is on the DENIC website (in German). How .de fits into more than forty years of domain names is covered in the history of domain names.

Registry, provider and holder: who does what?

Three parties are involved in every .de domain. Knowing who does what tells you where to go with a question.

One thing is special about .de: whichever provider you choose, you always also enter into an agreement with DENIC itself, the Domain Terms and Conditions. They set out your rights and obligations as a holder. You still change your details through your provider, because only the provider can pass a change on to DENIC.

DENIC also offers domain management itself, called DENICdirect. That covers the registration only, without name servers, a website or email, and according to DENIC it usually costs more than going through a provider. So to use your .de domain for a website or email, you need a provider or hosting either way.

Who can register a .de domain?

Anyone, wherever you live: individuals, associations, small businesses and large companies. DENIC's only general requirement is that you have full legal capacity. You do not need a German address or a German company. DENIC asks every holder for:

• your full name, or the name of your organisation including its legal form;
• a postal address (a PO box is not enough);
• an email address;
• a phone number.

If you live outside Germany, DENIC can ask you in one specific situation to appoint, within two weeks, a person in Germany who is authorised to receive legal documents about your domain (a Zustellungsbevollmächtigter). That only happens when someone else claims rights to your domain name and meets the conditions for a DISPUTE entry (see below). A permanent German admin contact, the former Admin-C, has not been required since May 2018.

Which .de names are allowed?

Under DENIC's Domain Guidelines:

• Length. 1 to 63 characters. Names of one or two characters and all-numeric names have been allowed since October 2009.
• Characters. The letters a to z, the digits 0 to 9 and the hyphen. Upper and lower case are treated the same.
• Hyphens. Not at the start or end, and not in both the third and fourth position.
• Umlauts and accents. 93 further letters are allowed as well, such as ä, ö, ü, ß, é and ç. Umlauts and accents have been possible since March 2004, the ß since November 2010. Such a name is converted to a technical form starting with xn--, and that form counts towards the 63 characters.

DENIC does not check whether you are entitled to a name. First come, first served. Whether your name touches someone's trademark or trade name is something to check yourself before you register.

Holder data checks since December 2025

Since 6 December 2025 new legal rules apply to .de in Germany, based on the EU's NIS2 directive. According to DENIC, the duty to record correct details also covers domains registered before that date. This is what changed:

• A phone number is mandatory.
• Your provider verifies your email address.
• Your name and address are checked automatically, also when you change them or when the domain gets a new holder.
• If the check fails, DENIC removes the domain from the .de zone, so your website and email stop working, and the domain is deleted later.

If you are asked to confirm your details, respond in time: the deadlines are short. The verification itself always runs through your provider. Genuine email from DENIC comes from an address ending in denic.de, and DENIC never asks for a password. If a message or invoice about your domain looks suspicious, read how to spot a fake domain invoice. DENIC's own explanation is on its page about holder data verification.

If your domain is with LJPc, the email address on your domain is a customer portal address ending in @inbox.ljpc.nl, so such a request arrives under Inbox in the portal menu. You keep your name, address and phone number up to date yourself in the portal, as described in how to manage WHOIS data for your domain. Not sure what to do with a request? Open a support ticket and mention the domain.

What does the DENIC WHOIS show?

Since 6 December 2025 the DENIC domain query shows, for every .de domain, which DENIC member manages it. The rest depends on who the holder is:

If your domain is with LJPc, the DENIC member shown is not LJPc but the registrar we use to register .de domains. That is correct: your management and your questions go through us. How to find out with WHOIS where a domain is managed is explained in who manages your domain. Anyone with a legitimate reason to obtain a private holder's details, such as a trademark owner or a public authority, can apply to DENIC, which assesses each request individually.

Transferring a .de domain with the AuthInfo code

A .de domain moves to another provider with a transfer code, which DENIC calls the AuthInfo. There are two routes:

1. Through your current provider. Ask your current provider for the AuthInfo. They store it at DENIC and give it to you. You pass it to your new provider, who requests the transfer. If the code matches, the domain moves straight away. The code is 8 to 16 characters long and is valid for up to 30 days.
2. By letter from DENIC. If your current provider does not cooperate or is no longer active, your new provider can request the AuthInfo directly from DENIC. DENIC then sends it by registered letter to the holder's postal address, also outside Germany. That code is valid for 30 days as well. If your address is wrong, the letter will not reach you: one more reason to keep your details current.

A .de domain has no transfer lock to switch off first. For domains that matter a great deal, DENIC does offer a lock of its own, the Registry Lock: a new holder, different name servers, a transfer or deleting the domain then has to be confirmed first by a contact person you appoint. You order it through your provider.

Moving your .de domain to LJPc? Enter the code in the order wizard, as described in transfer your domain to LJPc. Moving your .de domain away from LJPc? Our team arranges the transfer code for you through a support ticket. How that works, and in which order your website and email should move, is covered in get your EPP code and transfer your domain.

Putting a .de domain in someone else's name

A change of holder works in one of two ways for .de: the old and new holder jointly instruct the provider, who updates the details at DENIC, or the new holder transfers the domain with the AuthInfo to their own provider, who handles the transfer and the holder change in one step. How to change the holder in the customer portal is covered in change the owner of a domain name.

What happens when a .de domain is deleted?

At DENIC a .de domain has no expiry date: the agreement runs until it is terminated. Your provider does bill you per period. When your domain is deleted, for example because you cancel it or stop paying, it does not become available right away:

• A 30-day protection period. Deletion is followed by the Redemption Grace Period. During that time only you, or someone you designate, can register the domain again through a provider. After that anyone can register it.
• TRANSIT when your provider stops. If your provider no longer manages the domain, for example because it is going out of business, DENIC takes it over temporarily in TRANSIT status. The domain stays yours and nobody else can register it. Whether your website and email keep working in the meantime depends on your former provider. You receive a letter with a personal password and have one month to choose: transfer to a new provider, delete the domain or have it managed by DENICdirect. If you do not respond, DENIC terminates the domain and it is deleted.

What the domain statuses in the customer portal mean is explained in expired domain, redemption period or quarantine. If a .de name you want is taken, a domain backorder lets you claim it the moment it becomes available.

Disputes over a .de domain

There is no UDRP for .de, the dispute procedure used for .com and many other extensions. DENIC does not decide who is entitled to a name either: that is up to the courts, under German law. Someone with a name or trademark right can, however, apply to DENIC for a DISPUTE entry. What that means:

• The holder can keep using the domain, but cannot transfer it to anyone else.
• If the domain is deleted, the party behind the DISPUTE automatically becomes the new holder.
• A DISPUTE entry lasts one year and can be extended while the dispute continues.

The details are on DENIC's page about the DISPUTE procedure.

Seeing dns-operations.denic.de or f.nic.de?

You come across these names in dig or nslookup output, or in a DNS test, when you look up a name that is not in the .de zone. f.nic.de is one of the name servers of the .de extension and dns-operations.denic.de is the admin address in the SOA record of the .de zone. A response looks like this:

$ dig does-not-exist-example.de MX

;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN
;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
de.  300  IN  SOA  f.nic.de. dns-operations.denic.de. ...

The status NXDOMAIN means: this name does not exist in .de. DENIC appears because the .de zone gives the answer, so there is no outage at DENIC. Check the following:

1. Is the domain name spelled correctly, including the part after the dot?
2. Is the domain registered? Look it up in the DENIC domain query.
3. Has the domain been deleted, or removed from the zone because the holder data check failed? That also returns NXDOMAIN.

If your domain does exist and your website or email still does not work, the cause is usually the name servers or records of the domain itself. How to find out is explained in troubleshoot DNS problems with dig and nslookup. How name servers work together is covered in NS record explained.

What LJPc hosting takes care of for your .de domain

• Registration for €14.99 a year. A .de domain costs €14.99 a year with us, excluding VAT, with DNS management included. In the customer portal you search for a name, see whether it is available and order it together with your hosting: in the order wizard choose I am looking for one or want to register one. Every step is in register a domain and link it to your hosting, and current prices for all extensions are on our domain names page.
• Transfers to us. In the order wizard choose I already have one at another registrar, enter your .de domain, choose Transfer to LJPc and enter the AuthInfo. The portal checks right away whether the transfer can go ahead with that code. You pay the same amount, which covers your first year with us.
• Automatic renewal. As long as the subscription for your domain runs, we renew it every year automatically.
• DNS and DNSSEC. Your domain gets our name servers ns1.ljpc.network, ns2.ljpc.network and ns3.ljpc.network, and we switch on DNSSEC automatically. DENIC has supported DNSSEC since 31 May 2011; how it works is explained in what is DNSSEC.
• Your details and email in one place. You change the holder, address and phone number yourself in the portal, and email about your domain arrives in your Inbox.