DNS Belgium explained: the registry behind .be, .brussels and .vlaanderen

DNS Belgium is the non-profit organisation in Leuven that runs the .be, .brussels and .vlaanderen domain extensions. It keeps the register of every domain name under those extensions, publishes them so they can be found on the internet and sets the rules. You register a domain name through a registrar, such as LJPc hosting, but for a .be domain you can request the transfer code directly from DNS Belgium.

This article explains what DNS Belgium does, the rules for .be, .brussels and .vlaanderen, how a transfer works with the DNS Belgium transfer code, and what it means when be-hostmaster@dnsbelgium.be shows up in a DNS lookup.

What is DNS Belgium?

DNS Belgium is the registry for Belgium: the operator of the country code top-level domain .be, much like SIDN for .nl or Nominet for .uk. DNS stands for Domain Name System, the system that translates domain names into IP addresses so you can reach a website by name. How that system finds the right servers for a domain is explained in NS record explained.

Key facts, as published by DNS Belgium:

• Founded on 2 February 1999 as the non-profit association dns.be by ISPA Belgium, BELTUG and Fabrimetal (now Agoria). Before that, KU Leuven handled registrations: .be was introduced in June 1988, with Professor Pierre Verbaeten as its administrator.
• Open to everyone since December 2000. .be was liberalised then, and since that moment anyone can register a .be domain on a first come, first served basis.
• Three extensions, one registry. In 2012 the Flemish and Brussels governments gave the management of .vlaanderen and .brussels to dns.be, after which the organisation was renamed DNS Belgium.
• About 1.7 million .be domains. At the end of 2025 there were 1,701,999 active .be domain names, and 207,776 new ones were registered during that year.

The full timeline is on the DNS Belgium website. For the bigger picture, read the history of domain names.

Registry, registrar and registrant: who does what?

Only your registrar can change the details of your domain; DNS Belgium does not do this for you. DNS Belgium publishes a list of all registrars for .be, .brussels and .vlaanderen.

Which extensions does DNS Belgium manage?

The same naming rules apply to all three:

• 2 to 63 characters: letters a to z, digits 0 to 9 and the hyphen.
• No hyphen at the start or end, and not on both the third and fourth position.
• Accented characters are allowed. belgië.be is converted to xn--belgi-rsa.be behind the scenes.
• For .brussels and .vlaanderen, two-character names, country names and names of international organisations are reserved.

DNS Belgium does not judge who has the right to a name. If someone believes a .be domain infringes their rights, they can go to the Belgian Centre for Arbitration and Mediation (CEPANI) or to court; for .brussels and .vlaanderen this goes through ICANN's UDRP or the courts. See the disputes page for details.

Transferring a .be domain with the DNS Belgium transfer code

A .be domain moves with a transfer code of five groups of three digits, separated by hyphens. Unlike most extensions, DNS Belgium creates this code itself and emails it to the registrant. You request it from DNS Belgium or through any registrar:

1. Turn off the transfer lock. While a domain is locked, you cannot request a transfer code. If your domain is with LJPc, sign in at portal.ljpc.nl, choose Domains in the Services menu, open your domain and set Transfer lock to Off in the Domain overview box. With another registrar, turn it off in their control panel or ask them.
2. Request the transfer code on the DNS Belgium transfer code page. It shows part of the email address the code will be sent to.
3. Open the email with the code. It comes from no-reply@dnsbelgium.be. For a domain registered with LJPc, the email address on the domain is a customer portal address ending in @inbox.ljpc.nl, so the message arrives under Inbox in the portal menu. If your domain uses your own address and nothing arrives, check your junk folder or the spam filter quarantine, as described in how to report spam and recover quarantined email.
4. Give the code to your new registrar within 7 days. They start the transfer. DNS Belgium checks the code and carries out the transfer straight away, so the domain is often moved within a few hours.

Moving a .be domain to LJPc? Request the code once your order is ready and enter it in the order wizard under Transfer to LJPc; the full steps are in transfer your domain to LJPc. Moving away from LJPc? Get your EPP code and transfer your domain explains the order in which to move your website and email.

Transferring a .be domain to a new owner

The same transfer code is used to hand a .be domain over to someone else. The current owner requests the code and passes it on, and the new owner gives it to the registrar of their choice. The contact details stay unchanged at first, so the new owner should check that their name, address and email address are registered correctly afterwards.

Transferring a .brussels or .vlaanderen domain

For .brussels and .vlaanderen you get the transfer code from your current registrar, and it always stays the same. Your new registrar submits the transfer to DNS Belgium. The old registrar then has 5 calendar days: if it approves or does nothing, the transfer goes ahead. It may refuse in cases such as an unpaid invoice, a transfer lock or a dispute. A .brussels or .vlaanderen domain cannot be transferred within 60 calendar days of registration, of a change of registrant or of a previous transfer.

Updating the details of your .be domain

If the email address on your domain is wrong, the transfer code will not reach you either. The DNS Belgium terms require registrants to keep their details current, and only your registrar can change them. For a domain with LJPc you manage the registrant and contact details yourself in the customer portal, as described in how to manage WHOIS data for your domain.

A change appears in the .be register within half an hour, and within a few minutes for .brussels and .vlaanderen. It can take up to 24 hours before a change is visible across the internet.

If you look up your domain in the DNS Belgium WHOIS, the registrar shown is not LJPc but the accredited registrar we use for .be domains. That is expected: you manage the domain, and get help with it, through us.

What happens when a .be domain expires?

A .be domain runs for one year at a time. If you pay your registrar on time, it is renewed for another year. When a domain is deleted, for example because it was not renewed, it is not released straight away:

• .be goes into quarantine for 40 days. The website and email on the domain stop working, the domain cannot be changed and nobody else can register it. Your registrar can reactivate it at your request, and a transfer is still possible during quarantine. After 40 days anyone can register it.
• .brussels and .vlaanderen first get 30 days in redemption, during which the registrar can restore the domain, followed by 5 days of pending delete. After 35 days the name is released.

DNS Belgium recommends renewing a domain you no longer use for a while longer, so that criminals cannot pick it up and cause damage with it. More on the renewal page.

Seeing be-hostmaster@dnsbelgium.be or a.nsset.be in a lookup?

These names appear in the output of nslookup, dig or an online DNS test when you look up a name that does not exist in the .be zone. a.nsset.be is one of the nameservers of the .be extension, and be-hostmaster.dnsbelgium.be is the contact mailbox in the SOA record of the .be zone, written as be-hostmaster@dnsbelgium.be in email form. A typical answer looks like this:

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

;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN
;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
be.  600  IN  SOA  a.nsset.be. be-hostmaster.dnsbelgium.be. ...

nslookup can show the same record, with a.nsset.be as the nameserver and be-hostmaster.dnsbelgium.be as the mailbox. The status NXDOMAIN means the name does not exist under .be; DNS Belgium appears because the .be zone gave the answer. It is not an outage at DNS Belgium, and for questions about your own domain your registrar is the first point of contact. Check these points:

1. Is the domain name spelled correctly, including the extension?
2. Is the domain registered? Look it up in the DNS Belgium WHOIS.
3. Has the domain expired or been deleted? A domain in quarantine is removed from the .be zone and also returns NXDOMAIN.

If the domain does exist but your website or email still fails, the cause is usually in the domain's own nameservers or records. Troubleshoot DNS problems with dig and nslookup shows how to find it.

Is DNS Belgium a DNS server you can use?

No. The DNS Belgium nameservers, such as a.nsset.be, only answer for domain names in their own zones and refuse other questions. They do not belong in the preferred DNS server field of your network settings. That field needs a resolver: a DNS server from your internet provider or a public service that looks up any domain name for you. Public vs ISP DNS servers helps you choose.

Extra protection for a .be domain

• DNSSEC. Since 2010 .be domains can use DNSSEC, a digital signature on your DNS data that stops visitors from being sent to a fake site without noticing. You enable it through your registrar; see what is DNSSEC.
• Transfer lock. A lock at your registrar means nobody can start a transfer until you turn it off.
• Domain Guard. For a domain your business depends on, DNS Belgium offers Domain Guard, a registry lock. Your registrar can then no longer change the details, nameservers or DNSSEC, nor delete or transfer the domain, and DNS Belgium phones a person you nominated for every change request. You apply through your registrar with a form and proof that you own the domain, and it comes at a cost.

What LJPc hosting takes care of for your .be domain

• Registration and renewal. In the customer portal you search for a name, see whether the .be is available and what it costs, and order it together with your hosting. What a .be domain costs with us and which rules DNS Belgium sets is covered in how to register a .be domain. We register it with DNS Belgium and renew it for as long as the subscription for your domain runs. The steps are in how to register a domain and link it to your hosting.
• Transfer lock on from day one. We turn on the transfer lock when we register a new domain. In the DNS Belgium WHOIS it shows as clientTransferProhibited, and you switch it off yourself in the portal when you want to move.
• DNS and DNSSEC. Your domain gets our nameservers ns1.ljpc.network, ns2.ljpc.network and ns3.ljpc.network, and we enable DNSSEC automatically.
• Registry email in one place. The email address on your domain is a customer portal address, so the transfer code and other registry email arrive in your portal Inbox.
• .brussels or .vlaanderen with another registrar? You cannot order these extensions in the portal, but your LJPc hosting works with them. Point the domain to us with nameservers, as described in how to change your nameservers, or with individual records, as described in how to point a domain registered elsewhere to LJPc hosting.