New legal requirements apply in Germany since 6 December 2025, which will also impact DENIC’s business processes in the future. These relate to
- the data to be collected during domain registration and the verification of this data
- the registration data made publicly available via the whois lookup (Domain Query) tool
All whois-related amendments at a glance:
- All legal entities‘ holder data will be published.
- All private individuals‘ personal holder data will continue to NOT being published.
- For each domain, the date of registration will be published.
- For each domain, the registrar’s name and contact data will be published.
What changes will be made to the data output of the DENIC domain query (whois)?
So far, users had access to restricted information about registered .de domains via DENIC's website, looking up data with the assistance of the domain query (whois). However, there will be a number of changes regarding whois data output.
This means that in the future more registration data will become publicly available via the domain query (whois), with full registration data of legal entities – i.e. companies, organisations, etc. – being displayed then. This will include the name and postal address of the domain holder as well as their email address and telephone number. Further disclosed will also be the date of registration, as well as the name and contact details of the registrar (DENIC member) who administers the domain.
If the domain holder is a natural person and their data is therefore personal data as defined by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), holder data will continue to not being disclosed via the domain query (whois). In such cases, only the date of the domain registration and the name and contact details of the registrar (DENIC member) who administers the domain will be displayed.
Moreover, domain holders will still have access via the Domain query (whois) to their own data maintained in DENIC’s database as regards a certain domain. To view the related data, authorization has to be provided by the holders‘ entering their postal code or contact email address registered with DENIC. A time-limited access link will then be sent to the email address on file.
How can access be gained to the holder data of domains registered by private individuals?
The data protection provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) remain unchanged. This means that also in the future, no personal data on domain holders will be accessible via the domain query (whois) on DENIC's website.
Under certain conditions, DENIC will continue to disclose domain holder data upon request to holders of name and trademark rights, insolvency practitioners and claimants in possession of an enforceable title. This is done on a case-by-case basis upon proof of a legitimate interest. For these groups of access seekers, DENIC provides specialized forms facilitating requests for the disclosure of dedicated holder information.
The above changes will be implemented in compliance with Germany’s national legislation transposing the EU’s NIS2 Directive.
