New Domain Owner Identification Rules: What Businesses Need to Check in Advance

Starting in the fall of 2026, the domain name management procedure will change significantly. To perform a significant part of the registration actions, domain owners will need to undergo mandatory identification through the Public Services Portal (ESIA) to confirm their identity.

These changes will affect not only new domain registrations but also renewals of existing domains, domain name transfers, changes to certain administrative parameters, and other operations. For businesses, this means conducting an early audit of their domain portfolio to ensure that rights to key internet assets are properly registered.

Why is mandatory identification being introduced?

The main goal of the new requirements is to increase the transparency of the domain space and reduce the number of anonymous Internet resources.

The regulatory approach aims to ensure that each domain is linked to a specific, identified owner. This should facilitate the fight against fraudulent websites, phishing resources, the distribution of prohibited content, and other abuses in the digital environment.

For bona fide businesses, the new rules primarily mean increased requirements for corporate governance of digital assets.

What risks arise for companies?

In practice, a significant portion of corporate websites are registered not to the organization, but to specific employees, contractors, or former managers.

For a long time, this model didn’t pose any significant problems. However, with the introduction of mandatory identification, such situations could lead to the inability to perform legally significant actions with the domain.

The most common risks are:

• the domain is registered to a former employee;
• the owner is an external contractor or website developer;
• the administrator’s data is outdated and does not correspond to current documents;
• there is no verified account to complete identification;
• The company actually uses the domain, but does not legally control it.

In such cases, renewing registration or changing control parameters may prove difficult.

Special attention to corporate domains

For many companies, a domain name is a key intangible asset. It powers the corporate website, online store, email infrastructure, customer service, and advertising campaigns.

Losing control over a domain can lead not only to reputational damage, but also to direct financial losses.

Therefore, businesses are advised to check:

• who is the official domain administrator;
• whether the owner is in the interests of the company;
• Is the registration data up to date?
• Is it possible to quickly confirm the administrator’s identity?
• Have internal documents been drawn up confirming the company’s rights to the domain name?

There may be difficulties in reconciling data

A separate problem is the relevance of information about the domain owner.

Even minor discrepancies between registration data and information used for identification may result in refusal to complete the identity verification procedure.

This could be a change of name, document updates, technical errors in registration data, or other discrepancies that have gone undetected by the domain owner for years.

Therefore, it is advisable to check the accuracy of the information in advance, without waiting for the registration renewal deadline.

What is recommended to do now?

The new requirements require businesses to conduct a legal audit of their domain assets rather than technical preparation.

First of all, it is worth:

• create a list of all domain names used;
• check administrator information;
• identify domains registered to employees or third parties;
• update registration data;
• ensure that persons responsible for managing domains have a verified account;
• If necessary, re-register the rights to key domains to the organization.

Particular attention should be paid to domains used for corporate websites, email, and customer services.

What does this mean for business?

In fact, domain names are gradually moving from the category of technical resources to the category of objects requiring full corporate control.

While domain management was previously often perceived as a task for an IT specialist or contractor, issues of registration, owner identification, and the up-to-dateness of registration data are now becoming part of a business’s legal security system.

Companies that conduct an audit of their domain assets in advance will be able to avoid restrictions when managing online resources and reduce the risk of losing control over important digital assets.