.be

.be is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Belgium. In November 2022, there were 1,746,459 registered domain names using it.^[1]

.be

Introduced	5 August 1988 (added to root zone)
TLD type	Country code top-level domain
Status	Active
Registry	DNS Belgium
Sponsor	DNS Belgium
Intended use	Entities connected with Belgium
Actual use	Very popular in Belgium; also used by YouTube for URL shortening
Registered domains	1,746,459 (2022-12-10)[1]
Registration restrictions	None
Structure	Names can be registered directly at second level; some third-level names under categories such as ac.be for academic institutions also exist
Documents	Documents
Dispute policies	ADR
DNSSEC	Yes
Registry website	www.dnsbelgium.be

History

The domain became active in 1989 and was administrated by Pierre Verbaeten of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. In 2000, the control of the TLD was transferred to DNS Belgium.

It was announced in November 2005 that the initial registration of domains would be free until the beginning of 2006, though with some limits on the number any individual was allowed to register.^[2][3]

This was remarkably popular, with some 17,000 registrations coming in on the first day of the promotion.

Registration

Any .be registration has to be ordered via a registered agent. Domain names are registered directly at second level.

BELNET, the federal internet provider for scientific institutions, manages the .ac.be subdomain reserved for academic entities, with a policy of allowing only one active .ac.be domain per institution.

Because of this, most universities abandoned their .ac.be SLD as primary domain. This is why ucl.ac.be shifted to uclouvain.be, fundp.ac.be to unamur.be, ulg.ac.be to uliege.be or fusl.ac.be to usaintlouis.be when changing names.

The University of Mons-Hainaut, by merging with the Faculté polytechnique de Mons (fpms.ac.be) into a new legal entity called the University of Mons, could change its domain from umh.ac.be to umons.ac.be.

Regional variants

The Flemish separatist party Vlaams Belang introduced a draft resolution in the Parliament of the region of Flanders demanding the creation of a Flemish top level domain .vl (for Vlaanderen, Flanders in Flemish).^[4]

However, this resolution failed to receive support of the region's other parties. Only recognized UN member states are eligible for a two-letter domain extension.^[5]

In October 2008, the Flemish government expressed its intention to obtain a three-letter domain code for Flanders, like .vla, .vln or .fla. In 2014, .vlaanderen and .brussels were added, also administered by DNSBelgium.

The domain has also been in use as a logo for the federal government since 2003.^[6]

Domain hack

YouTube uses the domain hack youtu.be for their URL shortening service.