be-domain Domain

.be The domain for Belgium

The country-specific top-level domain .be was introduced in 1988. It has been active since then and is used for the geographical area Belgium. Both administration and registration have been handled by the DNS Belgium since 2000. Originally it was administered by Pierre Verbaeten, member of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
The domain .be is extremely popular in Belgium and is used both for URL shortening and on YouTube. Although there are no registration restrictions, the domain is targeted at companies associated with Belgium. It is part of the DNSSEC. A total of over 1.5 million domains are registered under this domain.

The registration of domain names is done on the second level. A few academic institutions such as the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, as well as the Université Libre de Bruxelles continue to register on the third level under the domain .ac.be. However, most academic institutions have abandoned this option, as only one registration per institution is allowed under the .ac.be domain.

Another typical use of the second level domain is for governmental institutions that use .fgov.be for their registration. Otherwise, third-level registrations are very rarely used.

The registration of the country-specific domain must be ordered directly. This must be a registered representative. Since 2003, the Federal Government of Belgium has been using the domain as its logo. YouTube also relies on the Belgian domain to shorten its URL, which thus becomes youtu.be.

There are no restrictions for the registration of the domain. Neither a residence nor a branch office in Belgium is mandatory to apply for this domain. Furthermore, it is available to both natural and legal persons. The registration process is automated, which makes the registration fast and reliable. The domain is subject to a fee; it is calculated annually in advance.

The Kingdom of Belgium is one of the most densely populated countries. It is a federal state in Western Europe, bordering the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Germany and the North Sea. With a population of around 11.4 million, Belgium has a relatively large number of citizens. The official languages are Dutch, French and German. The capital of Belgium is Brussels, where important European institutions have their headquarters. Belgium also belongs to the Benelux Economic Union.