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The "Private Registration" additional service has been deactivated for all domains in order to comply with new EU directives (NIS2). However, your personal data remains protected as a private individual. This article explains what will change for you, and what you need to bear in mind as a corporate customer.
Why is the "Private Registration" option no longer available?
When the law implementing the NIS2 Directive came into effect on December 6, 2025, a whole series of legal requirements changed for domain registrars. In addition, many domain name registries have adapted their guidelines and no longer allow upstream data protection services.
In order to fully comply with these legal requirements, IONOS has discontinued the "Whois Privacy" service for all top-level domains (TLDs). The option to activate or deactivate this service has therefore been permanently removed from the IONOS account and the shop.
What does this mean for my data?
The effects differ depending on whether you have registered your domain as a private individual or as an organisation/company.
Effects for private individuals
There is no need to worry: your personal data (name, address, email address) is still protected and will not be published in the public WHOIS directories.
- Protection is now provided directly by the legal requirements of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).
- An additional option such as the previously offered private registration is no longer required for this protection.
Implications for organisations and companies
In accordance with the NIS2 Directive, we are obliged to make the contact details of legal entities (organisations/companies) publicly accessible.
- From March 6, 2026, the contact details of companies and organisations must be published in the public WHOIS directory.
- If you select "Company" or "Organisation" as the owner in the shop or in your IONOS account, you will be informed that this data will be published.
Important note for sole traders and small businesses
If you are a sole trader or small business owner, or do not run a company as defined by the German Commercial Code (HGB), please urgently check your settings.
- The situation: If the "Company" field is filled out in the contact details of your domain holder (Reg-C), you will be treated as an organisation by the system. In accordance with NIS2 requirements, this obliges us to make your contact details accessible in the public WHOIS directory from March 6, 2026.
- The solution: To continue to protect your private data, you must appear as a "private individual". To do this, please delete the entry in the Company field completely so that this field is empty and save the change. The article Editing domain contact data shows you how to change your contact data.
Note
If it is necessary for postal delivery (e.g. in office buildings or co-working spaces) for your company name to appear in the address, please enter this in the "Additional address" field. This will ensure that important mail from the awarding body reaches you without you being incorrectly classified as an organisation in the system.