About the DRS
Nominet’s Dispute Resolution Service (DRS) provides an efficient and transparent way to resolve .UK domain name disputes. Disputes are resolved through mediation, and where necessary, by an independent expert decision.
What’s changing and when
From 7th July 2026, administration of DRS cases will transfer to World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an established global provider of domain dispute resolution services. This change forms part of the .UK Standardisation programme, which modernises how .UK is managed.
The policy and overall direction of the DRS will remain with Nominet, as a core part of our guardianship of .UK.
To raise a DRS complaint before 7th July 2026, please follow the current process.
From 7th July 2026:
What’s staying the same
- The DRS Policy remains unchanged, including the types of disputes that can be raised.
- Nominet’s trained mediators will continue offering free mediation.
- The composition of the Experts panel who make independent decisions will remain unchanged.
- Decision review will continue to be conducted by the review group within the Experts panel, no other party will review decisions.
- Appeals against decisions will still be possible as they are currently under the DRS Policy.
- Nominet’s teams will continue engaging with registrars as they do today to identify the appropriate registrant if they are behind a proxy service.
- Nominet’s teams will continue with the established process to implement the experts’ decisions.
What’s Changing
- DRS cases will be raised and managed through WIPO’s system.
- WIPO’s experienced case managers will guide each dispute through the process, as per the DRS Policy.
- All DRS decisions (existing and new) will be searchable and available on WIPO’s website.
- Eventually, all decisions will also be available on nominet.uk and the Decision Search Tool will be retired.
- The same fees will apply as before, however no VAT will be applied. Payment will be made through WIPO.
At the point of transfer, the current Domain Disputes page will be updated to reflect the new process.
Why we’re making this change
We’re modernising how we manage .UK through the Registry Standardisation programme and will be migrating the operation of .UK to a new registry platform. As part of this, we’re retiring the bespoke infrastructure that currently supports the DRS.
Further information
Cases already in progress
If you are currently involved in a DRS case that was raised before 7th July 2026, then this will continue to be managed by Nominet in Online Services, rather than WIPO. No action is required.
DRS Policy
The DRS Policy as currently in force remains unchanged. Nominet’s overall control and direction setting of DRS also remains unchanged, as does its commitment to consult on future policy changes. How cases are assessed for validity, the burden of proof required, how the merit of each case is assessed by the expert, and how precedent from past cases is applied – all remain unchanged.
Interactions with .UK registrars
There will be no change. Nominet will continue to contact to relevant registrars where the domain in dispute has privacy flags applied as it does today.
Contact from WIPO Case Manager
WIPO’s case managers will always contact the parties involved in a dispute via their standard email address: domain.disputes at wipo dot int.
Implementing dispute decisions
Once a DRS decision is arrived at, Nominet teams will enforce the decision as is done today.
Experts Panel
There is no change to the Experts panel. The composition of the panel, including for appeals, and how they operate remains unchanged. The process by which a new case is handed to the next Expert will also remain unchanged. The Experts will continue to work the same policy and Experts guidance maintaining consistency with historical precedent.
DRS Fees
The fee schedule (https://registrars.nominet.uk/uk-namespace/managing-account/payments/fee-schedule/) remains unchanged, however from 7th July 2026 no VAT will be applied. Payment will be made through WIPO.
Determining priority of DRS cases
All DRS cases follow the same procedure with no option to expedite a case.
Impact on .cymru and .wales domain name disputes
There is no change, this remains the same. You can resolve disputes over the registration of .cymru and .wales domain names in one of two standardised dispute resolution procedures:
Get in touch about the DRS
If you’d like to speak to us about the new process, please get in touch. Our advisors are available from Monday to Friday, 08:00 – 18:00.
Email: drs@nominet.uk
Phone: +44 (0)330 236 9470