Is it possible to use a US host/registrar for a us business-or is it a bad idea?
The only info I found on my (1) search was from a 8 year old thread here...
Anyone belonging to a European Union member state may register an unlimited number of .it domains.
In other words, you must have a registered address in the European Union to register an .IT domain.
Does anyone from the US have tips for setting this up- or is this practice frowned upon?
I imagine there may be ranking issues related to using a country specific tld out of that country-but I'm still in the early (excited) phase, where I have yet to consider all the reasons I shouldn't pursue this idea ;-)
If your wife's parents lived in the EU, or you had some other trusted connection, you could maybe use them to register the domain name, but even that could not be recommended. The only other way would be to have a European hosting company register it in their name, on your behalf, but could you trust any company that was willing to do this? Also, consider, this...
Presumably you want the .it domain for an English language website. Although someone in the UK could do this without breaking the rules, questions might still be asked. You would need acceptable answers to those questions.
Kaled.
So, "It's an English word that helps me make a great two word domain!" isn't a good enough reason? Because-that's my only reason.
I have a number of friends in Europe who I could trust to register it, but I can certainly see some disadvantages to that arrangement, and I have no desire to run afoul of the law.
If there's no legal way to do it, I won't do it.
Is there anyone in the US who uses a European tld to promote a US site legally who can offer some tips?
( NB ..some EU countriees actually additionally require a physical office or other address in the country which pays full operating overheads ** UK does not**..eg France requires an office address with an official presence that can cost you as much as €8,000.oo per annum depending upon the type of business..or that the company be owned **registered to/ by a french resident** ..or use a french lawyer for example as an "ecran" ..Malta was similarly restrictive last time I was resident there .51% ownership by Maltese citizen ( Maltese Members may be able to update this? ).but I digress.. here we are discussing Italy and .it .
Any UK company registered at companies house ( the cheapest and easiest option which you can do over the "net" with a credit card is to register a Uk ltd company ( which you can do as a non uk resident ) many "company formation agents" offer "formation" and "registered office" addresses - then the company ( wholly owned by yourself registers the domain ..all legal , totally all above board and compliant with both UK and EU and Italian regulations ..can cost you as little as €50.oo for the first year and the same for the following years ..if the company does any business you will have to make an "annnual return" as "trading" ..if the company does no business other than hold the domain name you are usually considered to be "non trading" ..( this you can phone companies house to confirm" and thus would file "electronically" as a "dormant account" ..however if the company does trade you would have to file company accounts in the usual way in accordance with Uk regulations ..actually usually very very simple ..( however ..do file honest accounts ) in most cases would take you less than a day's paperwork and a "confirm/ certification" from a UK accountant specialized in non resident filing ..
I saw your post a few days ago and waited to see if you got sensible accurate answers
[..from those of us who actually own Uk ltd companies and use them amongst other things to purchase non UK domain names ( anyone, anywhere in the world can buy a dot co dot uk ) but other countries domain suffixes within the EU can be bought by firts establishing alegal presence with the EU ..for now the UK private ltd company is the cheapest and simplest route to this ..]
..but ..you didnt ..( get any sensible accurate answers) ..althiough I know that others here run UK ltds without being resident just like myself ..
the others here who have Uk LTDS ( and no longer live in the UK ..or who are thinking of re-locating reading their most recent posts ..hi "OptiR'/ HP" ) must be too busy looking at their adsense stats :)
HTH
ps ..I dont own ..nor am I affiliated to any Uk company registration services nor formation agents ..
but I have spent the last 3 decades running UK and non UK ( but various EU ) domaines names via UK limited companies ..legally ..and with full approval of companies house ..the Uk regulatory authority ..
scuse eventual speeling and typos ..it's late and it's a french keyboard :)
questions might still be asked. You would need acceptable answers to those questions.
What questions ? ..you mean like they are going to ask BP ( British Petroleum ) ..etc etc etc ..why they also own the "dot it" for their brand ..
or Orange or EDF ..or ICI ..etc etc ..
a simple telephone conversation with the compliance staff at companieshouse.gov.uk will set you right ..they confirm atht at least 40% of all Uk LTD registrations are to "lock up" other EU domain name suffixes the cheapest way possible ..and that half of those are thought by them to be from non EU residents ..
My source ?
MY phone calls , emails , and faxes with various departments at companies house over the last 2 decades ..the most recent ..yesterday ..
some of us choose to no longer live in the UK but we do know exactly how the legislation works without ever being in any danger of crossing any imaginary lines ..
Companies house staff on their helpline are very very helpfull to any enquiries ..providing that one is straight and honest with them ..
and they dont ask irrelevant / imaginary questions ..
but ..you didnt ..( get any sensible accurate answers)
whoops ..I was too hasty there ..forgot the early reply
..encyclo's answer was both sensible and accurate ..s'cuse moi R ..
M
ps ..FWIW .first decade was spent living in the UK with UK ltd's ..next two decades living outside the UK with Uk LTD's ..
1) Rules, laws and enforcement of such are in constant flux due to money-laundering and ant-terrorist legislation.
2) The DTI regularly close down businesses that don't obey the rules - such as filing tax returns. Sure, you can avoid tax returns by not actually trading, but there's still the annual company return (not exactly onerous) but again, who knows what rule changes may take place.
A new government is likely in the UK within ten months and a lot will change quickly. EU rules also change. Also, comparisons with multinationals such as BP is hardly relevant. (If BP created a .it website it would probably be in Italian for Italians!)
If rules exist, you have to allow for the possibility they will be enforced - it's that simple. If you have years of experience, deep pockets or reliable people, you can stay ahead of the game, no problem, but if you don't, you could get into difficulties.
In life (and technology) most problems can be overcome, however, sometimes the solution can be more of a nuisance than the original problem. I'm guessing that would be the case here since I'm not aware of any .it websites that have become global phenomena.
Kaled
The DTI is irrelevant to the subject ( and the DTI in present form is unlikely to survive after another election ) ..no one is suggesting not paying taxes ..nor filing false returns ..UK accounting proceedures are amongst the simplest in the world ..and many company formation agents are actually accountancy companies and can and do walk their customers through the paperwork ..
and companies house staff themselves are very friendly and helpfull to anyone unsure about how it all works and how to obey both the spirit and the letter of the law ..
I mentioned BP as it's something the cousins over the pond would know ..although for years now BP has actually been based out of my home country ..as has google ..
No one anywhere in the world ever requires one to make a website in the language of the TLD ..you can have dot co dot uk sites in french , german , swahili, hindi , arabic etc ..and german sites in indonesian or tagalog or farsi or urdu ..( there are a boatload in turkish that I know of )..ther are no requirements to have the site in the language of the TLD ..not even in China or any of the 'stans ..
If you have years of experience, deep pockets or reliable people, you can stay ahead of the game, no problem, but if you don't, you could get into difficulties.
Nor anwsers to your questions from those who ( show by their "answers" )actually have no personal experience of the subject .
I don't think I can add anything to Leosghost's advice, registering a UK Ltd name is very easy and far, far cheaper annually than having, for instance, a Delaware company.
There is quite a bit of paperwork to download and complete for a .it application, simple though, but once done you can register as many as you like if you use the same registrar...well, that was certainly the case unless it has changed recently.
Obviously a lot of the obvious .it names have already been grabbed and sat upon but there are still a lot of great names available for catchy-name marketing purposes.
I'm quite surprised that more haven't jumped onto this particular bandwagon, heck, if you can get people to remember del.icio.us then .at .in .it and many more surely offer good marketing opportunities?
Maybe it's just me who thinks this way? :-)
On the other hand, companies that act as any form of agent can and do make mistakes - that's a fact. And rules do change - that's a fact also. It's also fair to say that the UK is not a tax-haven nor a repository for secret money so I'm not sure that forming a company in UK solely to get around internet rules is something that will be welcomed universally.
Kaled.
sorry I should've said "sor'a" "like" "I mean" ..and "akchoolly" ( every second word )..it would have sounded more UK ministerial ..y'nuh ..wot ahmeen ..innit.
So, forming a UK LTD satisfies the legal requirement for owning a .it domain. That sounds possible.
I'll take a halting and tentative first step away from the hand-holders now, and hope for the best.
Thanks to all of you for the replies!
Using a shell company may fall within the rules technically, but it falls outside the intent of the rules therefore it is impossible to be certain of the long-term security of this approach. I subscribe to the principle that assumptions are the root of all cockups.
Kaled.
[edited by: buckworks at 2:52 am (utc) on July 29, 2009]
[edit reason] Political content snipped [/edit]
the root of all cockups
to return to specifics ..
Given that certain countries and or areas and or "economic blocks" have specific regs as to who ( individuals or entities ) or what ..can register domains ..and under what conditions ..( residency , citizenship , company status etc ) vary ..in their requirements ..and given that these questions do come up from time to time ..and more so as the number of blindingly obvious dot coms , nets and orgs still existing as ( "low hanging fruit" ..to "cite" our respected mods here ) appears to be beyond the ken of
both some ancienne and nouveaux members ..
maybe worth a subdivision ...of "domaines"..( pinned ) ? and updated according to changes in legislation in the relevant juristictions ..
****I ..for one follow already grendel khan tsu , gpm group ( hasn't posted for a while ..miss your insights :),jmccormac and georgek ..and HP ..any time they post ..plus the mods ( and some members )on certain fora including these mods here ..
( Off T ...but Brett ( pretty please )..option ..flag/follow selected members would really be usefull here ( I have about 50 that I would "auto flag"..next time you feel like updating what is already the best BBS ..;)) follow by member as opposed to folow by thread ..like twitter ( ish ) .."sticky" as all hell ..max it at say 50 for "seniors" etc "sliding" ****
return more or less to the topic in hand ..
webwork and buckworks ? ..what do you think ..in some areas we know who knows the current regs ( and I take kaleds point that things can change ) in their area ..re registrations etc ..and some of us old timers know who is where ( and their previous posts ..and coherence ..or in my case sometimes "lack of" ;))..and thus know whose opinions to take on board ..and at what percentage when "listening" ..before taking "steps" ..
however ..for example ..as admins and mods you can tell who is posting from South America ( Amerique Latine)..or Australia ..or California ..or Vermont or the Uk or France etc etc ..and thus who to give some cred to about the registration possibilities in their "area" ..
Eg ..I have no Idea who posts from Malaysia ..nor South America ..nor the Caribbean ( not since 3 years ..time of Lianne ) ..and apart from Lammert ..no idea parmi the members who is actually in any position to explain to any of us the realities of registering anything in any "stan" ( and I think Lammert is Kazakstan ? ( speeling) which is no doubt different from all the others just as France is not the same as Austria..
see where i'm going ? ..OT but on T ..IMO ( if one knows me ) ..
anyway J and E ( mods ) "adjust" this post with my blessing if you think it's so far OT to require the red pencil .. ..but I think that some "sticky threads ..which TLD ..or what Country TLD ..and the relevant criteria to be able to register them ..( updated as legislation changes ) ..could only aid this area of WebmasterWorld ..
[edited by: buckworks at 2:54 am (utc) on July 29, 2009]
[edit reason] Political content snipped [/edit]
