.DE is one of these Country Code Top Level Domains that have a recommended usage and specific purpose, and its registration currently falls under some restrictions. The abbreviation of the ccTLD comes from the German name for Germany “Deutschland”, because it was initially intended for use from entities connected with the country. This was the main reason why the .DE domain was established back in 1986. So, DE is one of the oldest domains and the number of registered DE country-code top-level domains is over 15 million and counting. .DE is currently the most widely used ccTLD when the number of registrations is concerned.
.DE Registration Requirements
As stated above, the registration process for .DE country code top-level domain is not freely available to everyone. One must have an administrative contact resident in Germany. So, you’d better use a .DE Country Code Top Level Domain only if you want to be associated with some business activity. DE can also be registered as a Second-Level Domain name. Of course, as with all TLDs, you should first check if the domain is available. If you transfer the domain, it should be unlocked and you should provide an EPP Key to your new registrar. The first location of registration for .de domains was at the Department of Computer Science of the University of Dortmund. .de registrations can be directly placed with DENIC but it is easier and less expensive to do so via a DENIC member (registrar).