Traditionally, a domain name’s details included several contact persons, each with their own role. You may still come across the abbreviations ‘Admin-C’ and ‘Tech-C’ in older descriptions, forms or registrar interfaces, although the rules have changed significantly in recent years.

Who are the contact persons?

Role	Abbreviation	Responsibilities
Domain holder (registrant)	Registrant	The domain holder is the person who enters into the contract with the registrar. It is their details that determine who owns the domain.
Administrative contact	Admin-C	The point of contact for matters relating to domains.
Technical contact	Tech-C	This is the point of contact for enquiries regarding name servers and DNS.
Billing contact	Billing-C	The recipient of notifications regarding charges.

A domain is not a form of ownership but a contractual right of use, and it is the domain holder who exercises this right. Therefore, the most important details are those of the domain holder; contact details are always listed alongside them. The relationship between the parties involved is explained in the article on the registry, registrar and registrant.

What has changed?

In the past, the name, address, email address and telephone number of contact persons were searchable by anyone via WHOIS. This has changed twice:

• 2018, GDPR: registries and registrars began hiding personal data in public queries (WHOIS privacy).
• 21 August 2025, ICANN Registration Data Policy: for generic extensions (e.g. .com, .net, .org), by default only the domain holder’s details need to be collected. It is not compulsory to provide details of the administrative, technical and billing contacts, unless the registrar in question requests them. Registrars will gradually delete any such data held previously in the registry.

Consequently, in a query made today, you will generally only see the registrar, the dates, the statuses and the name servers. You can contact a domain’s owner via the registrar’s abuse reporting address or form, whilst hidden data is only disclosed upon proof of a legitimate interest, such as in the case of an official authority or legal proceedings.

Country code extensions have their own rules, so you may still be required to provide multiple contact details for these. You can find the rules for each specific extension on our domain registration pages.

What are the rules for .hu domains?

For the .hu extension, Section 10 of the Domain Registration Regulations sets out the requirements regarding the administrative contact (as at October 2026):

• This field is optional. The domain applicant or domain holder is entitled to specify an administrative contact; if they do not, the domain holder themselves will be designated as the administrative contact.
• Only the applicant may submit the request. When registering a new domain or changing registrars, the administrative contact must be the domain applicant; the domain holder may change this at a later date.
• You will receive official correspondence. The registry and the Alternative Dispute Resolution Forum will also send official notifications addressed to the domain holder to the administrative contact’s email address.
• The domain holder is responsible for this. If they designate another natural person, the domain holder must ensure that the details are accurate and may be processed lawfully.
• It can be deleted at any time. Both the contact person and the domain holder may request deletion. If the contact person requests it, the registrar will inform the domain holder.

For .hu domains, control over the domain is protected not by the contact person but by two-factor authentication: the authorisation code can only be requested following confirmation by the domain holder via email and telephone. The article on the rules for .hu domain registration sets out the detailed rules.

What should you look out for?

• The domain holder’s details should be your own. If a developer or agency registers the domain on your behalf, the domain holder should be you or your company, not the developer. The role of the contact person does not replace this, and in the event of a dispute, it is the domain holder who counts.
• The email address must be valid and not limited to this domain. Expiry notices and official notifications are sent to this address. If the contact’s email address is on the same domain and that domain expires, you will not receive these notifications. The .hu registry also carries out an annual data verification, and if the address provided is not working, the domain may be removed from the zone, meaning that the website and email service will cease to function.
• If a colleague or developer is leaving the company: if the contact person is no longer available, please update the details before an important notification goes missing.
• Please provide accurate details. Providing false details may result in the domain being suspended or deleted; this applies even if WHOIS privacy is enabled.

You can amend your details via the client portal. You can read about the background to the administration of .hu and .eu domains in our 2024 blog post; the rules for .hu domains have changed since then, so the description above is the authoritative one.