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The .UK Registry insists the charge is being introduced to cover the administrative cost of transferring domain names.

Up until now, the task - which includes a number of checks to ensure that any domain transfers are above board and legit - has been done free of charge. Now, though, the not-for-profit organisation says that with around 2,500 domain name transfers a month it can no longer shoulder the administrative cost.

Said Lesley Cowley, MD of Nominet UK in a statement: "We take a lot of care to make sure that domain names are not transferred in error. While this process creates additional work for Nominet, it is essential to preserve the integrity of the domain name system, the accuracy of the register database and the confidence of .uk domain name holders," she said.

The new charge is due to be introduced from May 19.