The .eu domain was approved by the European Commission in March
2002, and will be operated by the European Registry of Internet
Domain names (EURid). The domain is not yet live and no registrars
have been accredited as sellers.
The process of establishing the domain has been considerably
delayed while EURid agreed a contract with the Commission, and the
Commission and Member States thrashed out public policy rules.
The contract was finally signed in October and on Monday EURid
reached an agreement with the Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers (ICANN).
This agreement enables IANA (The Internet Assigned Numbers
Authority), to make the appropriate technical changes to allow the
.
eu
domain to work. According to EURid, this is not
expected to take more than 10 days.
Once ICANN has made the necessary changes, EURid will begin to
accredit a network of .eu registrars across EURid who will be able
to take pre-registrations from their clients in preparation for the
.eu launch. The Registrar agreement should be available during May
2005, says EURid, and a list of those who have signed up will be
published on the EURid web site.
Until accreditations have taken place EURid advises businesses
and consumers to steer clear of domain name registrars offering
pre-registration services, as at the moment all these services can
promise is that they will attempt to register the name when .eu
goes live – and there may be several people and registrars
competing to purchase the same name.
Over the coming months EURid will also be working to finalise
the .eu Registration Policy, which must be approved by the European
Commission and be published for two months before starting
registrations.
Provided the .eu registration policy receives EC approval in
time, says EURid, the .eu sunrise period should be launched before
the end of this year.
Sunrise is a common phase for new domain name roll-outs that
lets owners of registered trade marks secure their rights before
the names go on a first-come, first-served basis after the domain
launch. During this period, which will last for four months,
applicants will have four weeks to provide proof of their existing
rights. If they cannot comply, the names will be released for
others to register.
EURid announced yesterday that it had appointed
PricewaterhouseCoopers Belgium to take on the job of validating the
"prior rights" claims of trade mark owners.
