.eu
.eu is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the European Union (EU).[2] Launched on 7 December 2005, the domain is available for any person, company or organization based in the European Union. This was extended to the European Economic Area in 2014, after the regulation was incorporated into the EEA Agreement, and hence is also available for any person, company or organization based in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.[3][4] The TLD is administered by EURid, a consortium originally consisting of the national ccTLD registry operators of Belgium, Sweden, and Italy, joined later by the national registry operator of the Czech Republic. Trademark owners were able to submit registrations through a sunrise period, in an effort to prevent cybersquatting. Full registration started on 7 April 2006.[5]
Introduced
28 April 2005
Active
Entities connected with the European Union
Gradually increasing, mostly among sites with pan-European or cross-border intentions. (details)
3,687,760 (2024-03-27)[1]
Registrants must be located within the EEA
Names are registered directly at second level
yes
Regulation (EU) 2019/517 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2019 on the implementation and functioning of the .eu top-level domain name and amending and repealing Regulation (EC) No 733/2002 and repealing Commission Regulation (EC) No 874/2004
733/2002, 874/2004
733/2002
Cyrillic domain[edit]
.ею, a top-level domain using Cyrillic letters was put into operation on 1 June 2016. A Cyrillic domain was needed because Bulgaria, a member of the EU, uses the Cyrillic alphabet. Keyboards and smartphones used in Bulgaria have special key combinations to change script, but in order to avoid that, all-Cyrillic addresses are used. The EU is called ЕС (Европейски Съюз) in Bulgarian Cyrillic, but .ес (in Cyrillic letters) is much too similar to .ec (in Latin letters), the existing top-level domain of Ecuador, so .ею was chosen. (While some Latin and Cyrillic letters may look identical, they have different character encodings and are distinct for data processing purposes. Consequently, there is an opportunity for misrepresentation unless steps are taken to prevent abusive registration).
EURid has a rule that the second-level domain name must be in the same script as the top-level domain,[21] so Cyrillic second-level domains must go under .ею instead of .eu, and all domain names under .ею must be spelt using Cyrillic.[22] Older Cyrillic domains under .eu were cloned into .ею at its launch.
As of March 2024, there are 1,486 registered domains under .ею.[1]
Greek domain[edit]
An application for a top-level domain using Greek letters, .ευ was submitted in 2016.
The application was originally turned down because it was too visually similar to .eu.[23]
The Greek name of the EU is Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση (ΕΕ), but .εε would be too visually similar to .ee, the top-level domain of Estonia.
In 2019 steps were taken towards approving .ευ as a domain. The proposal was to have one and the same registry manager of .eu, .eю and .ευ, which shall make sure second-level domains are not visually similar and in the long-term assign all Cyrillic domains under .eu to .eю and all Greek letters domains to .ευ.[24] .ευ domain names were officially launched in November 2019.[25]
As of March 2024, there are 2,595 registered domains under .ευ.[1]
Allegations of abuse[edit]
Domain name speculation, domain name warehousing and cybersquatting are always features of the launch of any new TLD; however, this was more widespread in the case of the .eu launch.
Bob Parsons, CEO and co-founder of GoDaddy, criticized the landrush process designed by EURid. Particularly, he condemned the use of shell companies by some registrars. In his blog, he stated "These companies, instead of only registering their real active registrars, created hundreds of new "phantom" registrars."[26] Parsons cited a group of about 400 companies, all with similar address and contact information based in New York, each registered as an LLC; in his opinion, these were phantom registrars "created to hijack the .EU landrush."
These "phantom" registrars effectively had hundreds of opportunities of registering a domain whereas a genuine registrar effectively only had one opportunity to register the same domain. Thus some registrants were crowded out of the .eu landrush process and many generic .eu domain names are now owned by the companies using these "phantom" registrars.
Patrik Lindén, spokesman for EURid at the time, denied the allegations by Parsons, stating that "[EURid] verified that each registrar was an individual legal entity. Each had to sign an agreement with us, and prepay €10,000."[27] Parsons did not dispute that each registrar was a separate legal entity, but noted that creating such entities was trivial: "Mr. Linden seemed proud that the EURid registry verified that each applicant was a legal entity before it was accredited. Take a moment and think about what that means. You can form a "legal entity" for $50 – an LLC – and you are good to go. Is that what we want a registry to do? Don't we want them instead to make sure that the organization it allows to provide end-users with its domain names – especially Europe's very own domain name – are actually in the domain name registration business?"[28]
Others claimed that .eu domain had been actively targeted during the sunrise period by speculators using fast-track Benelux trademarks to create prior rights on various high-value generic terms and during the landrush by speculators using EU front companies in the UK and Cyprus to register large numbers of domains. While speculative activity occurred with the launch of other domains, it was the scale of the activity that called into question the competence of EURid in protecting the integrity of eu ccTLD.
The EURid organisation investigated some allegations of abuse, and in July 2006 announced the suspension of over 74,000 domain names and that they were suing 400 registrars for breach of contract.[29] The status of the domains was changed from active to on-hold. This meant that the domains could not be moved or have their ownership changed. The registrars also lost their access to the EURid registration database meaning that they could no longer register .eu domain names. The legal action relates to the practice of domain name warehousing, whereby large numbers of domain names are registered, often by registrars, with the intention of subsequently selling them on to third parties. EURid rules state that applications for domains can only be made after a legitimate application has been made to a registrar. The 74,000 applications were made in the name of only three Cyprus registered companies – Ovidio Ltd., Fausto Ltd. and Gabino Ltd.
The affected registrars, joined in the action by the affected registrants, obtained a provisional order from the Court of First Instance in Brussels, Belgium on 27 September 2006. The court ordered EURid to release the blocked domain names or else pay a fine of €25,000 per hour for each affected domain name. EURid complied with the court order and changed the status of the domains from on-hold to active and restored EURid registration database access to the affected registrars.
The main legal action, that of EURid seeking the registrar agreements between EURid and the registrars in question to be dissolved has still to be heard.