The consultation aims to help the Commission develop rules to address the speculative and abusive registration of domain names similar to the .eu top level domain, which is being developed under the responsibility of the Commission's Directorate-general for the Information Society, in line with the ".eu" Regulation adopted by the European Parliament and the Council in April 2002.
Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein said: “We want to prevent abuses by cybersquatters in the future .eu top level domain, without hindering legitimate internet users.”
In the questionnaire, citizens and businesses are asked whether they have ever received threatening letters from cybersquatters, and whether, trying to register a domain name, they were asked for an extortionate sum of money by someone who had registered the same internet address and refused to transfer it.
The deadline for responses is 31st October 2002.