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.
