The domain was approved by the European Commission in March 2002, and will be operated by the European Registry of Internet Domainnames (EURid). The domain is not yet live and no registrars have been accredited as sellers.
Many domain name registrars are already trying to sell .eu names by offering pre-registration services which invite anyone to pay to reserve a chosen .eu domain name.
All that 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. EURid has advised businesses and consumers to steer clear of these pre-registration services.
Before the domain can be launched, EURid has to agree a contract with the Commission, while the Commission and Member States have to thrash out public policy rules.
EURid has also to make an agreement with ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the body with responsibility for managing the internet's system of domain names, and ICANN has to make the appropriate technical changes to allow the .eu domain to work.
According to EURid's web site, the Commission has indicated that the public policy rules will not be announced before the end of February, and on this basis EURid has set out a preliminary timetable for the launch of the domain.
The plan is that in March 2004 the Registry will be preparing and amending its systems, contracts, rules and procedures to reflect the agreed public policy rules. Full information will be published on the web site and translated into other EU languages.
In June, EURid hopes to begin to accredit registrars and a list of these will be published on the web site. Then, between September and November 2004 a sunrise period will operate.
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 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.