The .eu domain name was approved by the European Commission in March last year, and will be operated by the European Registry of Internet Domains (EURid). The domain is not yet live and no registrars have been accredited as sellers.
Nevertheless, several companies offer what are known as pre-registration services. For a fee, they will attempt to register your choice of .eu domain names as soon as the service is in operation.
These are not authorised services, and both EURid and the Commission have notices on their web sites warning companies and individuals against using them.
EURid warns:
"We have received many complaints about EU Registry Services (registereu.com). This company has no relationship with EURid and is not an accredited .eu registrar."
A complaint against the company was also made to the ASA, over an unsolicited advertising e-mail that stated: "The .eu domain is approved by the EU Commission and we are proud to be operating the Internet's most important regional domain name".
The complaint questioned whether EU Registry Services was actually accredited to offer this service. The ASA asked for evidence and the company failed to provide any. It has been ordered not to send the e-mail again and reminded that, according to the Committee of Advertising Practice Code:
"Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove all claims, whether direct or implied, that are capable of objective substantiation."