BRUSSELS - Based on a decision by the board of .eu registry; EURid, public bodies, companies and even individuals from the different member states of the European Union will be able to register their own domain name with .eu extension as of December 7, 2005.
To apply for their own domain, all parties concerned should turn to an accredited registrar.
In order to ensure a fair and correct treatment of all applications, as well as to allow organizations and companies protect their domain name against abusive registration by cyber squatters, EURid and the European Commission have put together a procedure for phased registration, known as “Sunrise.”
During the Sunrise period, domain names will be made available only to the holders of prior rights, who will be asked to back up their claim with documentary evidence.
In phase 1 (starting December 7, 2005 until February 6, 2006), only public bodies and the holders of registered trademarks can apply for registration.
In phase 2 (February 7 until April 6, 2006), claims may also come from the holders of other prior rights. In this phase, company names and artistic names may claim registration of corresponding .eu domain.
In phase 3 (starting April 7, 2006), registration is open to all, and claims to a .eu domain name no longer require backup by a legal right.
It is important to know that all phases follow the first-come, first-served principle. In phases 1 and 2 (during the Sunrise period), the owners of prior rights to a name are protected to a certain extent, since proof of such a right must back up every claim. Nevertheless, if during Sunrise different organizations claim the same name, the order in which the claims were received will be taken into account.
More information about the details of the registration procedures is available on EURid’s website www.eurid.eu, as well as through the accredited local “.eu registrars” who are also listed on the same site.
EURid is a European non-profit organization, founded by the national registries of Belgium, Italy and Sweden, with the support of the registries of the Czech Republic and Slovenia. The European Commission assigned EURid to manage the .eu domain names.