ICANN rubber-stamps .eu domain name

March 2005

ICANN gave the ok to the European Commission-appointed-organisation, Eurid, to go ahead and use the top level domain (TLD) name suffix .eu.

Wary of so-called cyber-squatting, Eurid, said it had appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers, Belgium, to validate "prior right" claims invoked by domain name applicants during the so called "Sunrise Period" at the launch of .eu.

A draft .eu registration policy will be published in June and the ‘sunrise period’ will begin in "late 2005".

The creation of the .eu TLD is seen as an important step in accelerating electronic commerce in Europe, the promotion of the European identity and creating higher visibility of the internal market, the not-for profit organisation said.

During the four-month, quirkily-named "Sunrise" period, only public bodies and holders of rights, such as trademarks and company names, will be entitled to register the corresponding name in the .eu TLD. Thereafter, "general registrations will begin on a first-come-first-served basis," a statement from Brussels said.