.eu

. eu is the country code top -level domain (ccTLD ) of the European Union. It exists since 28 April 2005 and is managed by the Belgian company EURid.

History

Commission Regulation No 733/2002 of 22 April 2002 the European Parliament and the European Council have decided to introduce a top-level domain for the European Union, which has agreed to the European Commission in 2003. This should be managed by a yet to be established contracting authority and do not replace the country-specific extensions of the Member States.

After setting up the technical infrastructure was. Eu launched on 7 December 2005. First, holders of a registered trademark has been given the opportunity to apply these as a domain. On 7 February 2006, the second phase of the so-called sunrise period began during the natural persons, local authorities and registered companies could protect their claims on them concerned domains. The allocation procedure was repeatedly criticized as not all rights holders were able to secure their domains in time. In 2007, was first confirmed in the context of legal proceedings that special characters have been adequately covered in the Sunrise Period. The entire procedure was referred to the European Court of Justice in 2009 and declared admissible there.

In December 2009, EURid has officially introduced support for special characters in domain names. Most pre innovations came from Germany, followed by the Czech Republic and France. Europe 's largest registrar with 20 percent of all registered domains Starnberg united-domains AG was.

The contract with EURid. Eu ends in October 2013. Due to this, the European Commission wrote to manage. Eu new in June 2013 and invited interested registrars to submit an application. In October 2013, the EURid announced to want to allow in the future, citizens and companies from Norway for the top -level domain. Should make this possible, the European Free Trade Agreement, however, the contracting authority 'm still waiting for a corresponding statement of the EU Commission. On January 8, 2014 EURid finally opened the registration for businesses and individuals from Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

Properties

For the registration of a. Eu domain a residence or an establishment is necessary in a Member State of the European Union, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein. For people from Switzerland in the introduction was also an approval in an interview, but was not implemented. These can register. Eu domains only with the help of a trustee.

The assignment of a domain running completely automated and usually takes only a few minutes. Overall, a. Eu domain between two and 63 characters may be long, and the use German umlauts and other special characters is possible.

Dissemination

Was in December 2006. Eu with over 2.4 million domains registered in the international comparison in third place behind all ccTLDs. De and. Uk. At the end of the 2nd quarter 2007, they dropped back to 5th place. In the first quarter of 2010, 3.2 million domains were registered, which still represents the fifth in an international comparison. In August 2012, the. Eu domain was compared to DENIC on the ninth of all top - level domains.

In February 2012, was a study information as to what extent. Eu domains are actively used by car manufacturers. After evaluation of the 70 known companies turned out that while 70 percent have registered a. Eu domain, but provides only six percent of surveyed providers under this own content. About 60 percent of their. Eu domain use not active and they use for example only as referrals to other websites. In 27 percent of cases, the automaker was not even owner of the corresponding. Eu domain.

The end of 2012 there were a total of 3.7 million. Eu domains, which represented a growth of 5.4 percent compared to the previous year. The proportion of the domains that have been extended and therefore used more than a year, according to official figures was over 80 percent and thus relatively high.

18622
de