Brussels, 01/12/2005 (Agence Europe) - The top level “.eu” domain, which will allow business, public bodies and private individuals to choose a pan-European internet name for their websites and their e-mail addresses will be open for business as of 7 December, Viviane Reding, Commissioner for the Information Society and Media, was pleased to announce to the press on Thursday. This suffix will enable users to project a Europe-wide presence, ambition or affiliation. It complements but does not replace national country codes such as France's “.fr”, or Italy's “.it”. “I expect Europe's top level domain .eu to become as important as .com”, Ms Reding said explaining the advantages of this new possibility: “For businesses, .eu will extend their marketing reach, while protecting them under EU law against cybersquatters. As a citizen, an '.eu' address can help make your web presence or that of our school, university or club more visible across the European Union”.
The top-level domain “.eu” will be managed and operated by a private, non-profit-making Registry, EURid, selected by the Commission following an open call. EURid will not replace ICANN, which manages e-mail addresses throughout the world, Ms REding said, but it will centralise requests for registration through the intermediary of a vast network of accredited registrars. It will then be extended to the holders of “prior rights” such as company names or business identifiers (from 7 February to 6 April 2006). Finally, as of 7 April 2006, the fact of bring established in the European Union will suffice for registration of the “.eu” domain name (Information: http: //http://www.eurid.eu/en )