Brussels, 20/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 18 September the European Commissioner Viviane Reding, together with several members of the European Parliament, visited the independent EURid consortium managing the “.eu” domain name in an effort to understand the way the new domain name registration system (which so far has attracted more than two million users) functions. Since 7 April 2006, companies, organisations and individuals alike have been able to request a name from the “.eu” domain. Greatest demand so far (statistics compiled up to 15 September) comes from Germany (687,814 requests), followed by the United Kingdom (396,852), Netherlands (261,373), France (129,918), Italy (126,767) and Sweden (80,761). For further details: http: //status.eurid.eu). The principle of “the first come, first served” on which the “.eu” domain works, has, however, led to some abuses, with some people being refused access under the name requested due to this already having been attributed to a company or natural person without any apparent link and who then sold them for the highest price. EURid has therefore decided to freeze 74,000 domain names and to end the contracts of around 400 registration offices in an effort to put a stop to the abuse and protect the integrity of the system.