Brussels, 30/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Friday of last week, the European Commission adopted new rules to make it possible for internet users and businesses to register domain names under “.eu” using the characters of all the 23 official languages of the European Union. This will mean that Bulgarians, Cypriots and Greeks will be able to use their own Cyrillic or Greek alphabets. Czechs, who hitherto have only been able to use 27 characters will be able use all 42 characters used in their language, and Lithuanians will be able to use all of their 32 characters, rather than the 23 they have been able to use until now. “Three years after its launch, .eu has become the valued option for an increasing number of businesses and citizens who want to choose a European internet identity. … It is only natural then that the domain names chosen by Europeans be permitted to be as diverse as Europe itself,” said Viviane Reding, Information Society and Media Commissioner.
Until now, only the characters of the Latin alphabet from “a” to “z” and the Arabic digits, from “0” to “9” have been available for use. This perhaps explains why Bulgaria is one of the countries with the lowest number of “.eu” domain names - 9,578, when Germany, for example, has 930,467. The new rules, it is expected, will make Europe's top level domain name, which allows businesses, public bodies and individuals to choose a pan-European internet name for their web sites and email addresses, even more attractive. According to the figures contained in the latest Commission report, which also was presented on Friday, the popularity of the “.eu” domain name has continued to grow since its launch three years ago. The number of “.eu” domain names registered grew by 11 % in both 2007 and 2008, no doubt in part helped by the fact that the registration cost fell from €10 to €5 in 2007, and again to €4 in 2008. The success is particularly marked in the countries of Eastern Europe, with the number of domains up 149% in Poland between 2006 and 2008, and 142% in Lithuania. “.eu” has become Europe's fourth most popular country code top level domain, surpassed only by “.de” (Germany), “.uk” (United Kingdom) and “.nl” (Netherlands). It is the ninth most used domain worldwide. For the first time, the official website of the Swedish EU Presidency can be found under a “.eu” domain name: http://www.se2009.eu (I.L./transl.rt)