December 10, 2018

On 5 December the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission reached agreement on a new Regulation for the .eu top level domain (TLD).

Currently, the .eu domain is managed by EURid, a private, independent, non-profit organisation that has operated the .eu under contract to the Commission since 2003.

The Commission says that the new rules will allow the .eu TLD to cope more effectively with a fast-changing domain name market and to support better and more innovative services to EU citizens and businesses.

As the Digital Single Market grows and develops, the Commission expects to see more people and businesses making use of the .eu, as an important way to participate in the DSM and mark their European identity online and their attachment to European values such as multilingualism, privacy protection, and security. The updated rules will therefore allow all EU/EEA citizens, regardless of where they live, to register a .eu domain. Currently, any person resident or business established in the EU can do so, but the new proposal extends this right to EU citizens residing outside the EU.

Overall, the proposal aims to modernise the .eu legal framework by establishing a principles-based Regulation. This will provide the necessary flexibility for the .eu TLD to adapt to rapid market changes such as, for example, competition arising from the introduction of new generic top-level domains, the Commission says.

By incorporating the principles and procedures from the Regulation into the contract between the Commission and the Registry operator, new developments in the functioning of the .eu domain name could be introduced by contractual revision rather than legislative process. Consequently, technical improvements could be taken advantage of without having to wait for the Regulation to be amended.

The new proposal also improves the governance of the .eu domain in two ways:

• by establishing an advisory “multistakeholder Council” composed of representatives drawn from the private sector, the technical community, Member States, civil society and academia to assist and advise the Commission on the correct implementation of the Regulation and on the management of the .eu domain name; and
• by providing new supervisory powers to the Commission vis-à-vis the Registry. With the new Regulation, the Commission will be able to better supervise the organisation, administration and management of the .eu TLD and verify the Registry’s compliance with the Regulation.

The Commission says that this modernised and strengthened governance structure, while ensuring the highest standards, will give the internet multi-stakeholder community the opportunity to contribute to the management and services of the .eu TLD, in line with the EU’s approach to internet governance. To read the Commission’s press release in full, click here.