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History of the .eu TLD

On 22 April 2002, the Regulation 733/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Implementation of the Internet Top Level Domain ".eu" was adopted.

The purpose of this information note was to outline the implementing steps which were being taken in order for the ".eu" Top Level Domain to become operational.

For most of these steps, the Commission needed to consult with the Member States in accordance with the procedure provided for in the Regulation.

Procedural steps for ".eu" to become operational

1. Initial consultation of the Member States by the Commission on the implementation procedure. 
2. Finalisation of the selection criteria for the Registry and the draft contract between the Commission and the Registry.
3. Consultation of the Member States on the procedure for the notification by them of lists of names relating to geographical or geo-political concepts (Article 5.2 of the Regulation). 
4. Notification by the Member States of the lists of broadly-recognised names with regard to geographical and/geo-political concepts which affect their political or territorial organisation (Article 5.2 of the Regulation).
5. Publication of the call for expressions of interest and the draft contract relating to the selection of a non-profit organisation to operate the Registry for the Internet Top Level Domain (TLD) ".eu".  
6. Closure of reply period to the call. Applicants had 39 working days from the date of publication to submit their applications. Deadline was 25 October 2002.
7. Evaluation of the applications to the Call for expressions of interest.
   The evaluation of the applications received by the 25 October 2002 was done by the Commission services in the week of 25 November 2002. This evaluation was performed with the assistance of independent external evaluators and subject to confidentiality.
8. Decision of the Commission on the selection of the Registry after consultation of the Member States.
9. Adoption of the public policy rules and public policy principles on registration by the Commission, in consultation with the Member States, and following consultation of the Registry.
10. Conclusion of a contract between the Commission and the selected Registry.
11. Official notification of the public policy rules and principles to the selected Registry for implementation (Article 5.1 of the Regulation).
12. Notification of the designation of the Registry to ICANN and start of the delegation process of the .eu TLD to the Registry by ICANN.
13. Completion of the delegation process with ICANN.
14. Adoption of the procedure for accreditation and accreditation of Registrars by the .eu Registry
15. Establishment of the registration policy by the Registry in consultation with the Commission and interested parties.
16. Implementation of the sunrise period subject to the public policy adopted (Article 5.1.b of the Regulation)
17. Implementation of the extra-judicial settlement of conflicts policy and procedure subject to the public policy adopted (Articles 5.1 and 4.2.d of the Regulation)
18. 7 December 2005: Registry started processing applications for names made via registrars (1st phase of "sunrise"). This 1st phase was reserved for public bodies and the holders of registered trademarks.
19. 7 February 2006: 2nd phase of "sunrise" registrations ("other" prior rights). In phase 2 claims may also come from the holders of other prior rights, such as company names and artistic names.
20. 7 April 2006: General registrations. .eu-registration is open to the public. Any resident within the European Union can register a domain name without the need to search for any prior rights.

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