Implementation of the .eu Top Level Domain
In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 733/2002 on the implementation of the .eu Top-Level Domain (.eu TLD), the Commission presented a report on the implementation, functioning and effectiveness of the .eu TLD in the last two years, in particular during the period from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2017.
Key findings and developments: the .eu TLD model has been implemented successfully according to the report. At the end of the first quarter of 2017, the .eu TLD was the 7th largest country code TLD in the world. With over 3.7 million registrations, the .eu TLD has established itself as a valuable option for any European resident choosing a domain name for their Internet presence.
The renewal rate of .eu domain names remains at an average of 80%, which is a very healthy rate compared to the industry average of 73%.
The domain name landscape has changed significantly over the past two years, due to the introduction of new gTLDs (e.g. .car, .hotel). At present, their registrations account for 25.6 million domain names out of 329.3 million registered domains worldwide (142.7 million being registered under the cc TLDs).
Although the new gTLD market has not met expectations, given that user demand has been much lower than expected, its growth has been higher than that of legacy TLDs.
More and more registrars have become involved in the management of the new extensions, while the legacy TLD operators have started to look into options to differentiate their offerings and expand into new business areas, which might compensate for the lower income coming from new registrations in the long-term.
The Commission stated that the .eu country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) has continued to market itself as an innovative and modern extension, very much able to both catch up with the legacy TLDs, which have been in the domain environment for three decades, and to compete with the new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) which were introduced in 2014.
Functioning of the Registry: EURid is the current Registry operator, responsible for the organisation, administration and management of the .eu TLD. It is a Europe-wide non-profit organisation with its head office in Diegem (Belgium) and regional offices in Stockholm, Prague, and Pisa. Its top priority remains to provide quality service to its 693 accredited registrars. In the reporting period, the .eu Registry has continued to engage regularly and effectively with the Internet ecosystem.
Multilingualism continues to be a primary goal both for the .eu Registry and the European Commission. It is worth noting that, seven years after EURid’s application for the .eu string in Greek, .ευ in Greek has not yet been approved by ICANN on the grounds that it is confusingly similar with other strings. The Commission has repeatedly urged ICANN to complete this process.
The Registry has been applying measures to counter malicious online behaviour with the abuse of domain names on a daily basis, including e.g. copyright infringements, phishing and cyberattacks including the distribution of malware. Domain names, in particular, are checked against eligibility criteria, and new registrations are screened for suspicious patterns or other anomalies.
The recent proactive Registry support of actions that have the aim to prevent the abuse and improve the security and trustworthiness of the .eu domain are considered important and will be further encouraged in a digital environment where the threat and impact of cybercrime have significantly increased.
Next steps: the European Commission will continue its regular and constructive communication flow with the Registry, both to maintain the .eu TLD at the highest standards of DNS, and to make it the extension of choice for Europeans. Conclusions on the performance of the .eu TLD will be drawn again in 2018 when the results of the ongoing REFIT evaluation will be available.