Rules for domain names

Please read the Terms and Conditions regarding domain names under the .eu, .ею (Cyrillic script) or .ευ (Greek script) extensions and the .eu Regulation (2019/517) amending and repealing Regulation 733/2002 and repealing Regulation 874/2004.

Eligibility criteria

As of 2 August 2021, registration of a .eu domain name can be requested by any of the following:

a citizen of one of the European Union Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein or, Norway, independent of their place of residence;
a natural person who is not a citizen of one of the European Union Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, or Norway, but who is a resident of a European Union Member State, Iceland, Liechtenstein, or Norway;
an undertaking that is established in a European Union Member State, Iceland, Liechtenstein, or Norway;
an organisation that is established in a European Union Member State, Iceland, Liechtenstein, or Norway without prejudice to the application of national law.

Availability of the domain name

Prior registering a domain name, you can check on our web-based WHOIS whether your desired domain name is available. A domain name is available for registration provided that:

it is not already registered;
it is not reserved or blocked or known to the Registry as 'not registrable' in accordance with the Rules;
it is not part of an Operational Homoglyph Bundle.

Complete and accurate registration data

The registration or renewal of your domain name can only be done through an accredited Registrar.

Your domain name registration will only be considered complete when the following information is provided upon registration:

Your full name or the name of the organisation that you are representing. If organisation name is not specified, you, as an individual, are the domain name holder. If the name of the organisation is specified, the organisation, as a legal entity, is the domain name holder;
Your full address (or the address of the organisation that you’re representing)
An Indication of your country of citizenship if you are a citizen of the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway but are not residing in a European Union Member State, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway;
Your e-mail address;
Your telephone number by which you can be contacted;
Your requested domain name;
Your preferred communication language

You must supply a functioning email address in order to receive communications from us and/or the ADR provider. If the address provided is not functioning, we are entitled to revoke your domain name.

If your contact information changes, you must contact your registrar to immediately update your information. It is not possible to update your registration data directly with us.

You can at any time check your registration data by logging to my.eurid.eu.

Abuse prevention

Your Domain Name registration may be subject to verification of your registration data and to some additional security checks at any time, either before or after your domain name is included in the .eu, .ею or .ευ zone and functioning. Read further from the dedicated page explaining our Data Quality.

Furthermore, bear these rules in mind when deciding which domain name you would like to register:

Accepted characters and combinations

Classic (Non IDN) domain names consist of:

Characters a to z
Digits 0 through 9
Hyphen (-)
Can only be registered under the .eu extension
Cannot start nor end with a hyphen (-)
Cannot have a hyphen in third and fourth position.

IDNs consist of:

Digits 0 through 9
Hyphen (-)
Unicode characters from the Cyrillic, Greek or Latin scripts. Click here for a complete list of supported characters.
Cannot combine characters from different scripts. All the characters of the second level (ie. the part before the extension) must come from a single script. Domain names made up of Latin characters will have the .eu extension, while domain names made up entirely of Cyrillic characters will have the .ею extension and and domain names made up from Greek characters will have .ευ extension. The digits 0 through 9 and the hyphen can be used with all Latin, Cyrillic and Greek characters.
Cannot start nor end with a hyphen (-).
Cannot have a hyphen in third and fourth position.

Exclusively numerical domain names:

Consist solely of the digits 0 through 9 and the hypen.
Can be registered under the .eu as well as the ею or .ευ extensions.

Name length and IDNs

Your domain name must be at least two (2) characters long (not including the .eu extension or its variants in other scripts) after the conversion of capitals into small letters and normalisation has occurred. If you want to register an IDN, apply this rule before converting your name into an ACE string. Some names are still considered too short even though they are two characters long. This is because certain two-character combinations can also be represented as a single Unicode character.

Your domain name can't be longer than 63 characters (not including the .eu extension or its variants in other scripts) after the conversion of capitals into small letters and normalisation has occurred and after conversion into an ACE string.

The (renewable) term of your Domain Name registration

The term starts upon your domain name registration date and ranges from one (1) to ten (10) years, unless agreed otherwise. The term will be tacitly renewed for consecutive periods of one (1) year. Domain names registered on 29 February always expire on 28 February.

Blocked names

In accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/517 and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1862, a number of .eu, .ею and .ευ domain names have been blocked by EU Member States, or by Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein. They may also have been blocked because they constitute ISO alpha-2 codes, which are internationally recognised two-letter codes for designating countries and territories.

This means that these domain names cannot be registered. You can see the list of blocked names here.

Reserved names

In accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/517 and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1862, a number of .eu, .ею and .ευ domain names have been reserved for use by either the EU Member States, or by Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, EURid or the EU Commission.

Should organisations or individuals wish to register a reserved domain name, the respective National Registration Authority may consider, under exceptional circumstances, activating the reserved name on behalf of the applicant. For more information, please consult the activation procedure for reserved names.