News Letter with .eu progress

EURid News Letter 6 April 2005

The contractual issues required by the European Commission have now been concluded and the final preparations are underway for the launch of .eu, hopefully later this year. We will now provide regular progress reports through these newsletters. You can subscribe to receive them by email at: .eu Progress Report.

We expect to sign the agreement with ICANN in the next week or so and .eu will be put in the root soon after. 

Before accepting .eu registrations on a first-come, first-served-basis, there will be a "sunrise period" to allow public bodies and those with prior rights to a name (such as trademark holders) to apply first. Those applying during the Sunrise period will be required to submit documentary evidence of their rights to our Validation Agent.

You can read more about the appointment of PWC in our press release.

Please note it is not yet possible to apply for a .eu domain name and no documents should be sent to EURid or to PWC.

Following conclusion of negotiations with ICANN to have .eu put in the root, the final preparations can begin for the launch of .eu. These include:

* Publication of the Registrar agreement and accreditation of .eu registrars * Translation of the web site into all 20 official EU languages * Publication of registrant terms and conditions (in 20 languages) * Publication of the draft .eu registration policy (full rules and procedures for .eu registration, including the sunrise period) to be approved by the European CommissionProvided the European Commission approves the .eu registration policy in good time, we hope to begin the .eu sunrise period before the end of 2005. General registrations will begin 4 months later.

By registrar we mean Internet Service Provider or other body who will access our automated systems in order to register .eu names on behalf of their clients.

We are currently finalising the .eu registrar agreement and hope to publish it in May 05. Interested parties will be able to download the document from our website. Once we receive a signed agreement and the pre-payment the registrar will be added to the list of .eu registrars to be published on our website.

Those wishing to register a .eu name must do so through an authorised .eu registrar. We are not permitted to accept direct requests.

You can read more about becoming a .eu registrar.