The European Commission last week published its Common Position
on the implementation of the .eu top level domain. The Common
Position was adopted by the European Council with a view to
adopting a Regulation which, when passed, will have direct effect
throughout the EU.
The proposal would create a appoint a registry to operate the
new domain and administer the database of all registrations. It
would operate on a non-profit basis. The domain names would be sold
by various accredited registrars but not by the registry
itself.
According to the proposal, those eligible for .eu domain names
would be any individual resident within the Community or any
organisation having its registered office, central administration
or principal place of business within the Community. The proposal
does not address whether or not there should be any system of
verification at the point of registration.
The Commission is also given the task of forming a dispute
resolution policy which must be followed by the registry. The
policy should “take into consideration the recommendations of the
World Intellectual Property Organisation,” better known as WIPO.
Interestingly, no mention is made of ICANN, the body which dictates
the dispute resolution rules followed by WIPO.
The new domain is expected to begin operation later this
year.
