Digital Single Market: the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission agree on new rules for the .eu top-level domain

Yesterday the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission reached a political agreement on the revision of the Regulation concerning the .eu top-level domain.

The new measures were proposed by the Commission in April 2018, as part of the Digital Single Market strategy, to simplify the existing legal framework on the .eu top-level domain and, amongst other changes, enable European/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) citizens to register for a .eu domain also outside of the EU, regardless of their country of residence. Vice-President for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip and Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Mariya Gabriel said: “The new rules on the .eu-top-level domain will enable us to cope more effectively with a fast-changing domain name market and will support better and more innovative services for EU citizens and businesses.  We are looking ahead to many more people and businesses using .eu to mark their European identity online in a way that exemplifies multilingualism, privacy protection, and security.”  The new rules also include an improved governance structure for the domain and a modernised legal framework that will enable it to adapt to rapid market changes. The .eu domain is currently managed by EURid, a private, independent, non-profit organisation that has operated the .eu under contract to the Commission since 2003. For more information see also the Impact assessment of the Regulation on the implementation and functioning of the .eu top-level domain name.