New regulation updates '.eu' TLD registration

The European Commission has adopted Commission Regulation 1255/2007 amending Commission Regulation 874/2004 laying down public policy rules concerning the implementation and functions of the '.eu' top-level domain and the principles governing registration.

The regulation is only two articles in length, but the sting is in the annexed tail. The preamble reads as follows:

"Article 8 of Regulation 874/2004 implements the public policy rules concerning geographical concepts by providing for a procedure to permit member states, candidate countries and all the members of the European Economic Area to request the registration or the reservation of their name by their national governments. In pursuance of this objective, and with a view to fully guaranteeing the geopolitical and linguistic diversity of the European Union and the interest of both member states and EU citizens, on October 10 2005 Regulation 874/2004 was amended by Commission Regulation 1654/2005 amending Regulation 874/2004 laying down public policy rules concerning the implementation and functions of the '.eu' top-level domain and the principles governing registration."

In other words, European Economic Area member states, EU member states and candidate countries can prevent applicants from registering the names of their countries as '.eu' domain names in different languages.

The regulation contains an updated list of names registered or reserved for registration. It has been refreshed following the recent admission of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union. Some countries have listed every possible national and regional/provincial name, while others have been quite modest. Top of the list is Germany (141 names), followed by Belgium (131 names) and Spain (130 names). Luxembourg comes last with only three names. The United Kingdom listed only 14 names.

Jeremy Phillips, IP consultant to Olswang, London