Doubtlessly, you heard some rumours about the upcoming introduction of the possibility to register your domain name directly under .eu, the new European Top Level Domain. Quite a number of companies are currently offering the possibility to pre-register your name under .eu. Many cstomers have contacted us recently, and asked us why the TuonomeGroup is not offering pre-registration services too. Here follows an update :

The European Commission has designated EURid as the future registry for .EU on May 22nd 2003. Click here in order to read the latest press release. Before being able to start registrations under the .eu TLD, a number of important steps still needs to be taken. First of all, EURid will need to sign an agreement with the European Commission. The European Commission, in co-operation with the EU member states and EURid, then needs to determine the so called "public policy" rules. Those rules with relevance to the public interest will certainly affect the registration policy that EURid will apply. Once that has been done, a network of Registrars can be established, through whom applications for the registration of .eu domain names can be introduced. A registrar is a company, authorised by a Registry, to register internet domain names on behalf of third party customers.

In other words : the registration rules, channels and mechanisms were not yet defined. As a result, the domain name you wish to pre-register at this stage, might not be accepted in the definitive live system. It might as well be that the companies that currently offer pre-registration services under .eu may not be accepted as an approved registrar. Once .eu registrars are accredited – which is not yet the case - they are allowed to accept pre-registrations for their customers. At the start of the live registration procedures, they will introduce their pre-registration applications in the automated systems of EURid, the competent Registry for .eu domain names, for processing.

What about multiple domain name pre-registration requests for identical domain names at Registry-level ? In this case, the automated system of EURid will determine on a "first come, first served" basis which pre-registration will eventually lead to a definitive registration (the huge load of simultaneous applications might also generate a randomising effect). The internal policies to be adopted by the TuonomeGroup for pre-registrations have not yet been defined at this point in time, since pre-registrations are currently not yet allowed.

You should also take into account that the European Commission, and consequently the .eu Registry, might introduce a "sunrise" period for domain name registrations under .eu: a period during which it will be possible to claim a name on the basis of preferential rights (e.g.: trademark, company names, etc.) Again, rules and procedures still need to be defined.

Please note that the Commission strongly discourages pre-registration under .eu, pending the creation of the Registry and adoption of its registration policies." For more information : click here

As a consequence, we can conclude that the current pre-registration procedures are no guarantee whatsoever that you will be able to register the corresponding domain name at the start of the "live" operations by EURid.
It can also be assumed that the chosen registry will announce sufficiently far in advance what the procedures are for registering an .eu domain name. To monitor developments, we refer you to the website of the competent Registry for .eu domain names.
The date when registrations within the .eu domain will actually come into effect is unknown at present.
A lot of issues still need to be resolved : some will depend on the definition of the public policy and on further negotiations with the European Commission. The TuonomeGroup will keep you informed as soon as we have more details.