Dot-eu domain name scramble timetable unveiled

There will be three stages in the registration process for the new European dot-eu domain names, it has been announced; member states, followed by trademark holders, will get their pick of URLs. The domain name free-for-all will kick off in earnest in April 2005.

The European Commission has now published the rules which will apply to the registrations of future dot-eu domain names. A year ago, the Commission chose Eurid (European Registry for Internet Domains) to officially manage the distribution of the new top-level domain. Eurid brings together Belgian, Italian and Swedish bodies in charge of their national top-level domains.

One of the first tasks that the consortium will be faced with is choosing the registration offices, who will be authorised to collect the domain name requests. The offices will also be charged with sending the requests to Eurid in chronological order based on when they were received.

The registration process will take place in three stages - firstly, member states and other joining countries can request that their official denomination only be attributed to the body that they designate to represent them. In the coming two months, they will have to provide Eurid and the Commission with the name of the bodies and the list of domain names to reserve.

The second stage is reserved for holders of registered trademarks, or those with a sufficiently strong claim to a non-trademarked terms, including commercial terms, names of companies, organisations or distinctive indicators of literary or artistic works.

Anyone with a claim to a trademark can put in their claim during the pre-reservation period – known as a sunrise period – that will last four months. According to Eurid's provisional calendar, that phase won't take place before December 2004, after which time the second phase will start with the opening of registration for the rest of the .eu names, which will be distributed on a first come, first served basis. Eurid says the third stage will begin in April 2005.

In the meantime, the consortium will finalise the contracts with Icann (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) so that the dot-eu name will be integrated in the overall worldwide domain name system. From now until July, it will also publish the list of the official registration offices empowered to receive requests for a dot-eu name.

Estelle Dumout writes for ZDNet France