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.eu Frequently Asked Questions
General
General
1. What is the .eu Top Level Domain (TLD) for?
.eu is a new Top Level Domain (TLD) or 'domain extension' (like .com, for example)
specifically for European entities. It will indicate that the owner of a domain
name has a presence in the European Community (European Union).
An Accredited Registrar is a body licensed by EURid to sell the .eu domain. Registrations of the .eu domain can only be done through Accredited Registrars, EURid will not accept registrations directly. Accredited Registrars are allowed to accept both Sunrise Applications and Pre-Registration Applications for the Open Registration period.
The proposed timetable
for launch is shown here:
7th December 2005 - 6th February 2006 --- Phase 1 Sunrise
7th February - 6th April --- Phase 2 Sunrise
7th April onwards --- Open Registration begins (first-come, first-served)
We will update this timetable
if EURid makes any changes to it.
You can make a Sunrise Application by visiting our specialist site www.gtld.com.
You can make a Pre-Registration Application for the Open Registration period (post-Sunrise) through any of the Group NBT plc companies. If you arrived on this page directly from www.gtld.com, go to www.netnames.com to make a Pre-Registration Application.
11.
Where can I read EURid's detailed Sunrise Rules, Registration Policy, Terms
and Conditions, WHOIS Policy and Registration Guidelines, plus information
on the Validation Procedure and Dispute Resolution (in a variety of EU languages)?
These can be found
on this
page.
These are the Registration Terms and Conditions and can be found in a variety of EU languages on this page. Scroll down and look for Terms and Conditions - then choose the required language. Note that they take the form of downloadable PDF files.
Sunrise
13.
What is a Sunrise Period?
A 'Sunrise Period' is a commonly-used industry term for an initial restricted
registration period offering an opportunity for specifically qualifying entities
to apply for specific domain name registrations in advance of more general
release.
14.
What are the requirements for making a Sunrise Application?
A Prior Right is simply a right to a particular word or set of words, protected
under the appropriate national law (i.e. that which applies to the individual
or company who will be the legal owner of the domain name, dependent upon
their official address). In
all cases, applicants should refer to EURid's Sunrise
Rules and Annex
1 documents, and if necessary seek legal advice in order to determine
whether they qualify under a particular Prior Right, and to confirm the exact
nature of the documentary evidence that will be required to support an application.
Applications will be accepted from the following categories of Prior Right holders (note that some of the categories are only applicable to Sunrise from Phase 2 onwards):
The following types of Prior Right are acceptable categories for the Sunrise Period from Phase 2 onwards only (i.e. from 7 February to 6 April), in as far as that right is protected under national law in the member state in which it is held:
The definition of
Business Identifier may vary from country to country and its validity
as a prior right will depend entirely upon the the prevailing national
law. Note that Business Identifiers are NOT recognised in Cyprus and Slovenia.
In all cases, applicants should refer to EURid's Sunrise
Rules and Annex
1 documents, and if necessary seek legal advice in order to determine
whether they qualify under a particular Prior Right, and to confirm the
exact nature of the documentary evidence that will be required to support
an application. Some applicants may have a company name, trade name or
business identifier that is protected by national law and corresponds
to their family name - if so, they should still select the category of
'Company Name, Trade Name or Business Identifier', as opposed to 'Other'.
Unregistered trademarks are NOT recognized in the following countries: Czech Republic, France, Italy and Portugal.
For all other EU countries,
unless otherwise provided in Annex 1, the following rules apply to unregistered
trademarks. A Prior Right to a name can be claimed on the basis of:
(i) a well-known
unregistered trademark as provided for in Article 6bis of the Paris
Convention on the Protection of Industrial Property (as amended), or
(ii) an unregistered trade mark other than one falling under (i) above
that is protected under the law of one of the member states referred to
in Annex 1 as being a member state protecting unregistered trade marks
EURid's Sunrise
Rules and Annex
1 describe the exact nature of the required documentary evidence to
support the application. Depending upon the country of prior right this
might require an affidavit signed by a competent authority, legal practitioner,
or professional representative, accompanied by documentation supporting
the affidavit or a relevant final judgment by a court/arbitration decision.
The above list is not exhaustive and a list of the most commonly recognised rights and the evidence required to demonstrate that a right is held is provided in the .eu Sunrise Rules, which you can find here. It is advisable to also read EURid's Annex 1 to the Sunrise Rules, on the same page.
Please be aware that
in order to confirm a Sunrise Application, you will be required to specifically
indicate your acceptance of EURid's Terms and Conditions. They can be found
in English here
as a downloadable PDF file.
EURid, upon receipt of the application, shall block the domain name in question until validation has taken place or until the deadline passes for receipt of documentation. If EURid receives more than one claim for the same domain during the phased registration period, applications shall be dealt with in strict chronological order.
During the Sunrise Period, EURid shall make available a database containing information about the domain names applied for under the procedure for phased registration, the applicants, the Registrar that submitted the application, the deadline for submission of validation documents, and subsequent claims on the names.
Every applicant will
receive a link to a unique declaration form which they must print, sign and
submit with the required documentary evidence that shows that he or she is
the holder of the Prior Right claimed on the name in question. The documentary
evidence shall be sent to the Validation Agent, Price Waterhouse Coopers,
at the address indicated on the declaration form. The applicant shall submit
the evidence in such a way that it shall be received by the Validation Agent,
strictly within 40 days from the submission of the application for the domain
name. If the documentary evidence has not been received by the deadline, the
application for the domain shall be rejected and if there is another application
in the queue, then it will be processed. The
Validation Agent will timestamp the documentary evidence upon receipt - a
unique barcode on the declaration form will aid the time-stamping process.
The Validation Agent will
only examine the Prior Rights of the applicant who is first in line once the
documentation has been received. If there are other applicants in the queue,
then they will have to wait until the documentation of the first-in-line is
received and assessed before their application will even be considered for
validation and this will only occur if the first applicant's Prior Rights
have not been approved or documents not returned i.e. the examination of each
claim in chronological order of receipt shall be followed until a claim is
found for which Prior Rights on the name in question are confirmed.
In all cases, applicants should refer to EURid's Sunrise Rules and Annex 1 documents, and if necessary seek legal advice in order to determine whether they qualify under a particular Prior Right, and to confirm the exact nature of the documentary evidence that will be required to support an application.
To read our document
on the submission of documentary evidence, please go here.
Please note that we will not know whether a Sunrise Application has been successful or not for some time. The Sunrise Period will run into 2006 and even then, certain domains may be locked for some time as a result of multiple applications during Sunrise. We will endeavour to inform you whether your Application has been successful or not as soon as possible after EURid has made us aware.
Please also note that even after you are told you have been successful in a Sunrise Application you will have to wait 40 days before you are able to use the domain name.
If your Sunrise Application is unsuccessful for any reason, including non-provision of the necessary EU address or an inability to comply with EURid's Terms and Conditions, we will refund a portion of the total charge. The exact amount will be made clear to you before you pay.
They are available here.
A Prior Right is simply a right to a particular word or set of words, protected under the appropriate national law (i.e. that which applies to the individual or company who will be the legal owner of the domain name, dependent upon their official address). Holders of Prior Rights recognised or established by national and/or community law (and Public Bodies) shall be eligible to apply to register domain names during a period of phased registration before general registration of .eu domain names starts.
'Prior Rights' shall be understood to include, amongst other things, registered national and community trademarks, geographical indications or designations of origin, and, in as far as they are protected under national law in the member state where they are held: unregistered trademarks, trade names, business identifiers, company names, family names, and distinctive titles of protected literary works.
To read EURid's document (Annex 1) on which Prior Rights are protected in each EU member state, please go here. Look for Annex 1: "Prior Rights" - country overview. Note that they take the form of downloadable Excel files.
Registration on the basis of a prior right consists of registration of the COMPLETE NAME for which the prior right exists, as stated in the documentary evidence proving that the right exists. The general principle is that the domain name applied for must EXACTLY match the name for which the prior right exists (apart from the specific cases explained lower down).
For instance, if you have a registered trademark for "PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting", a domain name application for "pricewaterhousecoopers.eu" or for "consulting.eu" will NOT be allowed.
Where the name for which a prior right is claimed contains a hyphen, the hyphen CANNOT be omitted from the domain name applied for.
If the name over which a prior right exists contains a space between the textual or word elements, it may be omitted or replaced by a hyphen.
Apart from the exceptions listed below, it is not permitted to include or exclude any letters or numbers from a name over which a prior right exists.
Exception 1:
The following characters
and punctuation marks cannot form part of a domain name:
& @ " ' ( § ! Ç à ) [ ] . / ; , ? = + %
These must be transcribed, omitted or replaced by hyphen.
For instance, if you have a trademark "A & B" that is registered as a Community trademark, you are entitled to apply for the domain names "A-B.eu" and "AB.eu", but also for "AandB.eu", "AetB.eu", "AundB.eu", and the like.
Exception 2:
For names in other than standard Latin script, the domain applied for must be transliterated into such according to generally accepted transliteration standards. Transliterations of scripts not generally used in an official EU language will NOT be accepted.
Some guidelines and examples:
Allowed: consultantseu.eu
or consultants-eu.eu
Not allowed: consultants.eu
Allowed: pricewaterhousecooperstaxconsultants.eu
OR pricewaterhousecoopers-tax-consultants.eu
Not allowed: tax.eu or consultants.eu
Allowed: pricewaterhousecoopers.eu
Not allowed: pwc.eu or pricewaterhousecooperstaxconsultants.eu
Not allowed: ca.eu as "ca" is the Alpha-2 country code for Canada
Allowed: price-waterhouse-coopers.eu
Not allowed: pricewaterhousecoopers.eu
Allowed: cooperslybrand.eu, coopers-lybrand.eu, coopersandlybrand.eu, coopersetlybrand.eu, coopersundlybrand.eu, coopersenlybrand.eu etc
Allowed: candl.eu, c-l.eu,
cundl.eu etc
Not allowed: cl.eu as "cl" is the Alpha2 country code for Chile
Allowed: abcdeu.eu or
abcdcom.eu and abcd-eu.eu or abcd-com.eu
Not allowed: abcd.eu
Allowed:
big-company.eu or bigcompany.eu
Some Device/Picture Marks (figurative signs) are protected. Please read our document on this subject which is here.
Can licensees secure their intellectual property rights in .eu? e.g. a registered trademark held by a Japanese parent company with a subsidiary in Spain?
Yes they can. In Phase 2 as well as Phase 1 of Sunrise.
According to Article 12(2) of the European Commission's Public Policy Rules, licensees of a registered trademark CAN apply for the corresponding domain name. There was some confusion previously as to whether applicants would be permitted to apply as licensees during Phase 2 as well as Phase 1 but EURid have now decided that licensees can apply in both phases (for EURid's statement on the subject please see here).
It is important however to understand that the licensing of the trademark must have occurred before EURid receive the application.
i). Licence Declaration
for a Registered Trademark
If an Applicant has obtained
a licence for a registered trademark referred to above in respect of which
it claims a Prior Right, it must enclose with the Documentary Evidence an
acknowledgement and declaration form, duly completed and signed by both the
licensor of the relevant registered trademark and the Applicant (as licensee).
You can find a PDF template of the declaration form on this
page - look for Annex 2: Licence Declaration for a Registered Trade
Mark. If the Applicant is a sublicensee, it must enclose a second acknowledgement
and declaration duly completed and signed by the ultimate owner of the registered
trademark concerned and the latter's licensee.
ii). Declaration of a
Transfer of a Prior Right
If an Applicant is the transferee of a Prior Right and the Documentary Evidence
submitted does not clearly indicate that the Prior Right claimed has been
transferred to the Applicant, it shall submit an acknowledgement and declaration
form, duly completed and signed by both the transferor of the relevant Prior
Right and the Applicant (as transferee). You can find a PDF template of the
declaration form on this
page - look for Annex 3: Declaration of a Transfer of a Prior Right.
iii). If, for any reasons other than as are referred to in 1 and 2 above, the Documentary Evidence provided does not clearly indicate the name of the Applicant as being the holder of the Prior Right claimed (e.g. because the Applicant has become subject to a name change, a merger, the Prior Right has become subject to a deiure transfer, etc.), the Applicant must submit official documents substantiating that it is the same person as or the legal successor to the person indicated in the Documentary Evidence as being the holder of the Prior Right.
No. According to the European Commission, trademark applications do not qualify as a prior right. In order to be accepted, the trademark must either be registered (Phases 1 and 2) or qualify as an “unregistered trade mark” (only Phase 2).
No. Unregistered trademarks are NOT the same as trademark applications. In order to obtain protection for an unregistered trademark, specific requirements set forth by national law have to be fulfilled. For further information click here.
Yes, if the domain name applicant can prove that their trademark was registered at least on the date on which EURid received the corresponding domain name application.
Please note that it is not possible to obtain trademark registration via an expedited procedure in every single EU member state.
The 'official name' of a company is the name under which the company is incorporated or under which the company is registered. In member states where no company-name protection exists, the name of the company may still be protected as a trade name or a business identifier.
It is important to remember that not all the rights listed above are recognised in every member state. If you apply for a Sunrise registration, you will be required to identify the legal basis that grants the right in community law or the national law of the member state where the right is held and provide documentary evidence which is accepted to demonstrate the right under that law.
In all cases, applicants should refer to EURid's Sunrise Rules and Annex 1 documents, and if necessary seek legal advice in order to determine whether they qualify under a particular Prior Right, and to confirm the exact nature of the documentary evidence that will be required to support an application.
Our document on the documentary evidence required for Sunrise Applications is here.
Note - During both Phase
1 and Phase 2 of the Sunrise Period, applicants will be required to submit
documentary evidence proving their Prior Rights within 40 days of the application
being accepted by EURid (see 15. above for further details).
32. Do you have a summary document showing the documentary evidence that will be required to support all Phase 2 Sunrise applications?
Yes we do - it lives here (PDF document).
Pre-Registration
33.
Can I Pre-Register for the Open Registration period?
Open Registration is the first-come, first-served period that will follow
the restricted Sunrise Period. We are now accepting Pre-Registration Applications
(effectively advance orders). We will submit Applications to the Registry
as soon as Open Registration begins (currently scheduled for 7th April 2006).
In line with EURid's requirements, we will submit Applications in the order
that they were received.
Please be aware that
in order to confirm your Application, you will be required to specifically
indicate your acceptance of EURid's Terms and Conditions. They can be found
in English here
as a downloadable PDF file.
Please note that we
will not know whether a Pre-Registration Application has been successful
or not for some time. The Open Registration period will follow immediately
after the Sunrise, and is currently forecast for 7th April 2006, although
timelines may still change. Provided a domain name requested in the Open
Registration period is not locked pending Sunrise validation, the result
of a Pre-Registration Application will be known shortly after EURid has
processed it.
This means that we have already received a Pre-Registration Application (for the Open Registration period) for that particular domain name. We are only accepting one Pre-Registration Application per domain name.