.eu: Why it Was Worth Dotting the EU

When launching its new Internet site, Notre Europe turned its attention to the timeliness of a new .eu European address. The association’s new site is thus the opportunity to reflect on the Internet in Europe and on the .eu. this ‘Bref’ first outlines the main issues at stake when setting up the .eu and draws up lines for further thought.

A few months after opening the .eu to the public, the TLD’s unqualified success (+ 27% in 3 months) is a boon. For the Commission and EURid’s most optimistic previsions had set an objective of one million domain names taken up in one year. At the end of September 2006, more than 2 millions domain names had been registered. The .eu phenomenon reaches beyond Europe as never since the creation of the Internet, had a TLD risen to such importance in such a short time. Launched for restricted registration on 7 December 2005, the .eu had attracted 100 000 demands within its first three hours. On 7 April 2006, date of its opening to the public, the .eu added 1,028,248 names in a matter of hours and came close to 1.5 million names in one week. In September 2006, the Germans are the most numerous takers of .eu (691 858 names) ahead of the British (398 355) and the Dutch (263 237). France comes forth in front of Italy with 132 309 .eu.