Legal framework

• Author: Paulovics, Ivett
• Pages: 15-19

STUDY ON EVALUATION OF PRACTICES FOR COMBATING SPECULATIVE AND ABUSIVE DOMAIN NAME

REGISTRATIONS

15

4. LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The .eu TLD is regulated by:

 Regulation (EC) No 733/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council33,

implementing the .eu ccTLD

 Commission Regulation (EC) No 874/200434, laying down public policy rules

concerning t he implementation and f unctions of such TLD, amended by

Commission Regulation (EU) No 2015/51635

Since the adoption of those regulations, the political and legislative context in t he EU, the

online environment and the market have changed considerably. Therefore, on 19 March

2019 Regulation (EU) 2019/517 of the European Parliament and the Council on the

implementation and functioning of the .eu top-level domain name and amending and

repealing Regulation (EC) No 733/2002 and repealing Commission Regulation (EC)

No 874/200436 was adopted. The new Regulation was published in the Official Journal of

the EU on 29 March 2019 and entered into force on 18 April 2019. As established under

Article 22, it will be effective starting from 13 October 2022, repealing the current

Regulations, except for Article 20 (eligibility criteria), which is effective as of 19 October

2019.

The purpose of the .eu TLD is t o help enhancing the EU identity and promote EU values

online through good management, values such as multilingualism, respect for users’

privacy and security and respect for human rights, as well as specific EU priorities.37

The European Registry for Internet Domains (EURid), is a private, independent, non-profit

organisation existing under Belgian law. EURid has been designated by the Commission

as the .eu Registry since 21 May 2003.38 For that purpose, the Commission entered into a

service concession contract with EURid. The current service concession contract of

EURid with the Commission has been extended until 12 October 2022.

The .eu Registry must observe the rules, policies and procedures laid down in the cited

Regulations and the contract with the Commission. Its main obligations under Article 2 of

Regulation (EC) No 733/2002 are to:

(a) organise, administer and m anage the .eu TLD in the general interest and on the

basis of principles of quality, efficiency, reliability and accessibility;

(b) register domain names in the .eu TLD through any accredited .eu registrar

requested by any eligible party39 on the basis of the ‘first-come-first-served’

principle;

(c) impose fees directly related to costs incurred;

(d) implement the extra-judicial settlement of conflicts policy based on recovery of

costs and a procedure to resolve promptly disputes between domain name holders

regarding rights relating to names including intellectual property rights as well as

disputes in relation to individual decisions by the .eu Registry;

33 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A32002R0733

34 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A32004R0874

35 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A32015R0516

36 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A32019R0517#ntr3-L_2019091EN.01002501-E0003

37 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A32019R0517

38 https://eurid.eu/en/about-us/

39 Article 4(2)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 733/2002 as amended by Article 20 of Regulation (EU) 2019/517