| .EU Businesses prepare for domain name scrap
Businesses prepare for domain name scrap
28.02.2005 - 09:34 CET | By Lucia Kubosova
European businesses are preparing for a scrap over internet addresses this year as the new .eu domain is launched.
Five hundred million European candidates are expected to fight for the new web address, AFP reports.
The precise rules for assigning .eu names will be published in the coming weeks but it is expected that any EU resident, organisation or company established in the EU will be able to register a name under the .eu domain.
The European Commission – conducting the whole process – hopes to create a new "Internet space" for Europe, as opposed to the area currently dominated by domains such as .com or .org, mainly registered in the US and bound by its laws.
EURid, a consortium of Belgian, Italian and Swedish organisations will operate as the .eu Registry.
It will first register certain "priority companies", such as trademark businesses or public bodies, during a so-called "sunrise" period of four months.
The other applicants will be registered after the launch of the domain, scheduled for the second part of 2005.
In both cases, names will be assigned on a "first come, first served" basis.
And experts predict fierce competition, as only one candidate can register for a particular name.
"The companies who want to give a European dimension to their businesses can't allow themselves to be absent from this new zone", says Stephane Van Gelder, administrator of AFNIC, the body that manages domain names in France quoted by AFP.
Applications will have to be made through organisations formally accredited by the .eu Registry, which will also set the costs for registration.
Brussels argues that any fees charged will relate to the actual costs incurred, as the .eu Regulation requires the Registry to be a non-profit organisation. | 
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