Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the "Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the implementation of the Internet Top Level Domain .EU"
Date: 2001-03-28
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: European Union, Internet, database, intellectual property

C 155/10

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

29.5.2001

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Regulation of the European
Parliament and of the Council on the implementation of the Internet Top Level Domain “.EU”’

(2001/C 155/03)

On 15 January 2001 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under
Article 156 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned proposal.

The Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society, which was responsible for
preparing the Committee’s work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 6 March 2001. The rapporteur
was Mr Morgan.

At its 380th plenary session of 28 and 29 March 2001 (meeting of 28 March) the Committee adopted
the following opinion by 97 votes to one.

1.

Introduction

The Economic and Social Committee is pleased to give
1.1.
its support to the proposal for a Regulation of the European
Parliament and the Council on the implementation of the
Internet Top Level Domain ‘.EU’. The ESC views this initiative
as an essential element of eEurope (1).

1.2.
The Regulation charges the Commission with the
implementation of the .EU Top Level Domain (TLD), sets the
conditions for such implementation, including the designation
of a Registry, and establishes the public policy framework
within which the Registry will function.

1.3.
Detailed technical and policy preparations have been
made by an Interim Steering Group (ISG) drawn from the
existing European Community Panel of Participants (EC-
POP) (2).

including,

Particular attention has been paid to the work of the
1.4.
the eventual
ISG,
operational and technical characteristics of the Registry, con-
tractual relationships between the Commission and the Regis-
try and the options for the form that organisation could take.

its analysis of

for example,

2.

The Registry

2.1.

The Registry will ensure three essential functions:

a)

Being the legal entity responsible for the Registry.

b)

Implementing public policy rules, policies and procedures
relating to the .EU TLD included in the regulation or
adopted by the Commission according to the consultation
period procedure provided by the regulation.

c) Organising, administering and managing the .EU TLD,
including the operations of maintenance of databases,
registration of domain names, running the name servers
and dissemination of TLD zone files.

The Registry shall be a not-for-profit organisation

2.2.
operated in the public interest.

2.3.
The proposals of the ISG report are very pertinent to
the establishment of the proposed Registry (see chapters 2
and 3). In particular, the Committee endorses the proposals in
section 3.4 relative to the selection of Registrars.

2.4.
The ESC agrees the ‘characteristics of the Registry’ and
‘obligations of the Registry’ as defined in Articles 2 and 3 of
the proposed Regulation.

3.

Public policy framework

Subject to certain safeguards the detailed registration
3.1.
policy will be determined by the Registry in consultation with
the Commission and according to the contractual arrange-
ments. Relevant safeguards would include, for example, the
respect of the applicable Community and national laws, and
of technical and operational ‘best practice’ as determined from
time to time by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned
Name and Numbers) and IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers
Authority). The available options for the Registry’s registration
policy are discussed in the ISG report, including a discussion
of
the options for the creation of generic second level
domains (3).

(1) OJ C 123, 25.4.2001.
(2) ‘The Dot EU TLD Registry Proposal’; http://www.ec-pop.org/1009

prop/index.htm.

(3) See also COM(2000)202 final ‘The Organisation and Management
of the Internet — International and European Policy Issues 1998-
2002’ of 11 April 2000.

29.5.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 155/11

In this context the ESC notes that the Commission is

3.2.
currently examining the following questions:

the proposed directive on a common regulatory framework
for electronic communications networks and services (1).

a) Definition of the name space reserved for the use of the

EU institutions.

b)

Reservation of names associated with the European Union
in all relevant languages.

The ESC will communicate its requirements to the Com-
mission.

The ESC supports the regulations relating to ‘the public

3.3.
policy framework’ detailed in Article 4.

4. General comments

4.2.
The ESC endorses the proposal that all rights, intellec-
tual property rights, relating to .EU TLD shall be retained by
the Community.

The ESC supports the proposal that financial appropria-
4.3.
tions are needed to enable the Commission to maintain policy
control over the Registry and endorses the sums proposed.

The ESC would expect to be consulted on future

4.4.
developments of the .EU TLD Registry.

5. Conclusion

The ESC welcomes the .EU TLD initiative of

5.1.
the
Commission and supports its speedy implementation, taking
into full consideration the recommendations of the ISG.

The ESC approves the proposal that the Commission
4.1.
shall be assisted by the Committee that is to be established by

(1) COM(2000)393 final; OJ C 123, 25.4.2001.

Brussels, 28 March 2001.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Göke FRERICHS