REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL On the implementation, functioning and effectiveness of the .eu Top-Level Domain from April 2019 to April 2021
Date: 2022-01-11
Institutions: Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, European Commission
Subjects: European symbol, Internet address, digital single market, information security, marketing, non-profit organisation, regulation of telecommunications

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 11.1.2022  COM(2022) 1 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL On the implementation, functioning and effectiveness of the .eu Top-Level Domain from April 2019 to April 2021  
 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1. 

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 2 

2.  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................. 2 

3.  THE .EU LEGAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................. 3 

4.  THE .EU REGISTRY ..................................................................................... 3 

4.1.  EURid .................................................................................................... 3 

4.2.  Financial results ..................................................................................... 4 

4.3.  Contractual compliance ......................................................................... 4 

4.4.  Selection of the next .eu Registry .......................................................... 4 

5.  THE .EU DOMAIN ........................................................................................ 5 

5.1.  General trends ........................................................................................ 5 

5.2. 

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic ...................................................... 6 

5.3. 

Impact of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU ................... 7 

5.4.  Relation with registrars .......................................................................... 7 

5.5.  Marketing and communication .............................................................. 7 

5.6.  Multilingualism ..................................................................................... 8 

6.  TRUST AND SECURITY .............................................................................. 9 

6.1.  Stability, security and business continuity ............................................ 9 

6.2.  Security features for .eu domain names .............................................. 10 

6.3.  Data quality and prevention of abusive registrations .......................... 10 

6.4.  Cooperation in the fight against cybercrime ....................................... 11 

6.5.  Protection of Intellectual Property (‘IP’) Rights ................................. 11 

7.  COMMUNITY AND INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENT ...................... 12 

8.  ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT .................................................................... 13 

9.  CONCLUSION ............................................................................................. 13 

1 

 
 
 
 
 
1. 

INTRODUCTION 

This  report concerns the .eu  internet  domain, the  country code  Top-Level  Domain 
(ccTLD)  of  the  European  Union,  and  its  variants  in  Cyrillic  and  Greek  scripts,  as 
administered and managed by the non-profit organisation EURid1 (hereafter ‘the .eu 
Registry’)  on  the  basis  of  a  Service  Concession  Contract  with  the  European 
Commission. 

Pursuant  to  Article  8  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  733/2002  of  22  April  20022  on  the 
implementation of the .eu Top-Level Domain, the Commission is required to submit 
a report on the implementation, functioning and effectiveness of the .eu domain to the 
European Parliament and the Council every two years. This report covers the period 
from 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2021 (hereafter ‘the period covered’)3.  

2.  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

With 3.7 million registered .eu domain names in April 2021, the .eu domain is the 
eighth largest ccTLD worldwide. In line with the global and European domain name 
market, the growth of .eu flattened. The negative growth due to a continued saturation 
and consolidation of the domain name market and the impact of the UK withdrawal 
from the EU was compensated by the rise of demand for domain names during the 
COVID-19  pandemic,  driven  by  organisations  and  companies  switching  to  online 
presence. 

Over the period covered, the .eu Registry allowed EU citizens to register a .eu domain 
name  independently  of  their  place  of  residence.  It  expanded  European  linguistic 
diversity and multilingualism  across the .eu domain by launching .ευ,  marking the 
completion of the efforts to support all EU non-Latin scripts in the .eu TLD. 

The .eu Registry  continued to  work on ensuring  a  trustworthy .eu environment by 
launching the Abuse Prevention Early Warning System (APEWS), the Know-Your-
Customer  project  (KYC),  and  the  registrar  lock  service  in  2020.  It  conducted 
systematic  checks  on  COVID-19  related  domain  name  registrations  during  the 
pandemic.  

Partnerships were strengthened with law enforcement and other public authorities at 
both the national and European levels in the fight against illegal activities involving 
.eu  domain  names.  In  2021,  the  .eu  Registry  and  the  European  Union  Intellectual 
Property  Office  (EUIPO)  launched  a  joint  Action  Plan  to  combat  abusive  and 
speculative domain name registrations. 

Overall,  the  .eu  Registry  maintained  a  highly  resilient  and  robust  technical 
infrastructure,  ensuring  a  100%  availability  of  the  .eu  domain,  also  during  the 
Distributed  Denial-of-Service  (DDoS)  attack  on  the  .eu  Registry’s  platforms  and 
services in spring 2020. 

1   https://eurid.eu/ 

2   From 13 October 2022 article 16(4) of Regulation (EU) 2019/517 will apply having a similar purport. 

3   The 

previous 

report,  COM(2020)63, 
content/en/ALL/?uri=CELEX:52020DC0063. 

is 

available 

at 

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-

2 

 
 
                                                 
3.  THE .EU LEGAL FRAMEWORK 

The .eu TLD is governed by Regulation 733/20024 of the European Parliament and 
of the Council of 22 April 2002 on the implementation of the .eu Top Level Domain 
and Regulation (EC) No 874/20045 laying down the public policy rules concerning 
the  implementation  and  functions  of  the  .eu  top-level  domain  and  the  principles 
governing registration. 

On 18 April 2019, Regulation (EU) 2019/5176 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council of 19 March 2019 on the implementation and functioning of the .eu top level 
domain entered into force. The regulation  will apply from 13 October 2022 and is 
complemented  by  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2020/10837  and 
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/8578. 

4.  THE .EU REGISTRY 

4.1.  EURid 

The European Registry for Internet Domains (EURid)  is the .eu Registry operator, 
responsible for the organisation, administration and management of the .eu domain 
and its variants in other scripts. EURid was awarded a first service concession contract 
by the Commission in 2004 and a  second contract in 2014, later extended until 12 
October 2022. 

EURid  is  an  association  without  lucrative  purpose  established  under  Belgian  law, 
with its head office in Diegem9. EURid’s stated mission is to "create a trusted .eu 
space for  the  end-user in  a sustainable way through operational  excellence, while 
offering outstanding quality of service to its accredited registrars". 

EURid has two founding members, DNS Belgium (the .be registry) and the Istituto di 
Informatica e Telematica (the .it registry), nine other members and a Strategic Board 
comprised  of  13  representatives.  At  the  end  of  the  period  covered,  EURid  had  56 
employees. 

4  As amended by Regulation (EC) No 1137/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 

October 2008. 

5  As  amended  by  Commission  Regulations  No  1654/2005  of  10  October  2005,  No  1255/2007  of  25 

October 2007, No 560/2009 of 26 June 2009 and No 2015/516 of 26 March 2015. 

6   Regulation (EU) 2019/517 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March  2019 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 874/2004 (Text with EEA 
relevance.) 

7   Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/1083 of 14 May 2020 Supplementing Regulation (EU) 
2019/517 of the European Parliament and of the Council by establishing the eligibility and selection 
criteria and the procedure for the designation of the Registry of the.eu top-level domain name. 

8   Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/857 of 17 June 2020 laying down the principles to be 
included in the contract between the European Commission and the .eu top-level domain Registry in 
accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/517 of the European Parliament and of the Council. 

9   Until 2019 the head office was located in Brussels 

3 

 
 
                                                 
EURid received the CENTR Registry of the Year award in 201910. 

4.2. 

Financial results  

In  the  period  covered  by  this  report,  the  .eu  Registry’s  financial  situation  was 
comparable to the previous years. The revenues and costs were respectively € 12.5 
million and € 11.6 million for the accounting year 2019, and € 12.3 million and € 11.0 
million for the accounting year 2020. The reserves11 reached € 6 million at the end of 
2020. Following approval of the accounts and reserves, the surplus transferred to the 
European  Union  budget  under  the  terms  of  the  Service  Concession  Contract  was 
€ 533,775  for  the  accounting  year  2019  and  € 2,119,017  for  2020.  The  transferred 
surplus for the accounting year 2020 was substantially higher due to a reduction of 
both costs and reserves. 

4.3.  Contractual compliance 

The  Commission  closely  scrutinises  the  .eu  Registry’s  financial  situation  and 
contractual  compliance  and  exercises  its  supervisory  role  by  reviewing  the  yearly 
audited accounts, the half-yearly and yearly financial reports, the budget proposals, 
and the strategy and operational plans of the .eu Registry. Financial, operational and 
other matters are discussed at half-yearly meetings and in ad hoc meetings. 

Following an ad hoc audit in 2018 on administrative and financial aspects of the .eu 
management,  the  .eu  Registry  implemented  all  its  recommendations  in  the  period 
covered in this report, aimed at improving the Registry's policy and rules concerning 
procurement, absence of conflicts of interest, financial management and other issues.  

Since 2019, the .eu Registry’s activities  are assessed  on a  yearly basis  by external 
auditors selected by the .eu Registry following an open procurement. The 2019 and 
2020  audits  acknowledged  the  robustness  and  redundancy  of  the  .eu  Registry 
technical 
the  auditors’ 
recommendations by refining relevant policies and procedures. 

infrastructure,  and 

followed  up  on 

the  Registry 

4.4. 

Selection of the next .eu Registry 

On  1  March  2021  the  Commission  launched  the  call  for  the  selection  of  the  next 
Registry  of  the  .eu  Top-Level  Domain12,  in  accordance  with  Regulation  (EU) 
2019/517  and  Commission Delegated Regulation  (EU) 2020/1083, resulting in  the 
designation of EURid as the next .eu Registry for the period 2022-2027 on 25 October 
202113. 

10   https://www.centr.org/events/centr-awards.html. 

11   Financial  reserves  are  maintained  for  depreciation,  investments,  social  liabilities,  legal  liabilities, 

working capital, and the ends of contracts. 

12   https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/funding/call-selection-registry-eu-top-level-domain. 

13   Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/1878 of 25 October 2021 on the designation of the .eu 

top-level domain Registry (Text with EEA relevance) 

4 

 
 
                                                 
5.  THE .EU DOMAIN 

5.1.  General trends 

With 3.7 million registered .eu domain names by the end of the first quarter 2021, the 
.eu domain ranked as the twelfth largest TLD, the eighth largest ccTLD worldwide14 
and the sixth largest member of CENTR (see figure 1). 

.pl

.ca

.au

.it

.eu

.fr

.ru

.nl

.uk

.de

2.488.300

3.072.749

3.239.582

3.404.013

3.648.525

3.727.275

4.991.923

6.160.189

0

5.000.000

10.000.000

15.000.000

20.000.000

10.922.477

16.798.080

Figure 1: 10 largest ccTLD members of CENTR by the end of Q1 202115 

During  the  period  covered,  the  negative  growth  due  to  a  continued  saturation  and 
consolidation of the domain name market and the impact of the withdrawal of the UK 
from the EU, was compensated by the rise of demand for domain names during the 
COVID-19 pandemic16. As a result, the .eu portfolio experienced a negative growth 
of -2% in 2019 but caught up in 2020 with a positive growth of 2.2% comparable to 
the global and European domain name market17. Overall the .eu Registry maintained 
a slightly positive growth in the period covered in this report (see figure 2). 

14  Verisign Industry Brief, Q1 2021, https://www.verisign.com/assets/domain-name-report-Q12021.pdf.  

15   Source: CENTRstats Global TLD Report 2021/1 https://centr.org/library/library/statistics-report/global-
tld-report-2021-1.html. Note 1: The .eu domain appears in the 6th position because the larger domains 
.cn (China) and .br (Brazil) are not members of CENTR and not considered. Note 2: The CENTR and 
EURid stats differ slightly concerning the total of .eu registrations due to different methods of counting.  

16   CENTR;  is  the  lockdown  driving  domain  registrations?  https://www.centr.org/news/blog/is-the-

lockdown-driving-domain-registrations.html. 

17   CENTR quarterly Global TLD Reports, from Q2 2019 till Q2 2021; 

https://centr.org/library/library.html 

5 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
4.000.000

3.500.000

3.000.000

2.500.000

2.000.000

1.500.000

1.000.000

500.000

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Figure 2: .eu registrations by quarter till the end of Q1 2021 (Source EURid) 

From all EU countries, Germany had the largest share of .eu registrations at the end 
of the first quarter of 2021 (see figure 3). In the period covered the three countries 
showing  the  highest  growth  were  Portugal  (124.2%),  Ireland  (78.7%)  and  Latvia 
(33.3%). 

1.200.000

1.000.000

800.000

600.000

400.000

200.000

0

Figure 3: Top 10 EU countries with highest number of .eu registrations end of Q1 
2021 (Source EURid) 

5.2. 

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic 

Despite the disruptive effect of the pandemic, the .eu Registry maintained the same 
level of service, leaving the .eu domain unaffected.  

As  a  side  effect  of  the  pandemic,  the  domain  name  market  saw  a  higher  demand, 
driven by organisations and companies switching to online presence. However, the 

6 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
pandemic also saw an increase of malicious or otherwise criminal online activities18. 
In order to protect the .eu domain from abusive or malicious registrations linked to 
COVID-19,  the  Commission  and  the  .eu  Registry  agreed  to  introduce  extra 
verification measures on existing and newly registered domain names against a set of 
COVID-related  keywords  such  as  ‘corona’  or  ‘vaccine’,  translated  in  all  EU 
languages19. Nearly 9000 checks were executed from April 2020 till the end of Q1 
2021, leading to the suspension of more than 6500 domain names. 

5.3. 

Impact of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU  

From  1  January  2021,  United  Kingdom  (UK)  residents  and  undertakings  and 
organisations established in the UK were not eligible anymore to hold a .eu domain 
name. In 2019 and 2020, the Commission and the .eu Registry regularly informed UK 
registrants  and  their  registrars20  about  their  forthcoming  loss  of  eligibility.  On  1 
January  2021,  the  .eu  Registry  suspended  the  still  remaining  UK  domain  names, 
stopping the domain names to resolve into a website or support email services. 

The impact of UK’s withdrawal from the EU has been substantial on the .eu domain. 
From an initial 240,000 domain names registered in the UK (2018), the figure dropped 
to 190,000 at the end of Q1 2019, and on 1 January 2021 all still remaining domain 
names (81,000) were suspended. 

5.4.  Relation with registrars 

The .eu Registry continued to strengthen and improve its relation with registrars, who 
are instrumental in marketing the .eu domain names and interacting with individual 
registrants. The 2019 registrar satisfaction survey21 showed that 97% of the registrars 
are overall satisfied with the .eu Registry. 

At the end of the first quarter of 2021, there were 718 accredited registrars; a number 
that remained relatively  stable over the past  years.  The increase of  new accredited 
registrars following outreach actions of the .eu Registry compensated for the decline 
of registrars due to increased concentration in this sector. 

The .eu Registry continued to count on the advice of its Registrar Advisory Board, 
providing the Registry with input on policy matters and initiatives to support the .eu. 

5.5.  Marketing and communication 

In line with its mandate to help enhance the Union identity, promote Union values 
online and to establish the .eu as a brand clearly linked to the EU, the .eu Registry 
undertook the following marketing and communication activities: 

18   How  COVID-19-related 

crime 

infected  Europe  during  2020 

|  Europol 

(europa.eu); 

https://www.europol.europa.eu/publications-documents/how-covid-19-related-crime-infected-europe-
during-2020. 

19   https://eurid.eu/en/news/doteu-covid19-measures/ 

20  https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/file_import/eu_domain_names_en_0.pdf. 

https://eurid.eu/en/register-a-eu-domain/brexit-notice/. 

21   https://eurid.eu/en/news/2020-registrar-survey/. 

7 

 
 
                                                 
–  An Action Plan22 launched in 2020 to support SMEs to boost their online presence, 
in cooperation with FundingBox, the European Enterprise Network (EEN), EUIPO 
and SMEunited. 

–  Two awareness campaigns per year with trust.eurid.eu as landing page where end-
users  can  find  information  about  the  registration  of.eu  domain  names  and  the 
security and branding features that distinguish the .eu product. 

–  The  partnership  with  .eu  accredited  registrars  via  the  .eu  Registry  Co-funded 
Marketing Programme, through which registrars receive reimbursements of up to 
100 % of the eligible costs of promotional actions for .eu domain names. In the 
period covered, the Programme co-financed 134 campaigns. 

–  The  continuation  of  the  Reduction  Scheme  for  registrars,  offering  registrars  a 
reduction on the fees for new registrations. By the end of 2020, 330 registrars were 
subscribed  to  the  Reduction  Scheme,  accounting  for  98%  of  all  new  .eu 
registrations. 

–  The  continuation  of  the  yearly  Web  Awards  to  acknowledge  innovation  and 

excellence among users of .eu domain names. 

–  The involvement in the Codeweek23 and the development of the SAFEonLINE Art 
Competition24,  aiming  to  complement  the  .eu  Registry’s  educational  and 
awareness activities in the field of online security with a uniquely creative outlook. 

–  The structured management of the .eu Registry social media presence, in particular 
through its Twitter account and YouTube channel, which reached over 3 million 
view in 2020. 

5.6.  Multilingualism  

The  .eu  Registry  remains  a  frontrunner  on  European  linguistic  diversity  and 
multilingualism, and offers one of the largest IDN25 spaces in the world. At the end 
of the first quarter of 2021, there were over 42.000 IDN registered, and 1300 and 2700 
domain names registered respectively under the .ею, the equivalent of .eu in Cyrillic 
script and .ευ, the equivalent in Greek script (see figure 4). 

The  launch  of  the  .ευ  extension  on  14  November  2019  marked  the  successful 
completion of a lengthy process within ICANN26 to have the two .eu extensions in 
non-Latin  scripts  approved.  Following  industry  best  practices  to  prevent  possible 
confusing similarity issues between .ευ and other TLDs, the .eu Registry launched in 
parallel a transition period to migrate all existing domain names in Greek script to the 
new extension .ευ, to be finalised on 13 November 2022. 

22   https://eurid.eu/en/news/eurid-supports-smes/. 

23   A grassroots initiative which aims to bring coding and digital literacy to everybody in a fun and engaging 

way; https://codeweek.eu/. 

24   https://eurid.eu/en/artcompetition/. 

25   Internationalised Domain Names with non-Latin characters. 

26 

Internet  Corporation  for  Assigned  Names  and  Numbers  (ICANN),  the  non-profit  organisation 
coordinating the internet’s naming and addressing system, https://www.icann.org/. 

8 

 
 
                                                 
Figure 4: IDN registrations till the end of Q1 2021 (source: EURid) 

6.  TRUST AND SECURITY 

6.1. 

Stability, security and business continuity 

The .eu Registry  provided for  a 100% availability of the .eu,  .ею  and .ευ domains 
during the period covered by this report, mainly  due to  a  high quality, distributed, 
redundant  and  up  to  date  DNS  infrastructure.  Two  authoritative  name  servers  are 
deployed in Amsterdam and Ljubljana, supported by three external Anycast service 
providers27  for  redundancy  and  resilience  purpose.  The  Registry’s  administrative 
processes are supported through redundant technical infrastructure in Amsterdam and 
Luxembourg. 

In Q4 2019, BIPT, the Belgian federal regulatory body responsible for regulating the 
electronic communications market in Belgium concluded that the .eu Registry is an 
Operator of Essential Services (OES) according to the NIS Directive28, as transposed 
in  Belgian  law.  The  .eu  Registry’s  previous  reliance  on  ISO  and  its  cybersecurity 
certifications29 already laid the foundation to comply with its new legal obligations 
under NIS. 

The .eu Registry experienced a heavy Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack 
in spring 2020, targeting its platforms and websites. With the exception of short time 
intervals, the registration and Whois lookup services remained available thanks to the 
cooperation between the .eu Registry and its connectivity partners, managing to stop 
malicious traffic on the borders of the network. The .eu domain itself was unaffected 
by this attack. 

27   DENIC, NetNod and RcodeZero. 

28   Directive on security of network and information systems. 

29   ISO/IEC 27001:2013 for information security management and ISO 22301:2012 for business continuity 

management, see also https://eurid.eu/en/welcome-to-eurid/cyber-security/. 

9 

 
 
 
                                                 
6.2. 

Security features for .eu domain names 

At the end of Q1 2021, there were over 577,000 DNSSEC30 signed .eu domain names, 
representing  nearly  16%  of  the  overall  .eu  portfolio.  The  percentage  is  increasing 
gradually  thanks  to  the  combination  of  fee  discounts  and  webinars  for  registrars 
raising the awareness about the importance of DNSSEC. 

2020 also saw the introduction of the registrar lock service, an extra protection layer 
to  prevent  accidental  or  non-authorised  and  possible  malicious  changes  of  the 
ownership of .eu domain names. 

6.3.  Data quality and prevention of abusive registrations 

Maintaining  accurate,  complete  and  up-to-date  registration  data  is  essential  to 
maintain the security, safety and stability of the .eu domain. The .eu Registry therefore 
continued its efforts to improve the quality of its registration data through the WHOIS 
Quality  project,  leading  to  the  suspension  of  27,000  domain  names  in  the  period 
covered in the report31. 

To maximise the effect of measures taken, the .eu Registry deployed, where possible, 
automated  processes  to  speed  up  the  data  checking  processes,  and  registrar  and 
registrant friendly methods to lower the barriers for its use. 

The Abuse Prevention and Early Warning System (APEWS)32 was launched in the 
second half of 2020, to evaluate patterns of domain name registration based on an 
innovative  machine  learning  methodology  developed  in  cooperation  with  the 
University of Leuven. APEWS predicts whether a domain name may potentially be 
used  in  an  abusive  manner,  resulting  in  delaying  the  delegation  of  suspicious 
registrations33 and triggering a verification procedure, requiring domain name holders 
to  confirm  their  registration  data,  followed  by  a  manual  review  leading  to  the 
delegation or the suspension of the domain name. In the period covered in this report, 
11,000  registrations  were  checked  via  the  APEWS  system.  APEWS  is  well 
recognised by industry peers and received the ECO 2019 award34. 

In  Q1  2021,  the  Know-Your-Customer  (KYC)35  project  was  launched,  allowing 
registrants  to  provide  evidence  of  their  identity  using  automated  systems  via  the 
EURid  portal,  including  the  option  of  using  their  eID36.  This  offers  a  potentially 
powerful, fast and user-friendly option for identification and authentication purposes. 

30  Domain  Name  System  Security  Extension,  a  security  extension  of  the  DNS  ensuring  that  users 
communicate with the correct website and preventing ‘man in the middle’ type attacks by fake websites. 

31   In the period April 2017 till April 2019 a total of about 79.000 registrations were suspended following 

verification of the validity of registration data.  

32   https://eurid.eu/en/register-a-eu-domain/data-quality/#nav_apews. 

33   Although the domain name is registered, any service linked to the domain name will not function, such 

as a website and/or an email service. 

34   https://international.eco.de/eco-award-2019/nominees-2019/#domains. 

35   https://eurid.eu/en/register-a-eu-domain/data-quality/#nav_kyc_project. 

36   Electronic Identity. 

10 

 
 
                                                 
The .eu Registry will continue developing this project, also taking into account the 
development of a trusted and secure European eID37. 

6.4.  Cooperation in the fight against cybercrime 

The .eu Registry continued to provide regular assistance to law enforcement and other 
relevant  authorities  aiding  them  in  the  fight  against  illegal  activities  involving  .eu 
domain names. This encompassed cooperation with the Belgian Federal Ministry of 
Economic  Affairs,  the  Belgian  Customs  (Cybersquad)  and  the  Belgian  Public 
Prosecutor’s  Office,  engaging  in  regular  dialogue  with  the  Computer  Emergency 
Response Team for the EU (CERT-EU), and cooperating with Europol by exchanging 
statistical data and trends, running joint projects aimed at combatting cybercrime38, 
and holding joint workshops39. 

The .eu Registry also cooperated with industry associations and other organisations 
involved in the fight against abusive registration. An example is the partnership the 
.eu Registry signed in Q1 2021 with the Global Cybercrime Alliance40, a non-profit 
that  builds  programs,  partnerships  and  tools  to  contribute  to  a  safer  and  more 
trustworthy internet environment. 

6.5. 

Protection of Intellectual Property (‘IP’) Rights 

The .eu Registry continued its fruitful cooperation with EUIPO to notify trade mark 
holders  when  a  .eu  domain  name  is  registered  that  is  identical  to  a  registered  EU 
trademark. In 2020, the two organisations intensified their collaboration41 to support 
trade mark and domain name applicants and owners, particularly SMEs. In July  2021, 
a joint Action Plan was launched following the recommendation of the EC Report on 
the cooperation between the .eu Registry with EUIPO and other Union agencies with 
a view of combating abusive and speculative domain name registrations42. 

The .eu Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) provides the possibility to submit a 
complaint  online  in  any  of  the  official  languages  of  the  EU  via  the  two  ADR 
providers,  the  WIPO  Arbitration  and  Mediation  Center  and  the  Czech  Arbitration 
Court (CAC). In the period covered in the report, the discount on the basic .eu ADR 
procedure  fee  was  continued43.  170  complaints  were  filed  and  131  disputes  were 
resolved; 87 by CAC and 44 by WIPO. 

37   Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 
910/2014 as regards establishing a framework for a European Digital Identity (SEC(2021) 228 final)  - 
(SWD(2021) 124 final) - (SWD(2021) 125 final). 

38  https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/europol-enhances-cybercrime-and-internet-security-

cooperation-signing-mou-eurid. 

39  https://www.europol.europa.eu/events/eurid-europol-cross-border-collaboration-in-fighting-

cybercrime-workshop. 

40   https://www.globalcyberalliance.org/. 

41   https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/news/-/action/view/5772664. 

42   REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL 
Assessment of the cooperation of the .eu Registry operator with EUIPO and other Union agencies with 
a  view  of  combating  abusive  and  speculative  domain  name  registrations,  pursuant  to  Article  16  of 
Regulation (EU) 2019/517 

43   The ADR fee per dispute complaint is € 100 including the discount. 

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7.  COMMUNITY AND INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENT  

During the reporting period, the .eu Registry continued to engage with the internet’s 
international community, in particular through the following actions and activities: 

–  As an active participant in ICANN meetings, the .eu Registry has been chairing 
the ccNSO44 Strategic and Operating Committee since 2015, aiming at providing 
advice and input to ICANN on the yearly and long-term Strategic and Operational 
Plans. 

–  The  .eu  Registry  provided  its  expertise  to  develop  a  Disaster  Recovery  and 
Business  Continuity  Playbook  for  small  ccTLD  operators  within  ICANN.  This 
work  was  well  received,  in  particular  because  small  registries  have  limited 
resources to develop such plans. 

–  The .eu Registry launched the Dynamic Coalition on Data and Trust in June 2020 
within  the  IGF45.  The  Coalition  aims  to  encourage  proactive  interventions  and 
effective industry self-regulation to raise standards of data quality, combat poor 
data and disinformation, and to raise public trust in the Internet. The focus in 2020 
was on industry responses to the COVID-19 crisis. 

–  The  .eu  Registry  cooperated  with  UNESCO,  the  .ru  ccTLD  registry  and  the 
regional registry organisations through the ICANN Universal Acceptance working 
group to promote and support online multilingualism, leading to the yearly IDN 
World Report46. 

–  The .eu Registry continued the .eu Academy47 through which experts of the .eu 
Registry gave trainings and courses on registry matters, Internet Governance and 
cyber-security matters to industry peers, government representatives and at various 
European universities. 

–  The .eu Registry supported EuroDIG48 sessions and the Youth IGF49 for which it 

contributed to revamping their TV channel. 

–  In 2020 the Youth Committee50 was established, an advisory body that provides 
advice  and  youth's  perspective  on  the  .eu  Registry’s  approach  to  Internet 
Governance, as well as on its initiatives and policies. 

44   Country Code Names Supporting Organization. 

45   Internet Governance Forum, https://www.intgovforum.org/. 

46  www.idnworldreport.eu. 

47  https://eurid.eu/en/welcome-to-eurid/initiatives/eu-academy/. 

48   European Dialogue on Internet Governance (https://www.eurodig.org/). 

49   Youth Internet Governance Forum (https://youthigf.com). 

50   https://eurid.eu/en/welcome-to-eurid/corporate-governance/. 

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8.  ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT 

The .eu Registry continued to be at the forefront of environmental sustainability by 
keeping its EMAS certification51, with yearly assessments of its green objectives, and 
 credits for compensation.  
by assessing its CO2 emissions and purchasing certified CO2

In 2019 and 2020 the CO2 credits were used to support the Uganda Borehole Project 
and  the  “Water  is  Life”  project  in  Madagascar52,  and  in  2020,  the  .eu  Registry 
participated  in  an  initiative  by  CENTR53  aiming  at  promoting  an  environmental-
friendly ccTLD industry. 

9.  CONCLUSION 

The .eu domain continues to function in an effective and financially healthy manner, 
facilitating access to the Digital Single Market, allowing Europeans to display their 
European  identity  online,  supporting  the  online  presence  of  SMEs,  and  promoting 
multilingualism. 

The focus on quality of service and the actions taken to enhance security and data 
quality,  to  mitigate  abusive  and  speculative  registrations,  and  to  cooperate  with 
partners in the fight against cybercrime and IP-infringing activities contributed to the 
EU objectives of increasing trust and security on the internet, providing an example 
to follow for other DNS operators. 

The .eu Registry should continue on its path to  ensure a trusted .eu domain and to 
ensure  that  illegal  behaviours  and  abuses  that  are  evident  elsewhere  in  the  DNS 
ecosystem  do  not  gain  a  foothold  in  the  .eu  domain  space.  It  should  continue  to 
innovate  in  support  of  its  actions  in  this  domain,  including  by  incorporating  latest 
technologies such as cloud technologies, artificial intelligence, advanced security and 
encryption technologies, or eID. 

Based  on  its  solid  customer  base,  its  strong  relations  with  registrars  and  targeted 
actions towards under-served markets and EU citizens living abroad, the .eu domain 
has  the  potential  to  strengthen  further  its  position  as  the  domain  of  choice  of  EU 
citizens and businesses in Europe and globally. 

51  EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme, registration number BE-VL-000016.  

52   https://eurid.eu/en/welcome-to-eurid/going-green/. 

53   https://centr.org/news/blog/reduce-carbon-footprint.html. 

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