<s>
.eu	O
is	O
the	O
country	B-Application
code	I-Application
top-level	I-Application
domain	I-Application
(	O
ccTLD	B-Application
)	O
for	O
the	O
European	O
Union	O
(	O
EU	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
TLD	O
is	O
administered	O
by	O
EURid	O
,	O
a	O
consortium	O
originally	O
consisting	O
of	O
the	O
national	O
ccTLD	B-Application
registry	O
operators	O
of	O
Belgium	O
,	O
Sweden	O
,	O
and	O
Italy	O
,	O
joined	O
later	O
by	O
the	O
national	O
registry	O
operator	O
of	O
the	O
Czech	O
Republic	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Trademark	O
owners	O
were	O
able	O
to	O
submit	O
registrations	O
through	O
a	O
sunrise	B-Protocol
period	I-Protocol
,	O
in	O
an	O
effort	O
to	O
prevent	O
cybersquatting	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
.eu	O
ccTLD	B-Application
was	O
approved	O
by	O
ICANN	B-Application
on	O
22	O
March	O
2005	O
and	O
put	O
in	O
the	O
Internet	O
root	B-Protocol
zone	I-Protocol
on	O
2	O
May	O
2005	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Commission	O
and	O
ICANN	B-Application
had	O
extended	O
negotiations	O
lasting	O
more	O
than	O
five	O
years	O
to	O
secure	O
its	O
acceptance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
.eu.int	O
was	O
the	O
subdomain	B-Protocol
most	O
used	O
by	O
the	O
European	O
Commission	O
and	O
the	O
European	O
Parliament	O
,	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
.int	O
generic	O
top-level	O
domain	O
(	O
gTLD	O
)	O
for	O
international	O
bodies	O
,	O
until	O
9	O
May	O
2006	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
.eu	O
domain	O
(	O
ccTLD	B-Application
)	O
was	O
launched	O
in	O
December	O
2005	O
,	O
and	O
because	O
of	O
this	O
most	O
.eu.int	O
domain	O
names	O
changed	O
to	O
.europa.eu	O
on	O
Europe	O
day	O
,	O
9	O
May	O
2006	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Sunrise	B-Protocol
Period	I-Protocol
was	O
broken	O
into	O
two	O
phases	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
then	O
fourth-largest	O
ccTLD	B-Application
in	O
Europe	O
,	O
after	O
.de	B-General_Concept
,	O
.uk	B-Application
and	O
.nl	B-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
is	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
largest	O
internationally	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
process	O
differs	O
from	O
more	O
sophisticated	O
registries	O
like	O
that	O
of	O
.com	O
TLD	O
and	O
other	O
ccTLDs	B-Application
that	O
operate	O
on	O
a	O
daily	O
basis	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Over	O
one	O
year	O
after	O
the	O
launch	O
of	O
.eu	O
(	O
5	O
July	O
2007	O
)	O
,	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
.de	B-General_Concept
domains	O
registered	O
was	O
11,079,557	O
according	O
to	O
the	O
,	O
while	O
number	O
of	O
German	O
owned	O
.eu	O
domains	O
according	O
to	O
was	O
796,561	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
number	O
of	O
.uk	B-Application
domains	O
registered	O
was	O
6,038,732	O
according	O
to	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
extent	O
of	O
the	O
shrinkage	O
of	O
.eu	O
ccTLD	B-Application
is	O
difficult	O
to	O
estimate	O
because	O
EURid	O
does	O
not	O
publish	O
detailed	O
statistics	O
on	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
new	O
domains	O
registered	O
each	O
day	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
second-level	B-Protocol
domain	I-Protocol
.europa.eu	O
has	O
been	O
reserved	O
for	O
EU	O
institution	O
sites	O
,	O
with	O
institutions	O
and	O
agencies	O
making	O
the	O
switch	O
from	O
.eu.int	O
to	O
.europa.eu	O
domains	O
on	O
the	O
Europe	O
day	O
of	O
9	O
May	O
2006	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
often	O
used	O
to	O
emphasise	O
the	O
'	O
European	O
identity	O
 '	O
of	O
a	O
website	O
,	O
as	O
opposed	O
to	O
the	O
website	O
having	O
a	O
strictly	O
national	O
ccTLD	B-Application
or	O
global	O
"	O
dotcom	O
"	O
nature	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Alternative	O
(	O
opportunistic	B-Application
)	O
uses	O
include	O
Basque	O
webpages	O
(	O
as	O
the	O
initial	O
letters	O
of	O
Euskadi	O
or	O
the	O
language	O
Euskara	O
)	O
and	O
Romanian	O
,	O
Portuguese	O
,	O
or	O
Galician	O
personal	O
sites	O
,	O
as	O
eu	O
is	O
the	O
equivalent	O
of	O
the	O
English	O
pronoun	O
'	O
I	O
 '	O
in	O
those	O
languages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
most	O
countries	O
of	O
the	O
EU	O
,	O
the	O
national	O
ccTLDs	B-Application
have	O
the	O
major	O
share	O
of	O
the	O
market	O
with	O
the	O
remainder	O
spread	O
over	O
.com/.net/.org/.info/.biz	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
dominant	O
players	O
tend	O
to	O
be	O
the	O
national	O
ccTLD	B-Application
and	O
.com	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
other	O
TLDs	O
such	O
as	O
.net	B-Application
,	O
.org	O
and	O
to	O
a	O
lesser	O
extent	O
.info	O
and	O
.biz	O
have	O
progressively	O
smaller	O
shares	O
of	O
these	O
national	O
markets	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
domain	O
registrants	O
use	O
their	O
.eu	O
website	O
as	O
a	O
web	O
portal	O
containing	O
a	O
list	O
of	O
their	O
national	O
websites	O
with	O
national	O
ccTLDs	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
registrants	O
have	O
registered	O
a	O
.eu	O
domain	O
name	O
to	O
protect	O
the	O
brand	O
name	O
of	O
their	O
main	O
website	O
or	O
domain	O
,	O
and	O
redirect	O
visitors	O
to	O
their	O
pre-existing	O
national	O
ccTLD	B-Application
or	O
.com	O
website	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ISPs	O
and	O
web	O
hosters	O
will	O
often	O
point	O
unused	O
domains	O
to	O
a	O
domain	B-Protocol
parking	I-Protocol
webpage	O
with	O
PPC	O
advertising	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
26%	O
of	O
.eu	O
domain	O
names	O
are	O
redirects	O
for	O
existing	O
national	O
ccTLD	B-Application
or	O
.com	O
websites	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
number	O
of	O
registrants	O
with	O
five	O
domains	O
or	O
fewer	O
registered	O
in	O
.eu	O
ccTLD	B-Application
was	O
,	O
according	O
to	O
these	O
statistics	O
,	O
805,316	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
(	O
While	O
some	O
Latin	O
and	O
Cyrillic	O
letters	O
may	O
look	O
identical	O
,	O
they	O
have	O
different	O
character	B-General_Concept
encodings	I-General_Concept
and	O
are	O
distinct	O
for	O
data	O
processing	O
purposes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
EURid	O
has	O
a	O
rule	O
that	O
the	O
second-level	B-Protocol
domain	I-Protocol
name	O
must	O
be	O
in	O
the	O
same	O
script	O
as	O
the	O
top-level	O
domain	O
,	O
so	O
Cyrillic	O
second-level	B-Protocol
domains	I-Protocol
must	O
go	O
under	O
instead	O
of	O
.eu	O
,	O
and	O
all	O
domain	O
names	O
under	O
.ею	O
must	O
be	O
spelt	O
using	O
Cyrillic	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Greek	O
name	O
of	O
the	O
EU	O
is	O
(	O
)	O
,	O
but	O
would	O
be	O
too	O
visually	O
similar	O
to	O
.ee	B-General_Concept
,	O
the	O
top-level	O
domain	O
of	O
Estonia	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
proposal	O
was	O
to	O
have	O
one	O
and	O
the	O
same	O
registry	O
manager	O
of	O
.eu	O
,	O
.eю	O
and	O
,	O
which	O
shall	O
make	O
sure	O
second-level	B-Protocol
domains	I-Protocol
are	O
not	O
visually	O
similar	O
and	O
in	O
the	O
long-term	O
assign	O
all	O
Cyrillic	O
domains	O
under	O
.eu	O
to	O
and	O
all	O
Greek	O
letters	O
domains	O
to	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Domain	B-Protocol
name	I-Protocol
speculation	I-Protocol
,	O
domain	O
name	O
warehousing	O
and	O
cybersquatting	O
are	O
always	O
features	O
of	O
the	O
launch	O
of	O
any	O
new	O
TLD	O
;	O
however	O
,	O
this	O
was	O
more	O
widespread	O
in	O
the	O
case	O
of	O
the	O
.eu	O
launch	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Others	O
claimed	O
that	O
.eu	O
domain	O
had	O
been	O
actively	O
targeted	O
during	O
the	O
sunrise	B-Protocol
period	I-Protocol
by	O
speculators	O
using	O
fast-track	O
Benelux	O
trademarks	O
to	O
create	O
prior	O
rights	O
on	O
various	O
high-value	O
generic	O
terms	O
and	O
during	O
the	O
landrush	O
by	O
speculators	O
using	O
EU	O
front	O
companies	O
in	O
the	O
UK	O
and	O
Cyprus	O
to	O
register	O
large	O
numbers	O
of	O
domains	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
speculative	O
activity	O
occurred	O
with	O
the	O
launch	O
of	O
other	O
domains	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
the	O
scale	O
of	O
the	O
activity	O
that	O
called	O
into	O
question	O
the	O
competence	O
of	O
EURid	O
in	O
protecting	O
the	O
integrity	O
of	O
eu	O
ccTLD	B-Application
.	O
</s>
