(BRUSSELS) – 13 years after .eu’s initial launch, Europeans living outside the European Union will from October 2019 have the right to register for a .eu top-level domain – no matter where in the world they are residing.
Previously limited to residents of EU and EEA countries, the .eu space currently ranks as the seventh largest country code extension on the internet.
Around 12 million Europeans live in the United States, Canada and Australia; with 3.7 million EU citizens and businesses already using a reliable, trustworthy and secure .eu domain name, the new rules will facilitate access to the Digital Single Market for those living outside Europe and will allow them to display their European identity online.
The new rules shall fully apply from 13 October 2022 and provide the legal flexibility for the .eu domain to adapt to market changes while modernising its governance structure.
The domain name is already available as .??, in Cyrillic script, and as of November 2019, it will also be available in Greek script as .e?, enabling a truly multilingual online presence for all Europeans.