Commission pressed over .eu web name abuse

6.11.11pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 12th Jul 2006

London's Liberal Democrat MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford is asking the European Commission to put an end to abuse of the .eu domain name system.

"There needs to be a crackdown on abuse of the new domain by 'cyber-squatters'. This is an anti-competitive and abusive practice which limits the choice of individual and corporate consumers to market themselves on the internet."

"I am asking the European Commission through a parliamentary question what steps they are taking to halt abuse of this new domain. It would be a shame if a new European venture was to be spoiled through misuse and exploitation."

Note to editors

The new .eu domain was opened for general registration by the public in April 2006. In the first four hours of public registration for the domain over 700,000 new registrations were received by Eurid, the organisation contracted by the European Commission to run the pan-European top level domain (TLD).

The .eu address is expected to be especially popular among EU businesses and organisations who want to give their websites a European image through a web address that ends with .eu instead of .com or .co.uk.

A constituent has brought to Sarah Ludford's attention the increasing reports of abuse of the new domain by 'cyber-squatters' who register new .eu addresses in bulk and then sell them at inflated prices to consumers who want a particular .eu address.