What is EURid and what does it do?

When it comes to registering a domain, you may occasionally come across EURid as an organisation - and may not know much about it. We explain who EURid is, what its role is, and why it is of significant importance for European unity in the following article.

EURid as an Organisation

"EURid" is an abbreviation for "European Registry of Internet Domain Names". One might think that EURid is a registrar operating across Europe for various domain extensions. However, EURid actually manages exclusively the .eu domain extension (and the alternative versions of the domain extension in Cyrillic and Greek scripts).

Non-Profit Organisation in Brussels

EURid is a non-profit organisation headquartered near Brussels (Diegem). Its sole task is the administration and technical operation of the "European" domain extension ".eu". This responsibility falls on around 60 employees. In addition to the headquarters in Brussels, there are branch offices in Stockholm, Pisa, and Paris. Therefore, EURid is somewhat the European counterpart to DENIC, which is responsible for the technical operation of the .de domain.

The institution was founded in 2003 based on a EUR regulation, after the EU decided in 2002 to introduce a European top-level domain. The EU Commission then selected EURid in a selection process from several applicants as the fully responsible registrar.

Although EURid is a non-profit association founded under Belgian law, it still generates a relatively high annual turnover of around 12 million EUR for its business purpose.

The .eu Domain Extension

Although the EU Commission had already selected a future registrar in 2003, some initial difficulties and especially the very late approval from the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) meant that the .eu domain extension was only actually allocated from December 2005, initially only for registered trademarks and public bodies. Those who wanted a .eu domain for their website in 2002 had to wait quite a long time before they actually had a functional .eu domain.

The Cyrillic variant was added in 2016, and the Greek variant of the domain extension has only been available for registration since 2019.

Current Number of .eu Domains

Most commercial websites opt for their respective country code top-level domain (ccTLDs), such as .de, .it, .at - this is also considered advisable from an SEO perspective (Search Engine Optimisation). A domain extension that does not match the country code or .com is still considered "exotic" in many circles, similar to ".biz" or ".tv".

Nevertheless, there are currently over 3.7 million .eu domains registered, with sometimes over 2,500 registrations added per day. Surprisingly, in Germany, where the "exotic" .eu domain is often discouraged in favour of a .de or .com domain, the most .eu domains are registered - with around 1 million registrations, more than double the number in the second-place Netherlands (around 460,000). France, Italy, and Poland each have between 200,000 and 300,000 .eu domains, making them countries with a very high number of .eu domains, while the rest of the EU member countries mostly have registrations well below 100,000.

Even the Cyrillic and Greek variants are comparatively rarely used, with only around 2,700 registered Greek domains currently, and even fewer registered domains for the Cyrillic variant at around 1,300.

Registration Requirements

In order to register a .eu domain, certain requirements must be met:

• Companies and organisations must have a branch in an EU member state or in Iceland, Liechtenstein, or Norway
• Individuals must have a residence in one of the aforementioned countries
• Alternatively, registration is also allowed if an individual holds citizenship of an EU state, Iceland, Liechtenstein, or Norway - the actual place of residence is then irrelevant

An interesting question is what impact Brexit has on new registrations or existing .eu domains. New registrations have not been possible since 1 January 2021 - for website owners in the UK with a .eu domain, Brexit also brought bad news: if they could not prove compliance with the registration requirements (company location, EU residence for individuals, or EU citizenship), the domain was moved to a "Suspended" status after January 2021 and ceased to function. Until the end of March 2021, such a domain could be reactivated by changing the data, after which it was permanently lost. The former domain names have been available for new registrations since 1 January 2022.

Clear Commitment to the EU

Apart from the warnings of many SEO experts, there is another political dimension to .eu domains that should be considered when deciding on a domain extension for your website: By choosing .eu as a domain extension, you are making it clear that you see your own company primarily as a European company - and thus clearly support the European idea and the unity of the EU. Even individuals can make it clear that they see themselves primarily as Europeans by choosing a .eu domain. While this may not be automatically perceived by every user, as a website owner, you can make this clear.

One of the reasons for the creation of an EU domain was also to make such a commitment to the European idea, the EU, and European values possible on the internet through EURid - and in recent years of increasing external conflicts, the growing nationalist orientation in individual EU member states, and the endless disputes within the EU, such a commitment to Europe may not be wrong in some cases.

Our article is based on our own experiences and research as well as information from external sources.

Sources & further links on the topic:
https://eurid.eu/ (official website of EURid)
https://www.eco.de/mitglieder/eurid-vzw/ (EURid at eco - Association of the Internet Industry)
https://www.press1.de/ibot/db/press1.Leonce_1411385601.html (Press release on the introduction of the domain extension in Cyrillic and Greek scripts)

Image credit:
EstudioWebDoce on Pixabay