At a small signing ceremony in Brussels, Fabio Colasanti, the Director General of the European Commission's Information Society DG, joined with EURid board members Pierre Verbaeten (Chairman) Franco Denoth and Anders Janson to sign the Service Concession Contract to operate the .eu registry.
With the contract now concluded, the Commission will formally notify ICANN of the selected registry operator allowing official negotiations to commence between EURid and ICANN to have .eu put in the root.
Though preparations for the launch of .eu can now proceed with a little more certainty, EURid will be looking for a speedy conclusion to negotiations with ICANN in order to minimize delays in launching .eu. EURid has long maintained that it requires 6-9 months after contractual matters are concluded in order to commence .eu registrations, starting with the 4-month sunrise period required by the European Commission's Public Policy Rules for .eu.
EURid is currently working on the initial Registration Policy for .eu to include rules for phased registration (the sunrise period), a WHOIS policy and Alternative Dispute Resolution for disputes over .eu names. As required under the terms of Regulation 733/2002, which provided the legal framework for .eu, EURid will be consulting with the European Commission and other relevant parties on this document.
EURid will also concentrate on finalizing the .eu Registrar agreement and the Registrant Terms and Conditions which will be translated into all 20 official languages of the EU. Once .eu is in the root, EURid will begin to accredit a network of .eu registrars across EURid who will be able to take pre-registrations from their clients in preparation for the .eu launch. A comprehensive timetable will also be made available providing dates for significant events in the run-up to going live.
Over the coming months, the full rules and procedures for registration will begin to appear on the web site with translations into all official EU languages. EURid will liaise the Intellectual Property community and other stakeholder who benefit from the sunrise period in order to ensure greatest awareness of the sunrise period and the steps to be taken in order to protect their brands in the .eu names space.