35/02 - German Institute for Telematics wants to be in charge of the '.eu' Internet domain - application in Brussels

Brussels/Trier. Germany's Top Internet Research and Development

Centre, the Institute for Telematics e.V. in Trier (www.telematik-institut.org) is going to apply today

(October 25) to be in charge of the new European .eu domain. As the

Director of the Institute, Professor Christoph Meinel (48),

indicated, the complete application papers are going to be

submitted to the European Commission in Brussels today. According

to the scientist his Institute has "a fair chance as an Outsider",

since it is an fully independent and non-profit organisation and is

conveniently located in the four-countries region of Germany,

Belgium, Luxemburg, and France where close, direct contacts with

the interested parties are concerned. Also the highly qualified

staff and its own Trust Centre, which acts as a so-called

"electronic notary", encouraged the Trier Institute to make this

application. It is not known whether there are other German

candidates for the so-called "Registry".

Prof. Christoph Meinel pointed out that administration of the

Top Level Domain (TLD) registry does not refer to commercial

dealings with the end customers who wish to have an Internet domain

ending with .eu. This is dealt with individually by the providers

of the registration services in each member country. The European

Commission is rather seeking a non-commercial organisation, which

would co-operate in setting the rational, basic registration rules

and to organise, administer and manage the .eu TLD. The objective

is to prevent, for example, "speculative and abusive" registration

of .eu domains. It would also deal with out-of-court settlements

and regulations concerning revocation of the domain registration.

Finally, close co-operation with the Internet Cooperation for

Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the federal, world-wide

Internet administration agency in the US, should be pursued.

The computer science specialist also stated that "The Institute

for Telematics is surely aware of the accompanying risks." The

Commission wants to conclude, in the first instance, a five-year

contract which would, among other things, regulate the financial

obligations and would guarantee the European Commission a clear,

individual involvement. Prof. Christoph Meinel stated that the

submitted Business Plan still comprises "a calculation with several

unknowns." Details should be clarified in the course of forthcoming

negotiations.

The objective of the Top Level Domain .eu, which will be

reserved exclusively for the citizens and enterprises of the EU

member countries, is to counterbalance the American Internet-based

marketing advantage. Globally, there is a predominance of the

famous "dot-COM" domains, for instance, which are used by a

majority of American companies and organisations to present

themselves on the World Wide Web. In contrast, the EU enterprises

could not until now appear under an European Top Level Domain that

would be common for all EU member countries.