Brussels, 25 March 2002

The European Commission welcomes today's adoption by the EU's Council of Telecommunications Ministers of the Regulation to implement the '.eu' Internet top-level domain, allowing European citizens, organisations and businesses to have '.eu' web-site and e-mail addresses.

"The introduction of a new .eu Internet domain will create a truly European identity in cyberspace for EU Internet users. The adoption of the .eu Regulation paves the way for EU Internet users, for the first time, to be able to have pan-European domain names and e-mail addresses" said European Commissioner Erkki Liikanen.

After extensive consultations with the European Internet community, the Member States and the European Parliament, the adoption of this Regulation will allow the Commission to take the necessary steps to put the infrastructure for .eu in place.

These include the selection of a private, non-profit organisation to manage the .eu Top Level Domain, and the definition of rules to safeguard certain public policy issues.

© European Communities, 1995-2002