MEP seeks answers over EU domain name ‘fraud’

British Liberal MEP Diane Wallis is calling for a full investigation into the scale of a possible “fraud” involving the new .eu domain name.

Eurid, the organisation designated by the European commission to allocate the new domain name, was forced last week to suspend 74,000 .eu domains.

Some 400 registrars have been sued by Eurid for “warehousing” – buying up large numbers of registrations to sell them on at a later date – a practice that is illegal in the EU.

“We are convinced that the domain name holders of the 74,000 .eu names are acting as a front for a number of registrars,” Herman Sobrie, legal manager of Eurid said last week.

“The domain name holders and the registrars can be regarded as one and the same.”

He said that three UK-based companies – Ovidio, Fausto and Gabino – were acting as a front for a number of non-European applicants, possibly based in the US.

The .eu domain can only be used by companies, organisations or individuals based in the EU.

Several other registrations have been suspended in the past because the applicants were unable to prove they were based in Europe.

Eurid wants to make the 74,000 names available for legitimate EU users in the future, after the court case which will not start until October.

But Wallis wants to see more immediate action.

“I have asked the European commission for a full explanation of how the .eu domain name allocation has been handled,” said the MEP, who sits on parliament’s legal affairs committee.

“It is unacceptable that people are apparently being charged extortionate amounts of money for an .eu domain name that they have a genuine interest in, and which appears to have been bought in advance by companies or individuals on a speculative basis for future sale.”

“If the scale of the abuse is anything like what appears to have taken place, this will represent a major EU scandal and commissioners will need to be brought to account.”

The European commission has not commented on the alleged fraud.

The .eu domain was launched in December 2005, but the majority of registrations have come since April, when the general public became eligible to apply.

The staggered registration process, which was initially limited to public bodies, trademark holders and companies, was meant to prevent the practice, also known as “cybersquatting”.

So far, more than two million .eu domains have been registered.

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