The .eu extension is the top-level domain (TLD) for the European Union. These domains have existed since 2005, and around 3.6 million .eu domains are now registered. They are managed by EURid, based in Belgium. .eu domains can be registered by all residents of the European Economic Area (EEA). Users from outside the EEA need a trustee to do so – this applies, for example, to residents of the United Kingdom or Switzerland. Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland are a different case: although these countries are not members of the European Union, they belong to the EEA.

Registering an .eu domain is easy and usually takes only a few minutes. A domain can have a minimum of two and a maximum of 63 characters, so shorter or longer domains ending in .eu are not possible.

The .eu domain does not only exist in this spelling: a Cyrillic version (since 2016) and a Greek version (since 2019) are also active. .eu domains are especially popular with companies in Europe, although they are often used only to redirect to the actual company website.

At a glance: key facts about the .eu domain

• An .eu domain can be registered by residents of the European Economic Area, which includes Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland in addition to the EU member states
• Users from other countries (for example Switzerland) can only register an .eu domain through a trustee, who is entered as the official domain owner
• A domain ending in .eu can be between two and 63 characters long, so a domain such as a.eu is not possible; umlauts (ö, ä, ü) are permitted
• The Belgian company EURid manages .eu domains; around 2,500 new .eu domains are registered every day

Special features and more about the .eu domain

For a while there was discussion about allowing Swiss citizens to register .eu domains as well. In the end, however, this was rejected.

Users can manage their .eu domains conveniently: provider transfers, changes of owner and deletions take very little time.