Iria

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Trademark holders and government bodies can start claiming their European identities on the Internet from 1000 GMT on Wednesday, when the registers open for the new ".eu" domain name aimed at boosting European e-commerce.

The first steps toward a European Internet domain were taken in 1999 and later supported by the European Commission to encourage cross-border electronic commerce within the Union.

"This is the first time we see a geographic top level domain shared by multiple countries. It creates an e-commerce trading block the EU hopes to benefit by," said David Saias, vice president of sales for Register.com, one of the big registrar companies with which requests for domain names can be filed.

New EU member states such as Poland, which want a bigger presence on the Web, can use the ".eu" domain to be more visible and easier to find, he said.

But even in the traditional EU nations such as Germany, many companies currently register their Internet name under the national ".de" name instead of the ".com" space which is associated with American or global organizations.

If successful, the ".eu" domain could become the de facto domain for all European organizations, which would make it easier for companies and consumers to find and approach companies outside their home countries, Saias said.
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