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By Suzanna Kerridge, 16 December 1999 00:20

NEWS UK Internet registration company, IDR, is offering pre-registration for the European dot-eu domain name, before the European Commission has even approved it. Companies wanting to take advantage of this future top-level domain name are placed on a waiting list. Once the European Commission makes the name a reality, the list will be transferred to IDR's official registration database for a fee of £100. James Panton, director of operations at IDR, said it was important for Europe to establish a domain name of its own: "The reason people want to register dot-eu is to profile themselves in the marketplace and be an active member of Europe. It's important as we've got 250 million people in Europe - it is a large market and a large community and in order to profit themselves effectively then they need a dot-eu." Panton added that he expected interest to be high. "We expect lots of interest in dot-eu - we see this as the dot-com of Europe and it will allow companies to profile in Europe as pan-European business entities." However, the future of the domain name is uncertain. The European Commission has yet to decide how it will be governed and who will qualify to use it. Ian Penman, lawyer at Dibb Lupton Alsop claimed the dot-eu debate offered the chance to move away from mistakes that have been made in the US. "One of the big mistakes that has been made is cybersquatting. But you can build a system that discourages that, for example by levying financial penalties for people who don't use the names they register. The EU could charge £1,000 for any name not in use after six months, and £10,000 after a year," he suggested.