Over 320,000 applications for a . eu domain name have been made by individuals, organizations or companies within the European Union (EU) with three days to go before everyone could apply for .eu domain names.

The European Registry of Internet Domain Names (Eurid), the consortium that administers .eu addresses, said that it expects to see a surge in domain registrations when .eu becomes available to all, Belgian media reported Tuesday.

The .eu top-level domain names have been available for registration since Dec. 7 last year, but only holders of prior rights within the EU have been eligible to apply, preventing speculators from stepping in.

During a two-month period ending Feb. 6 this year, public bodies and government-held organizations, along with holders of registered trademarks in any of the 25 EU member states, had a priority to register corresponding .eu domain names.

The following two months expanded the coverage to applications for .eu domain names corresponding to the names of individual companies.

But as from April 7 the domain will open for registration to the public, with names available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Firms and citizens in Germany, France, the Netherlands and Britain have showed the greatest interest in registering .eu addresses. Belgium is ranked the fifth, with almost 17,000 applications for a .eu web address lodged from the country and 1, 400 Belgian .eu addresses already in use.

Source: Xinhua