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Romanian .EU Registrations Boom While British Decline as Brexit Looms

Romanian domain name registrations in the .eu TLD surged 28.2% in the second quarter of 2018, according to the latest EURid Quarterly Update. And while there were 171,843 new registrations for the second quarter, total registrations dropped from 3,824,289 at the end of the first quarter to 3,790,450 at the end of the second, which EURid attributes some to their abusive domain name suspension efforts and the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and .eu.

EURid efforts to deal with abusive domain names have seen 36,336 suspended during the first 6 months of 2018, 11,760 on one day in June alone that were registered with non-eligible registration data, of which some have been reported for abuse.

“Compared to 2017, where we suspended 20,126 abusive domain names, we’re up to 36,336 abusive domain name suspensions thus far in 2018” said Geo Van Langenhove, EURid Legal Manager.

Also during the quarter, EURid and the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC) announced a joint effort to fight cybercrime in the .eu domain name space.

Other highlights were the average renewal rate during the second quarter for .eu was 82% and there were 38,286 internationalised domain names (IDNs) under .eu.

The top countries for .eu and .ею registrations were Germany (994,044), Netherlands (504,052), France (347,205), United Kingdom (304,133) and Italy (262,762). The smallest were Saint Martin (1), Mayotte (2), French Guiana (56), Martinique (143) and Aland Island (200). But with Brexit looming, most of the 304,133 registrations to British registrants are at risk once Britain leaves the European Union as the European Union requires registrants to be resident in or a resident of the European Union. British registrants are likely already getting prepared, as registrations dropped around 19,000 for the quarter, down from 323,166 at the end of the first quarter.

In other EURid news, this week they announced the nomination and voting period for the 2018 .eu Web Awards ended on 1 August. To view the nominees under each category, go to webawards.eurid.eu. The 3 finalists per category will be unveiled on 5 September.