A new rule taking effect on 19th February will give European domain name registrars new powers to fight such problems as phishing, spam and other abuses. Registrars of the .eu domain will be able to prevent the transfer of ownership of a Domain Name if the registrant is suspected of abuse. In the past, 14 days notice has been required before suspending ownership transfers, so this new move will make prevention and investigation of these problems easier. Websites will still be able to function, however, said Patrik Linden, communications manager for the European Registry of Internet Domain Names (Eurid).

Eurid, based in Belgium, is a non-profit organisation which has been running for about a year, and which oversees the administration of the .eu domain, which was launched in December 2005. About 2.4 million domains have been registered with the .eu TLD to date.

Eurid has had run-ins with registrars before. In July 2006, 74,000 .eu domains were suspended when Eurid suspected that they had been purchased with the intent of resale, a practice which is forbidden under .eu guidelines. Eurid also sued 400 registrars, and later announced that most of the illegal purchases could be traced back to three linked UK-based registrars.