A domain name for Europe

The European Commissioner for Enterprise and IT, Erkki Liikanen, has announced that he wants businesses in Europe to be able to use a dot-eu top-level domain name by the end of next year.

The idea was put to the Commission by London law firm, Dibb Lupton Alsop (DLA). A pan-European domain name, the firm explained, could give Europe a bite at the juiciest part of the Internet apple. With over seven million dot-com addresses registered so far - mostly to US entities - the options for European companies coming online now are limited.

DLA also argues that a European name will be more accessible to foreign surfers, who don't know to type in dot-de for a German company or dot-bg for a Bulgarian one.

But maybe there's a better reason.

A European domain gives companies the chance to reach out to customers in a specific geographic region. It says to users that they will be serviced by these companies in a way that dot-com does not. As a consumer, I want to know that the sites I visit will ship goods to Europe. I want to know that news and information I read will not be focussed exclusively on the US.

The domain could be a way for a Polish or German or British company to expand its operations across a wider geographic region, but not across the whole world. Half of the UK's foreign trade is conducted with other European countries, making Europe by far the UK's most important trading partner. The domain could be also be used as a shop-front for a US or Japanese company that wants to target European businesses and consumers.

The problem lies in defining the geographic area encompassed by dot-eu. Left in the hands of the European Commission, it almost certainly means the European Union. But this will simply create confusion - or even exclusion, if the EU becomes politically strident and refuses East European businesses from registering.

Try this test: How many member states are in the EU? Name them. (*Answers at end of article.) It's not the sort of information your average consumer or business person has at their fingertips. The success of a dot-eu domain depends on an average person knowing what Europe means, and more people know that Poland is in Europe than know it's not a member of the EU.

No doubt some companies that apply for this name will target all of Europe, east and west. Some will target only selected countries. A few won't care either way. But creating a pan-European, online marketplace will only strengthen Europe's digital economy.

*A: There are 15 members of the European Union: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK.