European domain registry EURid have recorded a rise in registrations for .EU domains in Romania but at the same time a steep decline from those in the U.K. The domain registry attributed this rise and fall to suspensions of abusive domain names and the risks surrounding Brexit and the .EU domain name.
According to EURid, the Romanian domain name registrations in the .EU TLD increased by 28.2% in the second quarter of 2018. This rise, EURid believes, is a result of them partnering with International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC) to fight cybercrime in the .EU domain name space.
Along with this rise, EURid say that they have also witnessed a massive fall in total .EU domain registrations in the second quarter of 2018. They say that registrations dropped from 3,824,289 at the end of the first quarter to 3,790,450 at the end of the second quarter.
Explaining this, Geo Van Langenhove, Legal Manager at EURid, commented:
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.
EURid say that the top countries for .EU and .ею registrations were Germany (994,044), Netherlands (504,052) France (347,205) and the U.K.(304,133). In closing, they said that the average renewal rate during the second quarter for .EU was 82% and there were 38,286 internationalised domain names (IDNs) under .EU.