News

[Brussels, 5 December 2024] – The Council of European National Top-Level Domain Registries (CENTR) is proud to announce the release of the public version of its comprehensive 2024 Renewal Study, providing insights into the factors that drive domain retention across country code top-level domains (ccTLDs). 

The European Digital Identity (EUDI) Regulation (eIDAS 2,0) is expected to bring a secure and fundamental rights-respecting digital identity to all EU citizens and residents by 2026. Before the European Digital Identity Wallets make their way into the life of Europeans, some technical aspects need to be considered. This is why CENTR brought together key industry experts to reflect on the interplay between European digital identity, the Domain Name System, and standardisation in a fireside chat event titled “Interoperability as the Way Forward: Digital Wallets and Internet Infrastructure”.

The United Nations’ work on the Global Digital Compact (GDC) is officially over. After nearly two years of consultations, negotiations and several text revisions, the GDC became another part of the intricate mosaic of the documents reconfirming the multistakeholder model of the global  Internet Governance. While the long-term influence of this non-binding document is not clear yet, it will be, for better or worse, referred to in the future Internet Governance negotiations. One such negotiation is the upcoming review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) taking place next year. 

ICANN81 marks 7 months since the DNS abuse amendments to ICANN Registrar and Registry contracts went into effect. During these months, the ICANN Org and the wider community have been gathering data and reports to inform the ongoing discussions on how to address the “Big 5” of DNS abuse: malware, botnets, phishing, pharming, and spam when used as a delivery mechanism for the other forms of DNS abuse. Notably the ICANN81 discussions are significant for bringing in constructive feedback from communities that have been largely absent from previous discussions: Namely on assessing the risks to registrants’ human rights when taking measures to mitigate DNS at the domain name level. 

In a nutshell: Designated Commissioners outlined their priorities. Sauli Niinistö published the report on strengthening Europe’s security. The EDPB published opinion on the controller-processor obligations, guidelines on legitimate interest basis for processing data, and its Work Programme for 2024-2025. The Council of the EU adopted the Cyber Resilience Act. The European Commission adopted NIS 2 implementing act and concluded a Fitness Check of EU consumer law on digital fairness. Europol published a report on Intellectual Property crime with EUIPO, and a report on the use of encryption with Eurojust.

CENTR supports the Internet Society (ISOC) and other organisations and individuals within civil society, technical community, academia and consumer protection in the call to preserve a fundamental net neutrality principle in any EU legislative and policy discussions on the future of networks.

In a nutshell: The portfolios of the upcoming European Commissioners were unveiled. The European Commission published its second GDPR report. The NIS Cooperation Group published recommendations for implementing NIS 2 Article 28. ENISA published its annual cybersecurity overview in the EU, and it will support the EU Digital Identity Wallet certification. The Hungarian presidency shared an update on the proposal for the Insolvency Directive. The European Parliament Research Service published a study on the AI Liability Directive. The UN General Assembly adopted the Global Digital Compact. Mario Draghi outlined how to make the EU more competitive.

A recent CENTR study delves into the renewal rates, examining how renewals are influenced by domain usage and age.

The research assesses the relationship between domain classification, age and retention, focusing specifically on how web content and registration longevity impact likelihood of renewal.

On 18 September, the NIS Cooperation Group, consisting of EU Member States’ representatives, issued its long-awaited recommendations on Article 28 of the NIS 2 Directive, targeted at national competent authorities and entities in the scope of the NIS 2 Directive's registration data accuracy obligations that includes TLD registries, registrars, resellers, and privacy/proxy services. At CENTR, we have been following closely both the NIS 2 Directive negotiations, as well as its transposition period. We have also issued our own recommendations for national authorities to take into account when transposing Article 28 into national legal frameworks. 

In a nutshell: The European Commission filed an action against the EDPS, published a report on the State of the Digital Decade, a study on geoblocking, a risk assessment report on cyber resilience on EU’s telecommunications and electricity sectors, and opened consultations on Digital Identity Wallets, EU-US Data Privacy Framework and guidelines on the protection of minors under the DSA. European Commission’s president-elect von der Leyen published Political guidelines for the upcoming Commission mandate, CPC Network started an action against Meta’s ‘pay or consent’ model. Europol published the IOCTA report. United Nations’ Ad Hoc Committee finalised the Convention against Cybercrime.