News
Call for tender for the role of European TLD ISAC Coordinator
CENTR, the association of European country code top-level domain (ccTLD) registries, such as .at for Austria or .es for Spain, is looking for a consultant to take on the role of CENTR European TLD ISAC (Information Sharing and Analysis Centre) Coordinator.
EU Policy Update – January 2023
In a nutshell: EU ambassadors and LIBE endorsed a political agreement on e-Evidence. Europol and Eurojust published a situation report on access to electronic evidence by law enforcement and judicial authorities in 2022. IMCO adopted its opinion on the proposal for a regulation on GI protection for craft and industrial products, while JURI adopted its opinion on the proposal for a regulation on GI protection for agricultural products. MEPs in AGRI expressed concerns over EUIPO’s increased competence within the GI reform. The EDPB adopted reports on cookie banners and the use of cloud services by the public sector. A 2022 consumer protection “sweep” identified an increase of dark patterns within web shops.
First joint CENTR-LACTLD webinar!
On Thursday 26 January 2023, members of the CENTR Administrative and Marketing Working Groups and of the LACTLD Commercial Working Group joined together online for the first time to discuss registrar accreditation.
EU Policy Update – Outlook to 2023
In a nutshell: Sweden is holding the Presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of the year. The geographical indications reform is moving through the clogs of the EU legislative machine, with the Council being slightly more ahead with the discussions on the crafts and industrial products. The NIS 2 Directive entered into force, paving the way towards its upcoming implementation phase in the Member States. Member States are divided over the provisional agreement on the e-Evidence package, while the European Parliament endorsed the ratification of the Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention. The European Commission is expected to reform the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation.
CENTR publishes the CENTRstats Global TLD Report Edition 3/2022
The CENTRstats Global TLD Report Edition 3/2022 has been published. It covers the global status and registration trends in all top-level domains (legacy gTLDs, new gTLDs and ccTLDs), with a specific focus on the European ccTLD market.
Independent study shows very low number of geographical indications disputes within European domain names
The EU is reforming its legal framework concerning geographical indications (GI) protection and has put forward provisions expanding GI protection to domain names in two recent legislative proposals concerning agricultural products and craft/industrial products. In order to support greater GI protection on the internet, both proposals mandate the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to establish a “domain name information and alert system”.
EU Policy Update – November 2022
In a nutshell: November was a fruitful month for negotiations in the EU bubble, with both the Council of the EU and the European Parliament adopting the NIS 2 Directive, and the European Parliament adopting the CER Directive. Co-legislators also reached a political agreement on the e-Evidence proposal. The Council adopted its General Approach on the EUID proposal, whilst the IMCO Committee issued its Opinion on the file. As for geographical indications, the AGRI Committee issued its Draft Report on the proposal for agricultural products and received numerous amendments, which was also the case for IMCO and JURI regarding amendments on the craft and industrial products proposal. The EDPS released its Opinion on the Cyber Resilience Act.
CENTR Report on IETF115
The 115th IETF meeting took place in London between 5 and 11 November 2022 with 100-plus working group sessions, 2 technology deep dive sessions, a 2-day IETF hackathon and various side events. Marco Davids and Caspar Schutijser from SIDN Labs attended the meeting and have written a summary of the main points of relevance for CENTR members.
New ITU Secretary General: "I believe in multi-stakeholder cooperation"
Doreen Bogdan-Martin is the first woman at the head of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The US American easily won the race against the only other candidate in the October election of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference (PP22), former Deputy Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, Rashid Ismailov (139 against 25 of 172 Member States). Russia at the same time lost its seat on the ITU Council. Together with her newly elected Deputy Tomas Lamanauskas of Lithuania, Bogdan-Martin gives the ITU a more western face. Elected as the ITU Director of the Development Bureau four years ago, she could turn the page in the history of the UN body founded in 1865 to lean more into its development oriented mandate. While Western countries and internet technical bodies welcomed decisions at the Plenipotentiary to leave the internet related mandate of the ITU pretty much unchanged, Bogdan-Martin, who starts her term on 1 January 2023, has to deal with the growing geopolitical tensions following Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
2022 Annual CENTR Meeting: CENTR Chair looks back on the past year
2022 turned out to be quite a challenging year, but CENTR has proven – as many times before – to be robust and well-prepared. The Annual CENTR Meeting which took place last week in Brussels gives us an opportunity to pause and reflect on this busy year.