The new statement is outlining the perspective of European ccTLD registries on the EU action plan on fighting online fraud. As the EU continues to strengthen its response to cyber-enabled fraud, ccTLD operators are contributing operational evidence from their role at the core of Europe’s internet infrastructure, where they help safeguard the stability, security, and trustworthiness of the domain name system.
In its contribution, CENTR highlights the need for proportionate, technically feasible, and evidence-based measures that reflect the distributed nature of the internet ecosystem. The statement also stresses that EU ccTLDs already operate under a broad and evolving regulatory framework and calls on the European Commission to ensure that any future action builds on existing rules, avoids duplication, and recognises the technical role and limits of DNS operators.
CENTR members highlight that:
- EU ccTLDs are consistently recognised as zones with very low levels of abuse, thanks to tailored practices adapted to each national and regulatory context. There is no “one size fits all” approach to tackling online abuse.
- Domain-level intervention to counter online fraud should remain exceptional and only be considered by competent public authorities when no other effective means are available.
- Additional or stricter fraud-prevention obligations on EU ccTLDs are unnecessary, given already low abuse rates and the recent adoption of multiple EU regulatory frameworks that are still being implemented.
- Clear EU-level proportionality guidelines would help ensure consistent decisions when authorities involve DNS service providers and ccTLDs in fraud mitigation actions.
- Voluntary cooperation between ccTLDs and public authorities is already delivering results and should be further supported through capacity-building and resources.
Read the full CENTR statement here
