How to register a .eu domain: eligibility, price and transfer

A .eu domain is the domain extension of the European Union. You can register one if you live or are established in an EU member state, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway, or if you are a citizen of one of those countries, wherever you live. At LJPc hosting a .eu domain costs €17.99 a year excluding VAT, with DNS management included, and you order it in the customer portal.

Below you can read who is eligible for a .eu domain, which naming rules apply, when .eu is the right choice, what it costs and how to register a .eu domain or transfer one to LJPc.

What is a .eu domain?

.eu is the top-level domain of the European Union, in the same way .nl belongs to the Netherlands. It is run by EURid, a Belgian not-for-profit association appointed by the European Commission as the registry. EURid keeps the register of all .eu names and sets the rules. EURid also runs the variants .ею (Cyrillic script) and .ευ (Greek script).

You always register a .eu domain through a registrar such as LJPc hosting. The registrar records the registration with EURid, renews it and passes on changes to your details. You update your registration data through your registrar, not directly with EURid.

Who can register a .eu domain?

Under the EURid rules for .eu domains and the .eu terms and conditions (PDF), these are the eligibility requirements:

You must keep meeting these requirements for as long as the domain is in your name. If you no longer qualify, for example because your business moves outside Europe, EURid can revoke the domain. EURid emails you first and, where possible, gives you the opportunity to put things right.

Your registration data must be your own: your own name or that of your organisation, with an address, phone number and a working email address. Details of a proxy or of someone who does not meet the requirements are not allowed.

If you live in Switzerland or your business is established there, also consider a .ch domain: anyone can register one.

You live outside Europe and hold a European citizenship

EURid then needs your country of citizenship. Add it to your WHOIS contact before you order the .eu domain:

1. Log in to the customer portal and choose WHOIS contacts in the Services menu.
2. Click the pencil icon next to the contact you register the domain with. This is usually the contact labelled Default.
3. Under TLD-specific properties, choose .eu in the list.
4. Under Add property, choose Country of citizenship and select your country.
5. Click Save.

Everything else about WHOIS contacts is in manage the WHOIS data of your domain.

Naming rules for a .eu domain

• Length. A .eu name is 2 to 63 characters long, not counting the .eu extension.
• Characters. Use the letters a to z, the digits 0 to 9 and the hyphen. Letters with accents, such as é, ü or ø, are allowed too.
• Hyphens. A name cannot start or end with a hyphen and cannot have hyphens in both the third and fourth position, as in ab--cd.
• One script per name. Names in Latin script go under .eu, Cyrillic names under .ею and Greek names under .ευ. You cannot mix scripts in one name.
• Available names. Some names are blocked or reserved, for example for member states and EU institutions. Everything else is first come, first served.

EURid allows a registration term of 1 to 10 years, after which it renews one year at a time. At LJPc hosting a .eu domain runs per year and we renew it automatically every year.

.eu, .nl or both?

Google treats .eu as a generic extension, like .com. According to Google's guidance on multi-regional sites, .eu is associated with a region but does not signal one specific country, while a country code such as .nl or .de does. Pick what fits you:

How to redirect a second domain to your main site is explained in redirect a domain to another website.

How much does a .eu domain cost at LJPc?

A .eu domain costs €17.99 a year at LJPc hosting, excluding VAT. You pay the same amount to transfer an existing .eu domain to us. The order wizard shows the price before you order, and our domain names page lists the current prices of all extensions.

You add hosting for your website and email as you need it. You can also choose DNS management only, or redirect the domain to another website. Our packages are on the web hosting page.

How to register a .eu domain at LJPc

1. Log in at portal.ljpc.nl and click Add a website on the dashboard, or go straight to the order wizard. No account yet? Create one first.
2. Choose I am looking for one or want to register one and type the name with .eu, for example yourcompany.eu. You see right away whether it is available and what it costs per year, with other extensions alongside.
3. Select the .eu domain and then what it should do: a hosting package, DNS management only, a redirect package, or a server or hosting space you already have with us.
4. In the cart, check the Registration contact: the details EURid registers the domain under. Make sure your name and address are correct and that you meet the requirements above.
5. Accept the terms and conditions and complete your order. As soon as your order is complete, we register the domain with EURid.

All choices in the order wizard are covered in register a domain and link it to your hosting. Your .eu domain then appears in the portal under Services > Domain names. Is the name you want already taken? Read backorder a domain name to claim it the moment it becomes available.

What LJPc takes care of for your .eu domain

• Automatic yearly renewal. Automatic renewal is on by default, so your .eu domain stays active for as long as your subscription runs. To stop, see cancel a domain or hosting.
• DNS and DNSSEC. Your domain gets our nameservers ns1.ljpc.network, ns2.ljpc.network and ns3.ljpc.network, and we switch on DNSSEC automatically. How that protection works is explained in what is DNSSEC.
• EURid email in your portal. The email address on your domain is an address of your customer portal, so messages from EURid about your domain arrive in the Inbox of the portal.
• Your details under your control. You update the holder and contact details of your domain yourself in the portal, as described in manage the WHOIS data of your domain. To put the domain in someone else's name, see change the owner of a domain.

When EURid asks you to verify your details

To fight abuse, EURid checks whether the details of domain holders are accurate, both at registration and later on. Sometimes EURid asks you to review and validate your registration data yourself. That email comes from no-reply@eurid.eu or whoisaccuracy@eurid.eu, and for a domain registered with LJPc it arrives in the Inbox of your customer portal.

1. Check that your name, address and phone number are correct. If something needs to change, update your WHOIS contact in the portal first.
2. Then validate your details as described in the EURid email, before the date given in it.

If you do not validate in time, EURid suspends the domain: WHOIS shows it as Server Hold and the website and email on the domain stop working. New .eu domains in your name are then suspended straight away too, and a suspended domain cannot be transferred to another registrar. Stuck on the validation? Open a support ticket.

Transfer your .eu domain to LJPc

You transfer a .eu domain with a transfer authorisation code. It is a 16-character code in the format XXXX-AAAA-BBBB-CCCC, valid for 40 days or until it is used. You get it from your current registrar. If that does not work, EURid lets you generate it yourself in My .eu, using your domain name and the email address on your domain. A .eu domain has no transfer lock to switch off, and once a valid code is used, your current registrar cannot stop the transfer.

1. Is your website or email moving too? Set them up with us first, because after the transfer the nameservers of your domain point to LJPc. See migrate your website to LJPc.
2. Get the transfer code from your current registrar or generate it in My .eu.
3. Open the order wizard, choose I already have one at another registrar, enter your .eu domain and choose Transfer to LJPc. Enter the transfer code. The portal checks right away whether the transfer can go ahead with that code.
4. Choose hosting or DNS management only and complete your order. We start the transfer and you follow its status in the portal.

A .eu transfer adds a year to your term: the time you already had with your current registrar stays, and the registration is extended by one year. A suspended domain, or one involved in a dispute, cannot be transferred. To follow the transfer step by step until it is done, see transfer your domain to LJPc.

Transfer your .eu domain from LJPc to another provider

To move your .eu domain to another provider, you need the transfer code from us. Request it with a support ticket, then give the code to your new provider, who requests the transfer. What else is involved, such as the end of your subscription, is covered in get your EPP code and transfer your domain.

Keep your .eu domain at another registrar

Want to keep your .eu domain at your current registrar and only host your website or email with us? Then the domain does not need to move. Connect it with our nameservers, as described in change your nameservers, or with individual DNS records, as described in point a domain to LJPc hosting.

Cancelled or expired: quarantine

When a .eu domain is deleted, for example because it was cancelled or not renewed, it spends 40 days in quarantine at EURid. During that time the website and email on the domain no longer work, but the holder can still restore it through the registrar. After that the name is released and anyone can register it. What to do in that situation is explained in expired domain or quarantine.

Want to claim a name someone else lets expire? Use a backorder.

Not sure whether .eu suits you, or is a transfer stuck? Open a support ticket and we will look into it with you.