• Two months before the sunrise phase starts, technical and administrative measures will be published in detail.

• In the first 2 months of the sunrise phase, registered national and European Community trademarks and geographical indications as well as names and acronyms of public bodies can be registered as .eu domain names by the holder/public body.

• Two months later, other “prior rights” holders can also register .eu domain names, but only as far as they are protected under national law in the member state where they are held. This provision concerns unregistered trademarks, trade names, business identifiers, company names, family names, and distinctive titles of protected literary and artistic works.

• There will be an alternative dispute resolution procedure in place (similar to ICANN’s “Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy” UDRP).

• After the sunrise phase, the domain names will be registered according to the first-come, first served-principle.

Conclusion: The tens of millions of registered second- and third-level domains are operated by individuals with a broad spectrum of capabilities. It is notable that the DNS has been able to function effectively and reliably despite this range of operator capabilities.

Conclusion: The UDRP is a unique cross-border, electronically based process that has resolved thousands of disputes over domain names without the expense and potential delay of court proceedings.

The issues of dispute resolution and appropriate Whois balance are examined in Chapter 5, where the alternative approaches are described and the committee’s recommendations presented.

Conclusion: The domain name technical system reliably and effectively handles the billions of queries it receives every day. The institutions that manage it perform the required functions adequately, in many cases without direct compensation.

Conclusion: The DNS technical system can continue to meet the needs of an expanding Internet. Early in the committee’s assessment it became apparent that it would not be fruitful to consider alternate naming systems. As noted, the DNS operates quite well for its intended purpose and