News
EU Policy Update – September 2023
In a nutshell: The President of the European Commission delivered the State of the Union 2023 speech. The European Commission published its 2023 Report on the state of the Digital Decade, and issued guidelines on the NIS 2 Directive. The European Parliament adopted the Regulation for the geographical indication protection of craft and industrial products. Europol published the first “spotlight” report, focusing on cyberattacks and crime-as-a-service. The EDPB and EDPS delivered a joint opinion on the proposal for GDPR review.
CENTR publishes latest TLD Market Report
The latest CENTRstats TLD Market Report 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.
CENTR publishes comment on the EU insolvency proposal
Brussels, 13 September 2023 – CENTR, the association of European national top-level domain name registries (ccTLDs), publishes a set of recommendations to amend the EU insolvency proposal, noting the high burden it places on ccTLDs in requests regarding domain name holders’ data.
EU Policy Update – Summer 2023
In a nutshell: The European Commission has published its strategy on Web 4.0 and virtual worlds, complemented by an own-initiative Draft Report from the European Parliament’s IMCO Committee. Trilogues on the agricultural geographical indication proposal continue after the summer break. The Commission published Key Performance Indicators under its Live Piracy Recommendation. A Proposal on Financial Data Access implicates domains. The European Commission adopted an adequacy decision on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which the EDPB confirmed in a note. The ENISA mandate and EU cybersecurity certification framework are up for evaluation. The path toward trilogues on the Cyber Resilience Act is cleared by the European Parliament’s ITRE Committee and the Council of the European Union. The Spanish Presidency issued a compromise text on the Proposal to combat child sexual abuse online. For some very large actors, the Digital Services Act has started taking effect. The European Parliament and Council have approved a trilogue compromise on the Energy Efficiency Directive.
CENTR Report on IETF117
The 117th IETF meeting took place in San Francisco between 22 and 28 July 2023 with more than 160 working group sessions, a 2-day hackathon, a wide range of side events. Marco Davids from SIDN Labs attended the meeting and has written a summary of the main points of relevance for CENTR members.
EU Policy Update – June 2023
In a nutshell: The GI proposal for agricultural products is expected to be finalised during the Spanish Presidency. JURI approved new competences for EUIPO to manage the registration of crafts/industrial GIs. The Council of the EU adopted the e-Evidence Regulation, as well as establishing a High-Level Expert Group on access to data for effective law enforcement. The European Parliament and the Council of the EU have reached a provisional political agreement on the European Digital Identity Framework. The European Commission launched four projects to test the European Digital Identity Wallet, published a proposal to review the GDPR, and plans to publish a Recommendation on integrated child protection systems in the EU. ENISA issued recommendations on Digital Identity Standards. IMCO adopted its opinion on the Cyber Resilience Act and approved its draft opinion on the Proposal to combat child sexual abuse online. LIBE published a draft report on the proposal to extend the list of EU crimes to hate speech and hate crime.
The missing link: geographic indications and their absence in domain names
In a world driven by digital presence, it is surprising to discover that many cherished regional products, protected as Geographic Indications (GIs), are noticeably absent from the online realm. Our recent research uncovers an intriguing reality: GIs, designed to safeguard the origin and quality of unique goods, have yet to establish a strong foothold as registered domain names in Europe. In this blogpost, we delve into the findings that shed light on this disconnect and explore the implications for both GIs and the digital landscape.
EuroDIG 2023: shaping the internet ecosystem for tomorrow
At CENTR, when we talk about the future of the internet ecosystem, our mantras are education and dialogue. As a forum, EuroDIG facilitates this, while also serving as a reunion for familiar faces in European internet governance. Preaching to the choir helps sharpen talking points.
ICANN77: DNS abuse measuring, mitigation and the way forward
During the ICANN77 meeting in Washington DC, the discussions on DNS abuse moved past some important hurdles. Building on the momentum created at ICANN76, both the gNSO and the ccNSO made substantial progress on the subject.
Access to domain name registration data: new developments during ICANN77
Discover the latest developments on access to domain name registration data in our first blogpost covering the ICANN77 meeting. Dive into the ongoing discussions surrounding WHOIS and the challenges of balancing privacy and security. Learn about the Registration Data Request Service (RDRS), a pilot project set to launch in November, aiming to address concerns and assess the need for a standardised access and disclosure system.