The .eu domain became available to residents and organisations within the European Union in April 2006. Before that time there was a four-month introduction phase, called Sunrise, which ran from 7 December 2005 until 6 April 2006.
During the Sunrise period, .eu registrations were available only to organisations and individuals, such as trademark holders, who could prove that they had prior rights to a particular name and, as a result, were entitled to claim the corresponding .eu domain name. All applications were accepted according to terms and conditions known as the Sunrise Rules (pdf).
In total, more than 245 000 .eu domain names were applied for during this period. Click here for additional Sunrise statistics.
EURid maintains a database of all Sunrise applications to ensure the transparency of the .eu registration process. To see if a particular .eu name was registered during the Sunrise period, enter it in the search box below.
After you search for a .eu domain name, you will be taken to a page with WHOIS policy information and a special code. To access further information about the Sunrise history of a domain name, you will need to enter the code as shown.