A .eu domain must be held by an eligible party: a citizen of an EU member state, wherever they live; a natural person resident in the EU or EEA; or an undertaking or organisation established in the EU or EEA. A company based entirely outside that area cannot hold one directly.
An EU citizen qualifies wherever they live in the world. An EU or EEA resident qualifies. An organisation established in the EU or EEA qualifies. A company based entirely outside that area does not, and needs an eligible group company or a trustee to hold the domain.
The rules below are drawn from Regulation (EU) 2019/517 on the .eu top-level domain, which replaced the earlier regulations and became fully applicable in October 2022, and EURid's .eu Registration Policy and Terms and Conditions.
The shortcut
See which .eu trustee services hold the domain as an eligible EU or EEA party
Check the comparisonWho can hold a .eu domain
Article 3 of the regulation sets three qualifying categories. Meeting any one is enough.
- A citizen of a Union member state, regardless of their place of residence.
- A natural person resident in the Union or the EEA, regardless of citizenship.
- An undertaking or organisation established in the Union or the EEA.
Key point
The 2019 regulation widened this
The numbers that bound it
2019/517
The regulation now governing .eu
Oct 2022
When the regulation became fully applicable
Citizenship
Route added for EU nationals living outside the EU/EEA
Post-check
EURid verifies eligibility after registration, not before
Brexit is the cautionary tale
When the United Kingdom left the Union, UK residents and UK-established companies stopped being eligible. On 1 January 2021 EURid suspended, and later withdrew, .eu domains held by parties who could no longer meet Article 3. It is the clearest illustration that .eu eligibility is a continuing condition, not a one-time check.
The citizenship route
An individual who holds the nationality of any EU member state can register a .eu from anywhere. EURid may ask for evidence of citizenship (a passport or national ID) during a verification. This is the route most often overlooked: a non-EU company with an EU-citizen founder or director can sometimes have that person hold the domain personally, though that creates its own dependency and is not the same as the company holding it.
What the regulation says about trustees
The regulation does not mention trustees. It fixes the registrant as the party that must satisfy Article 3 and comply with the rules, which is what defines the arrangement.
The registrant must be eligible in its own right
The named registrant has to meet a category in Article 3. Under a trustee arrangement that is the trustee, an EU or EEA established entity. You, as beneficiary, do not need to be eligible.
Eligibility is checked after registration and can lead to revocation
EURid runs eligibility verifications and can suspend, then revoke, a domain held by an ineligible party. A trustee that stays established in the EU or EEA keeps the domain compliant; your own location is irrelevant to the check.
Accurate data and a working contact
The registrant must provide accurate contact data and respond to EURid. Inaccurate data is itself a ground for suspension. The trustee has to be the party that answers those requests.
Watch out
A trustee is not a workaround for a revoked domain
Transfer, revocation and exit
A .eu domain transfers between registrants with an authorisation code through the registrar. The incoming registrant must be eligible under Article 3.
- You must have become eligible, or line up another eligible holder.
- The trustee, as outgoing registrant, must release the domain and provide the code.
- The domain must be active and outside a dispute or a lock.
Watch out
The registry will not force a release
How registration works
Through an accredited registrar
Registration is registrar-only, first come first served, with acceptance of the .eu Terms and Conditions and the Registration Policy. EURid does not assess a right to a particular string at registration.
The eligibility declaration
The registrant states which Article 3 category it relies on. A false declaration is a breach and a ground for revocation when a verification catches it.
Name format
A .eu label is 2 to 63 characters using letters, digits and hyphens. Internationalised domain names are supported in Latin, Greek and Cyrillic scripts, with .ею and .ευ available as script variants of the .eu string.
What the public lookup shows
EURid's Whois publishes the registrant's email in a contactable form and shows the full record for legal persons, while withholding other personal data for natural persons unless they opt to publish. Under a trustee arrangement the trustee's details appear, a consequence of the trustee being the registrant rather than a privacy product.
If you are not eligible: two routes
Use an EU or EEA establishment
A subsidiary or branch with real activity anywhere in the EU or EEA makes you directly eligible for .eu and, at the same time, for .fr and .it. It is the clean route if you are trading in Europe.
Use a trustee
Faster and cheaper up front. The trustee is an EU or EEA established entity that is the registrant of record; you hold contractual rights against them. Compare .eu trustee providers, prices and exit terms.
Before you pay anyone
.eu trustee services compared on contract, exit terms and price
Find the right trusteeKeep reading on .eu
Frequently asked questions
Can a US company register a .eu domain?
Not directly. It needs an establishment in the EU or EEA, or an eligible group company, or a trustee. An EU-citizen director could hold it personally, with the dependency that creates.
Does an EU passport let me register .eu from outside Europe?
Yes. Since Regulation (EU) 2019/517, citizenship of any EU member state qualifies a natural person regardless of where they live.
What happened to UK-held .eu domains after Brexit?
Holders who could no longer meet Article 3 had their domains suspended from 1 January 2021 and later withdrawn. It is the standing example that .eu eligibility must be maintained, not just met once.
Can I move a .eu domain out of a trustee's name later?
Yes, if you have become eligible and the trustee releases the domain with the authorisation code. The limit is your contract with the trustee, not EURid.
Sources
Last updated September 2026. This explainer will be expanded with the regulation cited article by article. If you spot something out of date, email info@trusteeindex.com.