With the increasing popularity of European Domain names, Restina, the Luxembourg ‘.lu’ Registry has announced two important changes in their requirements to be met by applicants for this Country Code Top Level Domain (cctld).
The first change is the elimination of the need to provide a local Luxembourg contact address. The second is the ability to register Domain Names which contain language-specific characters - International Domain Names (IDNs), such as ‘à’ in French, or the ‘ö’ in German, as well as national character sets, for example Arabic, Chinese or Japanese. This opens up the scope for ‘.lu’ domain names to a much wider range of domain name spellings.
Although Luxembourg is a small country in the center of Europe it is an ideal location for companies to expand their operations into Europe. The Government is politically stable, tax friendly, with a well-educated, multilingual work-force.
Luxembourg was a founder member of the original 6-member grouping European Economic Community (EEC). The EEC was transformed into the European Union (EU) in 1993. The present 27-country EU has a population of some 500 million inhabitants, with a total Gross National Product (GDP) 20% larger than that of the United States at current exchange rates.
Alongside the individual cctlds covering the markets where your products are to be marketed, you should consider one or more Generic Top Level Domains (gtlds). Once you have decided to enter the EU, your first choice will probably be the ‘.eu’. Ownership of a ‘.eu’ domain requires a formal link to the European Union. While many Domain Name Registrars can provide a so-called ‘Local Presence’ facility, the best solution is to create a local European company in an EU Member State such as Luxembourg.
As your European base expands you will need to consider registering Trademarks to protect your company’s and your product’s names. The European Union has established a Community Trademark (CTM), which provides Trademark protection in all 27 EU Member States with a single application.
While CTM applicants do not need to be based in the EU, non residents are required to use an EU-based Attorney to submit their applications. All Domain Registrar, a UK Company with Offices in Luxembourg, provides worldwide Domain Name and Trademark registration services
For more information on establishing your European base in Luxembourg, visit http://www.alldomainregistrar.eu (e-mailmail@
