CircleID

In this case, ICANN has been quite clear that .eu is to be delegated following the ccTLD procedures, not gTLD procedures.  (Two-character codes like "eu", of course, are reserved for ccTLDs; codes with three or more characters are used for gTLDs (i.e. sTLDs and uTLDs).) Although "eu" is not directly included on the ISO3166-1 list it presents an unusual (perhaps unique) circumstance because the ISO3166 maintenance agency issued a separate document reserving "the code element EU to cover any application of ISO 3166-1 that needs a coded representation of the name European Union, including its being used as an Internet Top Level Domain." Almost four years ago, on 25 September 2000, the ICANN Board adopted resolution 00.74 advising the IANA staff that, because this is in all ways equivalent to being included on the ISO3166-1 list, .eu should be treated as a ccTLD:  "It is therefore RESOLVED that the IANA staff is advised that alpha-2 codes not on the ISO 3166-1 list are delegable as ccTLDs only in cases where the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency, on its exceptional reservation list, has issued a reservation of the code that covers any application of ISO 3166-1 that needs a coded representation in the name of the country, territory, or area involved." Details are posted at <http://www.icann.org/minutes/minutes-25sep00.htm#DelegationofccTLDs>.

The Lucy analogy is very interesting but consider the fact that once the ball is kicked it will probably be world record breaking distance.

Your statement on the accreditation of registrars is sadly incorrect.

As stated by the Commissions Regulations, registrars will be accredited to provide .eu domains by EURID the registry assigned to manage the .eu domain space and not by ICANN

I don't know where Jonathan got his information but for the most part it is not accurate. .EU is as Robert Rozicki's comments indicate a sepecial case ccTLD and will thankfully be managed by ICANN as ICANN has shown far too often that is has trouble managing it's own web site and ML forums for accuracy and completeness or even existance of public comments archives of same.

However I think I understand Jonathans anology to "Lucy's football" and .EU.  Indeed .EU will be and has thus far shown to be missing the mark as to being adaquately functional after 4 years due to commisioners infighting regarding language requirements, ect. 

I appreciate the comments and [ahem] corrections to this article, and I have a great deal of respect for everyone in the domain name industry, even where we may need to agree to disagree on some points.

Certainly, from a registry perspective, the creation of .EU is a completely unprecedented process of creating a ccTLD from a 'reserved code element' that is "Exceptionally Reserved" on the ISO-3166-1 list.  Not since the Internet society formed ICANN in 1998, has such an event occurred. 

The only ccTLD that has been created since the Internet society formed ICANN is .PS, which was officially added to the ISO-3166-1 list prior to doing so.

There are quite a few edge cases of with regard to the delegation a ccTLD in contrast to the ISO-3166-1 table, (which may be reviewed at [http://www.iso.org/iso/en/prods-services/iso3166ma/02iso-3166-code-lists/iso_3166-1_decoding_table.html] – pay attention to the 'yellow ones'):

Two character codes "Exceptionally Reserved" on ISO-3166-1:
Assigned as ccTLD: AC, GG, IM, JE, UK [.UK was delegated in lieu of .GB]
Unassigned as ccTLD: CP, DG, EA, EU, FX, IC, TA

There are some "Exceptionally Reserved" codes that found their way into the root in times that pre-date the formation of ICANN from the Internet society back in 1998.

[http://www.iso.org/iso/en/prods-services/iso3166ma/04background-on-iso-3166/iso3166-1-and-ccTLDs.html]
.UK, (which was opted for use over .GB [assigned but unused]) (both 24-July-1985)
.AC, (19-December-1997),
.IM, (11-September-1996),
.JE, (08-August-1996),
.GG, (07-August-1996)

In general, the .EU situation is one where exceptional circumstances are being used to add a ccTLD that is not in the officially assigned, but rather is reserved within the ISO-3166-1 table.  .EU is one of seven of such exceptionally reserved codes.

[COMMENT: Special consideration that .EU has lobbied for most likely applies only to .EU.  I would not advise someone hoping to obtain a TLD to run out and apply to IANA for .EA or .TA or another unassigned "Exceptionally Reserved" code element thinking that the delegation of .EU creates a precedent – you will waste both your and IANA/ICANN's valuable time.]

The addition of .EU to the root as a ccTLD has been an interesting process.  .EU will no doubt be immensely popular.  The popularity of the TLD is certainly not in question.

In fact, many 'at-large' users of the Internet were provided opportunities to pay money for pre-registration rights to their .EU domain name.  Though this was addressed by ICANN, and most of the registrars subsequently removed their offerings, the hype surrounding the whole process is the intended focus of my article.

This initial article is a reprint of an article that I had written for a monthly newsletter at a large company that does Digital Brand Management, and as such the article had more of a registrant or intellectual property audience focus.

One could certainly see that the marketplace is there for .EU domains. The intended focus of the article was that confusion has resulted from misrepresented or missed timeline dates combined with the behavior of those that would cash in on pre-registration land rush.

Clearly, there are many people who are working hard against a variety of challenges to get .EU to see the light of day.  They are making headway, and we should acknowledge their progress to date.

I definitely do.

By the way, Jeff Williams, my name is Jothan, not Jonathan.

Who, exactly are you?  The only reference I can find is here

Jothan is absolutely correct in his analogy.  Not only that, he is the bomb.