
Article 1 
This Regulation establishes the eligibility and selection criteria as well as the procedure for the designation of the Registry of the.eu top-level domain, in accordance with the principles of openness, transparency and non-discrimination.
Article 2 

1. The Registry shall be a not-for-profit organisation, formed in accordance with the law of a Member State. It shall have its registered office, central administration and principal place of business within the territory of the Union.
2. The infrastructure needed to perform the core registry functions as provided in Article 5(2) shall be located within the territory of the Union.
3. Where a consortium of firms or a group of contractors sets up the not-for-profit organisation, each entity forming part of such consortium or group shall have its registered office, central administration and principal place of business within the Union.
4. The Registry shall undertake to carry out its tasks as a prime contractor. Subcontracting may be allowed exclusively where necessary for the performance of the work and with a prior written agreement from the Commission.
Article 3 

1. The application shall clearly identify the Member States in which the not-for-profit organisation is registered and provide complete information about the location of its registered office, central administration and principal place of business.
2. If the not-for-profit organisation is set up by a consortium of firms or a group of contractors, the application shall provide information about the different roles and the status of each member of the consortium or group, including all the information required under paragraph 1 of this Article.
3. Where one or more of the entities forming part of the consortium or group is a for-profit entity, the application shall provide information about the measures the consortium or group commits to taking to guarantee the financial and legal separation of any for-profit activities from the activities of the Registry function.
4. The application shall provide a description of the internal organisation of the not-for-profit organisation and be accompanied by all supporting documents as requested in the call for selection of the Registry.
Article 4 

1. The Registry shall pursue operational excellence and ensure a high quality of service at competitive prices. The Commission shall evaluate the ability of eligible applicants to provide the required quality of service. This criterion shall be weighted as 40 % of total evaluation score.
2. Applicants shall provide information about their experience in areas related to the organisation, administration and management of domain names.
3. Applicants shall describe how they plan to manage the.eu top-level domain in a way that ensures a high level of quality of services provided, taking into account the minimum functional and performance specifications for country code top-level domains registry services laid down by internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
4. Applicants shall describe which measures they plan to put in place to ensure a high level of security and trust in the.eu top-level domain.
Article 5 

1. The Commission shall evaluate the applicant’s human and technical resources. This criterion shall be weighted as 30 % of the total evaluation score.
2. Applicants shall provide information about their human and technical resources and describe how these resources are sufficient to perform the following functions:
(a) to organise, administer and manage the.eu top-level domain, including the maintenance of the corresponding databases and the associated public query services, registering domain names, running the registry of domain names, running the Registry top-level domain name servers and creating and managing the top-level domain zone files;
(b) to ensure high quality, transparency, security, stability, predictability, reliability, accessibility, efficiency, non-discrimination, fair conditions of competition and consumer protection in the provision of their services.
3. The applicants shall describe in their application the type of organisation, administration and management that they intend to put in place to fulfil the functions referred to in paragraph 2, including the following:
(a) human resources and the necessary systems;
(b) software and hardware;
(c) facilities necessary for the operation and management of the.eu top-level domain.
4. The applicants shall describe how their resources, including human and technical capacity, are sufficient to perform the registrar function, should the Commission request to activate such a function to fulfil specific policy objectives. The applicant shall also provide information about how the allocation of such resources to perform the registrar function complies with the requirements set in Article 7(2) of Regulation (EU) 2019/517.
5. Applicants shall provide information about how they plan to have in place the complete organisational and operational structure so that they are able to start functioning as Registry from 13 October 2022.
Article 6 

1. The Commission shall evaluate the financial standing of eligible applicants. This criterion shall be weighted as 30 % of the total evaluation score.
2. The applicants shall:
(a) demonstrate a level of financial security and stability that is adequate in order to fulfil the tasks of the Registry;
(b) provide complete information about the anticipated costs and capital requirements to organise, administer and manage the.eu top-level domain, the availability of capital and insurance; a revenue model, including a pricing model, a relevant market analysis, a marketing plan, and registry failure provisions;
(c) describe how they will apply sound financial management principles;
(d) provide information on the fees that they intend to apply, and describe how the levels of the fees is determined on the basis of the costs incurred.
3. The applicants shall provide information on the external audits they will submit to demonstrate compliance with Regulation (EU) 2019/517.
Article 7 

1. The Commission shall organise an open, transparent and non-discriminatory selection procedure for the selection of the Registry. The call for selection shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Applicants shall have at least 30 working days to submit their applications.
2. The Commission may seek advice and assistance from external experts to analyse and/or evaluate the applications. Such external experts shall be selected on the basis of their expertise and high level of independence and impartiality.
Article 8 

1. Applicants shall submit their applications to the Commission in accordance with the instructions set out in the call for selection.
2. The Commission may request applicants to provide additional information regarding the fulfilment of eligibility criteria within a set timeframe. As part of the verification of eligibility, the Commission shall assess:
(a) if the application was submitted on or before the deadline established in the call for selection;
(b) compliance with the requirements provided in Articles 2 and 3;
(c) if the application is complete and, where applicable, the applicant has provided the additional information requested by the Commission pursuant to paragraph 2.
3. Within 40 working days following the closing date for the application, the Commission shall decide on the eligibility of the applicants. The Commission shall give reasons where it decides that an applicant does not meet the eligibility criteria. It shall immediately communicate such decision to that applicant.
4. The Commission shall publish the list of eligible applicants.
Article 9 

1. Within 80 working days following the publication of the list of eligible applicants, the Commission shall rank the eligible applicants that have obtained the minimum threshold of the evaluation score identified in the call for selection, on the basis of the selection criteria.
2. The Commission shall inform the eligible applicants of the final ranking.
3. The Commission shall designate the applicant with the highest ranking as the Registry. It shall publish the decision designating the Registry in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Article 10 
Where the contract negotiations between the designated Registry and the Commission are terminated without the conclusion of a contract, the Commission shall designate the next ranking applicant as the Registry. If this is not possible, the Commission shall organise a new selection procedure for the selection of the Registry.
Article 11 
This Regulation shall enter into force on the first day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.Done at Brussels, 14 May 2020.
For the Commission
The President
Ursula VON DER LEYEN