BRUSSELS, March 24 (Xinhua) -- After more than seven years of waiting, European companies and individuals can soon use .eu domain names, online newsletter EU observer reported on Thursday.

    The registration period is likely to start later this year and the .eu extension should be launched in early 2006, the report said.

    The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN),the organization that oversees technical matters related to the Internet, has finally approved the .eu extension.

    According to the European Registry of Internet Domain Names - the non-profit group to manage the domain - the so-called "sunriseperiod", when companies can register their trademarked names is expected to start later this year.

    After the sunrise period, lasting for four months, general registrations will begin on a first-come-first-served basis.

    The European Commission, the executive of the European Union (EU), believes that the new domain would help to develop e-commercein Europe. The idea was first discussed in 1997.

    However, the .eu domain name will have a difficult task catching up with the more popular domain names already in use. Thesuffix .com, for example, appears on about 30 million websites worldwide. Enditem