All promotional URLs are subject to the explicit approval of DG COMM, regardless of the domain to which they belong.
A promotional URL is a meaningful shortened version of an existing URL. It is used when the original URL isn't appropriate for print or promotional materials (generally due to its length), and will redirect from a human readable URL to a specific website.
All promotional URLs must comply with the rules related to the URL Structure and be approved by DG COMM (see Procedure section below). The request must be endorsed by the Head of Communication Unit.
In principle, the use of promotional URLs out of the europa.eu domain is forbidden. The requester must provide evidence that the use of the word ‘europa’ in the URL would hinder its communication objectives.
The use of promotional URLs on a second-level domain of the .eu domain is exceptionally allowed, for a limited period, if:
DG COMM will not register a Promotional URL outside of the .eu domain.
To request a promotional URL, contact: Comm Europa Management.
The request must include:
and on top of it, for .eu URLs:
Note: for a Promotional URL in the .eu domain, it is the requester's responsibility to check the availability of the domain name.
All Promotional URLs are registered for a period of five years. After five years, it is possible to renew the request for another period of five years, as often as necessary by sending out a new request to Comm Europa Management (see procedure above).
General rules for URLs can be found in this guide’s section about the URL structure.
To fulfill the needs of a short URL in social media when the URL does not need to be readable, the URL shortener is the preferred option.
If you require further assistance, please contact: Comm Europa Management
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All European Commission web sites must observe the rules and guidelines it contains.
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