All promotional URLs are subject to the explicit approval of DG COMM, regardless of the domain to which they belong.
Purpose
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 (e.g. https://ec.europa.eu/etias redirecting to https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/smart-borders/etias).
Rules
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:
- the existing website is hosted outside the ‘Europa’ domain and maintaining the short URL would facilitate its repatriation to the ‘Europa’ domain
- the existing website is hosted on the ‘Europa’ domain but a short .eu URL has been authorised in the past and changing it would negatively affect the communication activity. For such URLs known amongst users the requester of the short URL should demonstrate the negative impact triggered by the change. (Examples so far include joinup.eu, eu-oceanliteracy.eu).
DG COMM will not register a Promotional URL outside of the .eu domain.
Procedure
To request a promotional URL, contact: Comm Europa Management.
The request must include:
- the name of the desired promotional URL ((ec.)europa.eu/<name>)
- the original ”long” URL to which it should be redirected
- a justification of your need for a short URL (e.g. for print)
- a written approval of the Head of Communication Unit.
and on top of it, for .eu URLs:
- thorough justification for why the URL is needed and why the word ‘europa’ would hinder the communication objective.
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 at least 5 years.
Related Links
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.
Contact and support
If you require further assistance, please contact: Comm Europa Management