December 6, 2011 marks a turning point for the domain names with the extension “.fr”. Indeed, the French Association for Internet Naming in Cooperation (AFNIC) issued the holder of a domain name with new registration rules for French extensions. The new naming policy for French network information center (1) published on November 25, 2011, entered into force yesterday.
Those eligible for registration or renewal of a domain name with an extension “.fr” before, are not the same today.
Indeed, only natural persons residing or having their corporate seat or principal place of business in the territory of one member States of the European Union, or the territory of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, or Switzerland will now be eligible for registration of a domain name with the extension “.fr”.
Therefore these new conditions restrict the access of people living outside the European Union or countries covered by the new naming policy for French network information center. However, persons who already held domain names with the extension “.fr”, will be eligible for renewal of their domain names.
An initial assessment conducted on December 6, 2011 at 1:30 pm, counted 3500 records from 70 registrars. The domain names’ owners are divided up into France at 62% (Reunion Island at 9%, Germany at 13%, the UK at 6%, Belgium at 3%, Italy at 2% (2) …
Click here to download the pdf version of this document
(1) AFNIC, Charte de nommage de l’Association Française de Nommage Internet en Coopération, Règles d’enregistrement des extensions françaises, http://www.afnic.fr/medias/documents/AFNIC-charte_2012_.pdf
(2) Premier bilan de l’ouverture à l’Europe des .fr, wf, .re, .yt, .pm, .tf, http://www.afnic.fr/fr/l-afnic-en bref/actualites/actualites-generales/5439/show/premier-bilan-de-l-ouverture-a-l-europe-des-fr-wf-re-yt-pm-tf.html