Tag Archives: Saint-Martin

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

At Least 3 Companies Submit Bids To Operate French and Territorial ccTLDs

At least three and up to six companies have submitted bids to operate the .FR (France) ccTLD and the ten French territory ccTLDs currently managed by AFNIC.Bids were required to be submitted to the French Ministry of Industry by Friday for the 11 ccTLDs, and so far the current ccTLD manager AFNIC, along with l’Office d’enregistrement des extensions Internet françaises (“Office For The Registration Of French Internet Extensions” – a subsidiary of the Luxembourg-based OpenRegistry) and FRNIC have all publicly stated they have applied.In the bid by the current registry operator, AFNIC have said they have significant industry support with more than 660 organisations and individuals expressing support for them to retain the operation of the registry.Another of the applicants, FRNIC, a collaboration between FREE Foundation and the French registrar StartingDot, say they will invest all the profits of the organisation into developing the internet including the establishment of a foundation with €2.5 million over five years to be led by a scientific committee and to double the number of registered domain names between 2012 and 2017.StartingDot has also applied to ICANN for five new gTLDs they describe as being “dedicated to businesses in many important sectors so that they may optimise their visibility and align their internet address with the name of their business.”But the number of .FR domain names has been growing rapidly since registration rules were liberalised, leading to the ccTLD being one of the fastest growing in recent years, Matthieu Weill, AFNIC Director General, told Les Echos.The 11 ccTLD registries for which tenders have been requested by the French Ministry of Industry are:

  • .FR for France;
  • .BL for Saint-Barthélemy;
  • .GF for French Guiana;
  • .GP for Guadeloupe;
  • .MF for Saint-Martin;
  • .MQ for Martinique;
  • .PM for Saint-Pierre and Miquelon;
  • .RE for Reunion Island
  • .TF for the French Southern and Antarctic Territories;
  • .WF for Wallis and Futuna;
  • .YT for Mayotte.
Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

AFNIC Submits Applications To Manage 11 French TLDs

Je Soutiens AFNIC logoOn 11 May, AFNIC submitted its applications to manage the 11 French country code top level domains (ccTLDs) with the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry.

Following the publication in the Official Journal of the French Republic on 20 March calling for applications to manage the ccTLDs for France and its overseas territories, AFNIC officially applied to act as the registry for the following:

  • .FR for France;
  • .BL for Saint-Barthélemy;
  • .GF for French Guiana;
  • .GP for Guadeloupe;
  • .MF for Saint-Martin;
  • .MQ for Martinique;
  • .PM for Saint-Pierre and Miquelon;
  • .RE for Reunion Island
  • .TF for the French Southern and Antarctic Territories;
  • .WF for Wallis and Futuna;
  • .YT for Mayotte.

AFNIC also announced they received support from more than 660 parties for its applications to act as the registry for the ccTLDs, including:

  • 305 individuals
  • 172 companies
  • 104 registrars
  • 38 registries
  • 8 legal experts and intellectual property specialists
  • 19 representatives from academia and research
  • 14 political representatives.

More information on the AFNIC proposal to manage the 11 ccTLDs is available from the dedicated campaign website (only in French) at je-soutiens-afnic.fr.

Europe Registry logoTo register your .FR domain, or for many of the other French ccTLDs, see Europe Registry here.

Domain Name Registry

French Government Calls For Applications To Manage .FR And 10 Other French ccTLDs

Eric Besson, the French Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry, has launched a call for nominations for companies wishing to act as the registry for the 11 French country code top level domains.

Currently AFNIC is the company operating as the registry for six of the ccTLDs: .FR (France), .YT (Mayotte), .WF (Wallis and Futuna), .TF (French Southern and Antarctic Territories), .PM (Saint Pierre and Miquelon) and .RE (Reunion Island).

The other ccTLDs – .BL (Saint-Barthélémy), .GF (French Guiana), .GP (Guadeloupe), .MF for (Saint-Martin) and .MQ (Martinique) – are managed by other organisations.

The calls for nomination, one for each ccTLD, appeared in the Official Journal are to enable the implementation of the new legal framework, and applications close on 11 May.

AFNIC was formally designated as the registry for.FR in March 2010 following a call for applications. However, on the grounds of non-compliance with the Constitution of Article L. 45 of the French Electronic Communications and Telecommunications Act (which specifies the legal framework for managing French Internet extensions), a decision of the French Constitutional Council of October 2010 rendered the legal basis for that appointment null and void. A new legal framework has now been set up, but the call for applications must be repeated.

For more information, in French only, see www.industrie.gouv.fr/tic/consultation-publique/domaines-nationaux/aac-domaines-internet.php.

Europe Registry logoTo register your .FR domain name, check out Europe Registry here.