Goldstein Report

Tag: .TF

  • Afnic Sunrise Period For IDNs Underway

    AFNIC logoSince 3 May this year, 30 additional characters have been available when registering domain names under the six ccTLDs managed by AFNIC (.FR, .RE, .YT, .PM, .WF and .TF) under a Sunrise period that lasts until 3 July.

    Internationalised Domain Name characters that are now available to be used in domain names include é, è, ê, and β.

    During the Sunrise period, only existing registrants with an existing domain name in one of the ccTLDs managed Afnic are allowed to register a variation of their domain name using the new characters.

    After 3 July, registration will be open to all on a “first come, first served” basis.

    Afnic have released an analysis of the initial Sunrise period for the registration of domain names. In the first three hours after opening the registration of IDNs, 32 registrars submitted applications for 1009 domain names with diacritical marks.

    Of these “néria.fr” was the first IDN to be registered under .FR TLD by the registrar ASTURIA. And the five most popular new characters “é” (used 926 times), “è”, (118), , “à” and “ô”(25) and “ç” (19).

    And some examples provided by Afnic of domain names using the IDNs are gites-bretagne-côté-mer.fr, vannière.fr, kiosqueàdomicile.fr and bpifaçades.fr.

    Europe Registry logoTo register your .FR domain name, with IDNs as part of the Sunrise period until 3 July, or without, see Europe Registry here.

  • 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.

  • AFNIC Announces French Territory ccTLDs Get Same Rules As .FR

    AFNIC logoFrench territories with their own ccTLD will have the same registration policies as .FR from 6 December, the registry has announced.

    The ccTLDs included are .WF (Wallis and Futuna), .TF (French Southern and Antarctic territories), .RE (Réunion), .PM (St. Pierre and Miquelon), and .YT (Mayotte) and are all operated by AFNIC.

    To check out the new registration policies, see www.afnic.fr/medias/documents/AFNIC-naming-policy2012.pdf.

    Europe Registry logoTo register your .FR domain name, or any other name for one of the French territories, check out Europe Registry here.