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.fr Domain Registration - French Domains - Brand Protection Services for France

European Domains: France (.fr)

  

Important: When entering your search string don't write “www” or the French domain type, ie. “fr”. Therefore to search “www.bb-online.fr” enter “bb-online” and nothing else.

The only letters allowed within a domain name are: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z - 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. Spaces are NOT ALLOWED.

.fr Registration:

To register .fr domains your future French domain, click here!

Once the domain is registered

All French domain names registered with us are stored on our international server. Domains registered with us are automatically provided with their own under-construction page - this notifies potential registrants that the name has been acquired and is now registered. The under-construction page is offered free of charge and may be used indefinitely.

It is possible for Web and/or Mail forwarding to be provided for French domains.

Domain transfer/release fees are charged are by a majority of registrars, but BB Online make no charge to transfer a domain to another French domain name registrar.

Background

Very popular in France

The Country Code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD) for France is .fr. It is managed by the Association Française pour le Nommage Internet en Coopération (AFNIC) who also take control of registrations for the .re (Reunion Island) and .tf domain names.

Before AFNIC, INRIA (the Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique, France, the French Computer Science Research Institute) administered the ccTLD .fr in. This was due to the Stanford Research Institute's Network Information Center and for this reason, INRIA therefore became known as NIC-France. At first it was to help with research by the research and development community.

During the year 1992, a demand increased for domain names and for this reason NIC-France opened up to anyone who wished to connect with the Internet. In 1994, the commercial expansion of the Internet meant that it was necessary to create a NIC Consultative Committee (CC-NIC). It consisted of representatives from INRIA and from each service Provider (ISP) which held an international infrastructure during this time.

Following on to 1995, the committee grew and for this reason, many Internet Service Providers joined in the so called 'naming charter'. It was created in order to set out rules for the ccTLD .fr, focusing on property issues for the first time. In January, 1998, AFNIC took over from NIC-France. It is an association governed by the French Law. They wished to be more prepared to answer to the future needs of its members and for this reason a flexible management structure was developed. This was not possible in a research institute.

In June, 2001, AFNIC allowed the registration of domain names under the ccTLD .re. This was under the request of the French government. The control of the ccTLD .tf for the French Southern and Antarctic Territories (TAAF) was under the management of the British company AdamsNames. French authorities requested this management to be transferred to AFNIC in October, 2004.

There are a number of second-level domain names which can be registered under .fr. These are as follows:

The following sub-domains are also available and an Identifier number in the SIRENE enterprise Directory must be shown as a supporting document for each of these domains:

An Applicant is able to use the .fr domain name for 12 months from the last operation invoiced to the registrar by AFNIC. Domain names can be automatically renewed but can be changed it instructions tell differently.

Following Criteria must be followed when choosing a name for the ccTLD .fr. These are as follows:

.fr is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for France. Along with .re and .tf, it is administered by AFNIC.

There also exist a number of second-level domains:.tm.fr - for owners of trademarks.asso.fr - for associations.nom.fr - for surnames.prd.fr - for research and development programs.presse.fr - for press publications.com.fr - open to all applicants without justification of the requested name.gouv.fr for the French administrationApart from these six second-level domains AFNIC also reserves the right to introduce sector-based second-level domains. An example therefore would be the .gouv.fr domain reserved to identify the web addresses of French governmental institutions.

Registrations are processed via accredited registrars.


International domain names from BB Online since 1997