An interview with the people behind .fr AFNIC- France’s ccTLD

I’m proud to have completed an interview with Loic Damilaville of AFNIC the organization behind .fr, France’s ccTLD.

France is the largest country in the European Union and the fifth largest economy in the world as judged by GDP. With a population of over 65 million people it isn’t to be ignored.

More and more we are seeing five digit sales of .fr names reported and occasional six digit sales. The aftermarket has by and large lagged behind its more powerful neighbor .de (Germany) but is poised to give it a run for the money.

It’s my personal belief that we will see rapid growth in sales in this extension in the next year or two.

Let’s get on with the interview.

RL – What is your full name and title with AFNIC?

Loic Damilaville – Loic Damilaville, deputy CEO, in charge of marketing & communication

RL – Can you please give us a brief history of AFNIC? Was it started by a university? Government?

Loic Damilaville – AFNIC was born in December 1997. It was created by the INRIA, aka French National Research Institute on Computer Science, which was running .fr since 1986. AFNIC is a not-for profit, multistakeholder organization. That’s why you find some government representatives in its board, but also registrars representatives and users representatives.

RL – Approximately how many .fr names are registered?

Loic Damilaville – We should reach 1.5 million this summer.

RL – Can IDNs be registered under the .fr extension?

Loic Damilaville – Not for the time being

RL – It’s commonly known in the domain community that the French can be litigious and that lawsuits over trademarks happen more frequently than in other countries. My audience wants to stay out of trouble. Can you please describe AFNIC’s process for disputes?

Loic Damilaville – Our website provides some useful information here:
http://www.afnic.fr/doc/ref_en. .FR registrants are to be “identified” when they are companies, that is to say, AFNIC’s team checks that they are companies registered in France or owning a trademark registered in France. Individuals have to be 18 years old or more and must have a valid postal address in France. AFNIC checks regularly that the whois data are reliable and correct, from its own or if third parties ask it to proceed.

There is basically a “FR DRP” which is called “PARL” and is managed by WIPO. Some requests are also sent to us directly when the trademark owner, for instance, thinks that he may get its domain back thanks to a law passed in February 2007. This is the “PREDEC” process.

RL – What affect, if any, do you think new gTLDs like .france, .paris and the like will have on .fr registrations? Most people in the community expect ICANN to approve extensions like .paris, do you think they will get away with extensions like .france which could be competitive?

Loic Damilaville – I wonder if the french government will allow the creation of a “.france” which would be identical with the country’s name… As for the other geographical TLDs like cityTLDs or regional/cultural TLDs, we at AFNIC think that they will be some new opportunities to communicate on the internet but more allies than foes for .FR. For instance, .FR enjoys a very strong development since 2004, strenghtened in 2006 with the opening to individuals, although .EU has been introduced in April 2006. .EU could have been considered as a competitor for .FR but actualy it has helped the market to grow on a global scale, since french people became more aware about domain names.

RL – How long are .fr names expired for, before they are deleted and available for registration?

Loic Damilaville – .fr remains 30 days on a “redemption” status and are then deleted and available for registration

RL – Does AFNIC publish a list of expiring domains?

Loic Damilaville – No and we do not intend to do that.

RL – What’s involved in transferring a .fr name? Do you use the auth code method or is paperwork required?

Loic Damilaville – We use the auth code method for the online process. If the registrant fails to give his greenlight by email to the transfer then we switch to the paper procedure. (fax)

RL – Most of our audience would love to own premium .fr names. We are aware that a French presence is required. Any plans onvloosening this restriction?

Loic Damilaville – A french presence is not required if you already own a trademark registered in France through INPI. That’s why some 4% of .fr registrants are not based in France. We have no formal plans to loosen this restriction but are considering that the opening of .fr to European companies and individuals may happen in a medium term.

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