.FR domain policies

.FR is the ccTLD for France and is regulated by the AFNIC Registry.  All .FR domains have a registration term of one year. 

Registration requirements

.FR prohibits special characters in contacts' first and last name fields. The acceptable syntax is listed:

  • Latin characters, except for numbers and special characters
  • Hyphens
  • Apostrophes
  • Spaces

Note: Registration details can be found in the TLD reference chart.

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Registration Processing

The FR registry does not operate as a fully synchronous registry.  As such, the processing of some registrations takes time.  There can be delays of 10-30 minutes for the registration process in some cases. 

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.FR prohibited and reserved names

AFNIC maintains a list of domains not available for registration.  Registrants can apply for names on the list if they prove they are entitled to them. 

  • When submitting an order for a prohibited or reserved name, you must provide a detailed statement with a maximum of 4,000 characters.  Enter this information in the notes section after submitting the order or email help@opensrs.com.
  • The request will then be sent to AFNIC’s legal department to approve or deny. AFNIC may require the registrant to provide follow-up documentation, and allow several days for processing.
  • The registrant needs to meet the .FR residency requirements and provide residency information.

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Residency requirements

Residents must provide information to satisfy the regional presence requirements for the .FR registry.

  • Individual registrants must be a resident of the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein.
  • Organization registrants must be located in the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, or Liechtenstein. 

Registrant Type Fields
Individual No additional fields are required.
Organization The following fields are optional; however, we strongly recommend that you complete them, as this information helps the registry to validate the registration.
  • VAT Number—The Value Added Tax (VAT) number of the organization.
  • Trademark Number—The organization's trademark registration number.
  • SIREN/SIRET Number—The nine-digit SIREN code or the 14-digit SIRET code is used to identify the business for tax reasons.  For organizations in France, please include this number to avoid validation issues with the registry. 

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Renewals

.FR domains can either be set to Auto-Renew or manually renewed.  If Auto-Renew is not turned on, the domain will expire without notification at the end of the registration period. 

The domain remains in quarantine at the registry for 30 days. 

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Transfers

Registrar transfers require an auth info code.  The registrant obtains the code from the current registrar.  OpenSRS will email the domain's admin contact, asking them to approve the transfer.  Registration terms begin anew after the transfer is completed.

As of June 30, 2015, transfers and ownership changes must be processed separately.  The change of ownership must be initiated after the transfer has been completed.

The transferring domains and changing domain ownership article has more information about transfers.

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Changes of Ownership

Changes to registrant information must be confirmed by both the current and new registrant.  There is no charge for this operation. 

Once both parties have approved the trade, each contact will receive an email notifying them of the completion of the trade. 

If the current owner's email address is no longer valid, the .FR Owner Change Form. needs to be completed, signed by both parties, and emailed to help@opensrs.com.

  1.  Login at manage.opensrs.com.
  2. Click Domains.
    rcp domains.png
  3. Enter the domain name and hit the Search icon.
    rcp domain search.png
  4. Click Edit to the right of the Owner Information section.
    contact info edit button.png
  5. Press Save to confirm changes.
    Important: An email will be sent to both parties to approve the change, if no response within 15 days, the request is canceled. 
    contact info save button.png

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WHOIS Privacy

At this time, OpenSRS does not support whois privacy on new .fr registrations.

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