History

1986-1997 - NIC-FRANCE

From September 1986 until December 1997, INRIA (Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique, the French Computer Science Research Institute) was responsible for managing the .fr, French national domain (ccTLD ISO code 3166) on behalf of the SRI-NIC (Stanford Research Institute's Network Information Centre) and then INTERNIC.
INRIA was therefore the NIC-France (Network Information Centre), initially for the needs of its own researchers and then for the entire French R&D community. INRIA was responsible for administering the Fnet /INRIA network which was the only Internet service in France until 1992.

In 1992 NIC-France/INRIA, originally funded by subscriptions from members of the Fnet network, was opened up to the Fnet association and to Renater; as demand increased NIC France opened up to everyone in France who wanted to connect to the Internet.

The commercial expansion of the Internet in 1994 saw the appearance on the market of new network service providers offering Internet connectivity. A NIC Consultative Committee (CC-NIC) was set up in November 1994, consisting of a representative of INRIA and a representative from each of the service providers that had an international infrastructure at that time.

Since June 1995 many Internet service providers have joined the Consultative Committee and contribute to the funding of NIC France. A naming charter was created in 1995 in order to set out the rules for assigning names in the .fr domain and to consider intellectual property issues for the first time.

On 1 November 1995, AFNIC stopped allocating IP addresses in France, a service it had provided since 1986 on behalf of RIPE NCC.

1998 - Creation of AFNIC

On 1 January 1998, AFNIC (Association Française pour le Nommage Internet en Coopération), an association governed by the French law of 1 July 1901, took over the NIC-France activities carried out by INRIA. AFNIC intends to open up more widely to Internet users in order to be more responsive to the current and future needs of its members and to have the kind of flexible management structure that would not be possible in a research institute.

Some new membership categories were created:

These membership categories receive a range of information services from AFNIC.
A second "Users legal/corporate entities" consultative committee was set up to ensure that the "end user" was not excluded from discussions on the development of .fr domain names.

2001 - A new arrival, .re (Reunion Island) ccTLD open to registration

At the request of the French government, on June 25th, 2001, AFNIC opened the ccTLD .re for the overseas department of Reunion Island.
Since then any individual or corporate entity based on Reunion Island has been able to register domain names as .re and/or .fr.

The registration Policy for .re - set out by local players in close consultation with the Reunion Chamber of Commerce and Industry and its partners (the government, the region, the department and Reunion Internet service providers) and in collaboration with AFNIC- are available in the .re Naming charter.

2004 - Opening of .fr and .re Top Level Domains - Reassignment of .tf

Partial liberalization of the registration policy for .fr and .re

The registration rules for .fr and .re have evolved continuously since they were first drawn up.
The May 11th, 2004 saw the start of a new era with the end of the "right to the name" which obliged all applicants to prove their entitlement to the name they wished to register (name on a Kbis extract -certificate of incorporation-, registered trade mark, etc.).

From this date onwards, any entity which can be identified online in public and national databases (companies, tradesmen, associations registered with the INSEE -French government statistics office-, brand holders, etc.) has been able to obtain the domain name of its choice without having to submit an official supporting document.

In the future this will be extended to include all corporate entities and individuals who cannot be identified in online databases, always according to the "territoriality principle" (individuals, all associations etc.).

Reassignment of .tf

The .tf ccTLD is for the French Southern and Antarctic Territories (TAAF).
In 1997, administrative and technical management of this Internet Top Level Domain was entrusted to the British company AdamsNames in Cambridge.
On October 23rd, 2004, at the request of the French authorities, management was transferred to AFNIC.
Further information is available in our press release "The AFNIC is the new registry for .tf" and in the section of our website devoted to overseas territories and departments ccTLDs.

2006 - Opening of .fr to individuals

Starting June 20th, 2006, AFNIC allows all adults with a postal address in France to register domain names ending in .fr.
Until now, only professionals, associations or public bodies have been able to register.

In November 2006, the 100.000th .fr domain name is registered by an individual.
At the same date, individuals are now on the origin of almost 50% of .fr domain name creations.
This confirms, less than five months after opening .fr domains to individuals, the high interest in the opportunity to ensure their presence under the French Top Level Domaine.

2007 - Creation of the French Domain Name Industry Report

On November 28th, 2007, AFNIC publishes the first Report on the French Domain Name Industry.
The overall aims of this annual Industry Report are to give a reliable picture of the market and its players; to provide the means of analysing the factors shaping the market and its trends; to help promote understanding and recognition of this market and its special features within the private and public sectors and to identify the market's strengths and weaknesses, putting forward recommendations.

2008 - One million .fr - First .wf domain names (Wallis et Futuna)

One million .fr

In January 2008, AFNIC celebrates one million .fr domain names registered since the creation of the ccTLD.

Domain names in .fr have strongly increased over the last few years. In October 2002 they had reached 100,000 domain names, in July 2006 they had reached 500,000 domains. In January 2008 they have reached one million domain name after a 40% growth in 2007.
This success is owed notably to the suppling up of the .fr domain name registration procedures until the opening to individuals in June 2006.

First domain names created under .wf (Wallis and Futuna)

On April 2008, AFNIC registered the first thirteen domain names under .wf, upon request from the French Government and Wallis & Futuna local Authorities.
Within the context of broadband now being available in Wallis & Futuna, this first group of domain names gives symbolically birth to .wf, while talks about the marketing of this ccTLD (country-code Top Level Domain) will start in the future.

2009 - A new registry interface with EPP - AFNIC/CORE chosen by the Ville de Paris to manage .paris

A new registry interface with EPP

Within the context to simplify and standardize the procedures with the registrars, AFNIC implements the EPP protocol starting March 30th 2009.
New rules and new registration procedures also come-along for .fr and .re domain names.

AFNIC/CORE chosen by the Ville de Paris to manage .paris

On September 30th, 2009, the Ville de Paris decided to harness the expertise of the Franco-Swiss alliance AFNIC/CORE -managers of .fr and .cat respectively- as the back-end registry for the .paris project.

This future Top Level Internet Domain is designed to allow businesses, institutions and private individuals to associate their on-line presence with the image and influence of Paris. In order to comply with the various technical specifications required in order to manage a Top Level Domain, and laid down by ICANN as part of the application procedure, the Ville de Paris found it necessary to enlist the services of a technical operator.

The joint venture led by AFNIC will firstly be responsible for ensuring that the bid complies with the various technical specifications laid down by ICANN. It will then become the technical operator of the .paris TLD on behalf of the Ville de Paris, under a service concession arrangement.

2010 - AFNIC appointed as the Registry for the .fr domain - Availability of .fr names to French people living abroad

AFNIC appointed as the Registry for the .fr domain

On March 2nd, 2010, the French Minister for Industry appointed AFNIC as the Registry for the .fr domain.
AFNIC's seven-year appointment comes under the Order of February 6th, 2007 and after a public invitation to tender issued on January 15th, 2009.

Related documents:

State-AFNIC Agreement regarding the management of .fr (In French only).

Order of February 19th, 2010 regarding the management of .fr (In French only).

Decree of February 6th, 2007 on domain names (In French only).

Availability of .fr names to French people living abroad

Starting March 16th, 2010, expatriate French citizens are able to register their chosen .fr domain name, without having to establish that they have an address in France.