The State / Afnic agreement on the management of the .fr TLD has been published

07/17/2012

The agreement sets out the main commitments of Afnic as the Registry for the .fr namespace, including:

Actions to promote and develop the .fr TLD, materialized by:

The establishment of a strategic development plan for the .fr namespace, over 5 years, designed in particular to enhance the reputation and visibility of the .fr TLD;

A budget to promote the .fr TLD, representing some 10% of Afnic turnover;

The launch before the end of 2013 of the possibility to register domain names with the .fr extension for several years, and to register domain names consisting of one or two characters.

In addition, the prices of domain names with the .fr extension offered by Afnic, which are already 20% lower than those for the .com TLD, will decrease by at least 5% within the next two years;

Maintaining an optimal quality of service, materialized by:

A monthly scorecard provided on the Afnic website, used to report on the attainment of quality objectives aligned with international best practices;

A technical support service, on standby 24/7, to be set up before the end of the year.
An annual satisfaction survey of registrars on the quality of AFNIC services.

Measures to ensure maximum levels of security and reliability:

A 5-year strategic plan to support the deployment of DNSSEC;

An investment representing some 8% of Afnic turnover to acquire hardware and software to help ensure the security and stability of the .fr TLD

In addition, Afnic has undertaken to allocate 10% of its turnover to Research and Development as well as to experience-sharing on an international level.

The launch of a fund to support the development of the Internet:

Over and above its investments in security, to the promotion of the .fr TLD and to research & development, Afnic will donate the profits from the .fr namespace to a Support fund for the development of the Internet.

The fund’s governance will be independent, its purpose being to finance research initiatives focusing on the development of the Internet;

The value of the overall financial package over the next five years is estimated to be as high as 8 million euros.

The optimization of procedures for settling disputes:

Within the framework of the Syreli dispute resolution system, Afnic will reimburse complainants the sum of 150 euros if the decision is in their favor;

Before the end of September 2013, an additional dispute resolution procedure providing for the intervention of third parties will be set up by Afnic, in partnership with WIPO.

About Afnic

Afnic is the acronym for Association Française pour le Nommage Internet en Coopération, the French Network Information Centre. The registry has been appointed by the French government to manage domain names under the .fr Top Level Domain. Afnic also manages the .re (Reunion Island), .pm (Saint-Pierre and Miquelon), .tf (French Southern and Antarctic Territories), .wf (Wallis and Futuna) and .yt (Mayotte) French Overseas TLDs.

In addition to managing French TLDs, Afnic’s role is part of a wider public interest mission, which is to contribute on a daily basis, thanks to the efforts of its teams and its members, to a secure and stable internet, open to innovation and in which the French internet community plays a leading role. As part of that mission, Afnic, a non-profit organization, has committed to devoting 11% of its Revenues from managing .fr Top Level Domain to actions of general interest, in particular by transferring €1.3 million each year to the Afnic Foundation for Digital Solidarity.
Afnic is also the back-end registry for the companies as well as local and regional authorities that have chosen to have their own TLD, such as .paris, .bzh, .alsace, .corsica, .mma, .ovh, .leclerc and .sncf.

Established in 1997 and based in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Afnic currently has nearly 90 employees.