Afnic Annual Report 2016: Driving the development of online presence

In 2016, Afnic’s appointment as the registry for the .fr was extended for an additional 5 years. With an increase of 2.21% over the year 2016, the .fr was one of the most dynamic country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLD) in Europe and the symbolic milestone of 3 million domain names registered under the .fr was attained at the end of the year.

Afnic was awarded ISO 27001 certification in 2016 for the information system it operates for the .fr and was also rewarded for its quality initiative by obtaining the “recognized for excellence, 4-star” rating from the European Foundation for Quality Management.

In order to continue to support the development of the on-line presence of small and medium-sized businesses, Afnic expanded its activities in 2016 through its Réussir en .fr program (www.réussir-en.fr), which joined the Foliweb initiative, a program of workshops and training courses organized throughout France, and took part in the SME Online trade fair, the first fully virtual trade fair devoted to small and medium-sized businesses.

Afnic also created and organized the first edition of the Afnic Forum, an event bringing together Afnic’s registrars, digital sector professionals and users on the issue of simplicity to develop online presence, and contributed to the report “Connected growth, SMEs counterattack 1” submitted by the French National Council for the Digital Economy to the French Minister of Economy and Finance.

In line with its environmental commitments, Afnic published its second carbon audit© which highlighted the results of its program to reduce the carbon footprint caused by its activities, with a 9% decline in emissions between 2013 and 2015.

In 2016, the Afnic Foundation for Digital Solidarity (www.fondation-afnic.fr) also launched its first call for projects with grants available worth € 2 million, and financed more than 30 field projects supporting an inclusive Internet. Afnic became a partner with the eAccessibility Tour de France and supported the cycle of events set up by the BrailleNet association to facilitate access for people with disabilities and senior citizens to digital services and tools.

Finally, Afnic actively participated in all of the debates on the transition of the oversight of the IANA function, especially within the international working group on the reform of ICANN, whose work was co-chaired by Mathieu Weill, then Afnic’s Chief Executive Officer. Afnic also published the first data of its work on diversity within the governance body.

Download the 2016 Afnic Annual Report