The tender to determine who runs the .FR registry has been won by Afnic according to an order by Fleur Pellerin, Junior Minister for the Digital Economy, who appointed Afnic for a new five year term.

However there was no word as to who won the right to run the additional ccTLDs for the ten French territorial ccTLDs, these being:

• .FR for France
• .BL for Saint-Barthélemy
• .GF for French Guiana
• .GP for Guadeloupe
• .MF for Saint-Martin
• .MQ for Martinique
• .PM for Saint-Pierre and Miquelon
• .RE for Reunion Island
• .TF for the French Southern and Antarctic Territories
• .WF for Wallis and Futuna
• .YT for Mayotte.

The decision came after a call for applications issued on 22 March 2012, complying with the new legislative framework for domain names implemented in 2011.

“This decision honours and rewards the quality of the work performed by AFNIC teams, and above all vouches for our main responsibility, which is to provide a safe and stable service fostering the development of innovation and designed to meet the needs of all French stakeholders,” said Jean-Pierre Dardayrol, Afnic CEO.

As part of their tender, Afnic included in their business plan a number of commitments, of which the main duties were specified in the Agreement signed with the French government, which were:

• A commitment to maintain competitive, cost-oriented rates. The prices for domain names with the .FR extension offered by AFNIC are already 20% lower than those for the .com and will decrease by at least 5% within the next two years
• In addition to its investments in security, the promotion of the .FR TLD and research & development, all of which have been renewed, AFNIC will donate the profits from the .FR TLD to a Support fund for the development of the Internet, with independent governance, which will fund research initiatives for the development of the Internet
• The reaffirmation of the importance of the .FR TLD as an essential infrastructure for the Internet in France. A specific protocol will be signed in this respect between AFNIC, ANSSI and the Ministry in order to reinforce the security of the .FR namespace.

To register your .FR domain name, check out Europe Registry here.

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