On June 28, AFNIC’s mandate as the Registry for the .fr TLD was officially renewed. Further to the call for applications launched on 22 March 2012 under the new legislative framework for domain names set up in 2011, Ms. Fleur Pellerin, Junior Minister for the Digital Economy, selected AFNIC for a further term of 5 years.  

The project proposed by AFNIC involves a number of commitments, including first of all maintaining a competitive, cost-oriented price: for example, the prices for domain names with the .fr extension offered by AFNIC – which are already 20% lower than those for the .com – will decrease by at least 5% within the next two years. Another commitment made by AFNIC is to donate the profits from the .fr TLD to a Fund to Support the Development of the Internet, with independent governance, which will fund research initiatives for the development of the Internet. Finally, the recognition of the essential value of the .fr TLD as an infrastructure has been confirmed. A special protocol on the security and reliability of the .fr namespace has been signed with the Ministry and with the French Network and Information Security Agency (FNISA).

AFNIC wishes to take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported us – as expressed in particular on the website je-soutiens-afnic.fr - and for your on-going confidence in the excellence of the project. We shall continue to serve the best interests of all the French stakeholders on the Internet.