.FR domain policies

Registration Processing

The FR registry does not operate as a fully synchronous registry. As such, processing of some registrations is not immediate. There can be delays of 10-30 minutes in some cases for the registration process. 

When you place an order for a .FR domain name, you must provide some additional information to satisfy the regional presence requirements of the .FR registry.

• Individual registrants must be a resident of the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein.
• Organization registrants must be a located in the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein. 

• Registry Tool
• Registry Documentation
• OpenSRS SystemDNS name servers can be used during domain registration

Name servers can be provided either when registering the .FR domain, or when activating the .FR domain.

The domain name and name server details are transferred to the zone file within 24 hours, after which time, the domain name becomes active.

The name servers must comply with the following registry requirements and conditions:

General conditions

• The zone is installed in all the name servers (at least two) given in the installation request ticket sent to the auto-ticket@nic.fr address.
• The primary server name in the Server of Authority (SOA) record corresponds to the first server given in the list of servers to install.
• The zone contact (RNAME) is valid and contactable by email.
• The zone serial number is the same on each server.
• The refresh time is at least one hour.
• The retry time is at least one hour.
• The expire time is at least a week, and much higher than the refresh time.
• The TTL time in the SOA specifies the TTL for negative responses (NXDOMAIN) and must not exceed one day.
• The TTL time is at least one hour for SOA and NS records.
• The list of zone name servers returned by the server corresponds to the list of servers requested in the ticket.
• There is one MX for the zone, using a message service relay with a legal name that must be (or must point to) an Internet address (A record); any alias (CNAME) will be refused in accordance with the RFCs.
• The postmaster@domain-name.fr or postmaster@domain-name.re mailbox must be contactable.
• The contents of the zone conform to the RFCs.

Configuration of name servers

• The server must have international IP connectivity.
• The server must be online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• The DNS service must be accessible on port 53 in UDP and TCP, and to ICMP echo packets, for packets sent from any machine on the Internet.
• The server must have authority for the requested zone.
• The server must obtain the correct list of name servers corresponding to each of the ".fr / .re", ".in-addr.arpa" and "." zones, and must not have authority unless it is mentioned in this list. The addresses of the servers mentioned must be correct.
• The server obtains the correct address for each of the other servers in the zone.
• The server calculates checksums for UDP packets and generates its IP packets with a TTL of at least 64.
• The server does not forward requests to AFNIC servers.
• It must be possible to obtain the server names based on their IP addresses.

Messaging

• The VRFY command is implemented in accordance with RFC1123.
• The return code must be of type "2xx" in accordance with RFC1893.
• The postmaster@domain-name.fr or postmaster@domain-name.re address can be delivered to on the first message service relay.
• It must be possible to deliver to the zone contact address specified in the SOA record on the first message service relay.

Network database (RIPE - RADB)

For each server mentioned:

• There is an "inetnum" record for the network to which it belongs.
• There is a "route" record for the network to which it belongs.

For each zone registration request:

• The first technical contact is located at the requesting registrar,
• The identifier of the first technical contact is a NIC-HDL of a role object in the FRNIC database.

.FR domains should be set to Auto-Renew, in which case the domain automatically renews near the expiration date. If Auto-Renew is not turned on, the domain will expire at the end of the registration period without notification. They remain in quarantine at the registry for 30 days. During this time, these names can be recovered by submitting through the same Domain Redemption tool in RWI used to redeem gTLD's.

Registrar transfers require an auth_info code. The registrant can obtain this code from the current registrar. OpenSRS will send an email to the admin contact of the domain asking them to approve the transfer. The admin can enter the authcode for the domain on the transfer approval page. Registration terms begin anew at the completion of registrar and registrant transfers.

As of June 30, 2015, transfers and changes of ownership must be processed separately; the change of ownership (more information below) needs to be initiated after the transfer has completed, and will be billed as usual.

For more information on transfers, see "Transferring domains and changing domain ownership"

Changing any details of the listed registrant of a .FR name must be confirmed by both the current and new registrant. There is no charge for this operation. 

You can use the following steps to start a change of ownership:

1.  Login at manage.opensrs.com

2.  Click on "Domains" at the top

3.  Search for and click on the domain you want to submit the request for

4.  Click on "Edit" to the right of Owner Information section

5.  Make the necessary adjustments to owner details and click "Save"

After the owner change request is submitted an email is sent to the current and gaining domain holders email addresses from no-reply@confirm-owner-change.com.  This emails contains a link which must be clicked on to confirm the change. Both parties have 15 days to approve the change, otherwise the owner change is cancelled.

If no changes to the email were made during the trade, then the current owner email receives two emails which both need to be approved.

Once both parties have approved the trade, then each contact will receive an email notifying them of the completion of the trade. 

If, for some reason, the current owner email address is no longer valid the FR Owner Change Form.docx. should be filled out, signed by both parties, and emailed to help@opensrs.com