From 20 June 2006 the .fr registry will be allowing all individuals 18 or over, with a postal address in France, to register any available domains they want ending in .fr. Until now, only professionals, associations or public bodies have been able to register .fr.

The domain will not need to correspond in any way to the name of the proposed legal registrant. However, the administrative contact must be based in France, having an address where they can receive legal and other documents. Webree are affiliated to NetNames, who can fulfill the role of administrative contact if required. It is easy to predict that there will be a great deal of cyber-squatting within the .fr domain. Trademark owners who have not yet secured their brands in .fr should do so now.

In order to register .fr, visit www.netnames.com now