The non-profit organization Afnic, which is the registry of the French national domain .FR, has announced an upcoming fee increase in the domain zone. The Online Domain, reporting this news, provides a list of compelling reasons that forced the registry to take such a step. Thus, Afnic supports two services for out-of-court resolution of domain disputes - SYRELI and PARL EXPERT - paying all expenses for office work and the work of experts. At the same time, the number of calls to these services has increased significantly over the past three years.
In addition, the shortage of electronic components caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the registry to undertake large-scale procurement in order to prevent possible IT infrastructure failures that would negatively affect the functioning of the French country code domain. Prices for electronics have also increased, which is why these costs turned out to be significantly higher than what was originally budgeted for Afnic.
Finally, the registry must comply with the requirements of EU legislators, who strive to ensure maximum cybersecurity in EU countries. To do this, it is necessary to introduce additional technical solutions and hire highly qualified specialists. All these factors led to the need to increase prices.
From March 1 this year, wholesale prices for approximately 400 registrar companies working with the French national domain will increase by 11.1% - from 4.56 to 5.07 euros. Representatives of Afnic note that the registries of many country code domains in European countries have already taken similar steps, increasing prices in the range from 6 to 20%. It is also emphasized that prices in the .FR domain zone will remain quite competitive in relation to the .COM. In addition, the Afnic registry undertakes to reinvest up to 11% of the profits received from price increases, directing the funds to socially significant projects.
