.fr domains have special registry requirements for who can register, privacy, renewals, and transfers. This guide explains what these requirements mean when you manage a .fr domain on WordPress.com.
Individuals and organizations located in the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein may register .fr domain names. Individuals must reside within one of the qualifying countries. Organizations must have their registered or main office located in a qualifying country.
Special characters are not allowed in the first and last name fields of contacts—this includes characters with diacritical marks. The following characters are accepted:
- Latin characters (excluding numbers and special characters)
- Hyphens
- Apostrophes
- Spaces
If you select an organization registrant type, generally, you must provide additional information, which may include any of the following:
- VAT Number: The Value Added Tax (VAT) number of the organization.
- Trademark Number: The organization’s trademark registration number.
- SIREN/SIRET Number: The 9-digit SIREN code or the 14-digit SIRET code that is used to identify the business for tax reasons. For organizations located in France, include this number to avoid validation issues with the registry.
Afnic, the registry that governs all .fr domains, automatically applies privacy protection to .fr domains if the domain is registered to an individual. This limits the personal information that is displayed in the Whois database.
However, for domains registered to organizations, privacy protection is not supported. This means that the registrant contact information is displayed in the Whois database. To change the registry type to individual, contact support.
If WordPress.com cannot auto-renew the domain name and you do not manually renew it before it reaches expiration, there is no grace period. The domain immediately enters redemption, and additional fees apply. The redemption period lasts approximately 30 days. Once this period is over, it is no longer possible to redeem or renew the domain.
You must initiate the transfer with the gaining registrar (the registrar you are transferring to), which will ask you for an authorization code. Allow eight days for the transfer to complete.
WordPress.com does not accept incoming transfers for .fr domains. To use your .fr domain with WordPress.com, connect your domain instead of transferring it. Domain connection allows you to use your .fr domain with your WordPress.com site while keeping it registered with your current provider.
Follow the steps in the domain connection guide.
