Domain names : the constitutional council against the AFNIC ?
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Already 12 years that the AFNIC (French registry for Internet domain names) rules peacefully the universe of .FR domain names; the association decides for the registration rules, as well as for the domain names allocations etc. BUT: on October 6th, through a press release, the Constitutional Council ( French institute created under the fifth Republic which speaks and intervenes over the conformity of some laws or rules) has cancelled the law of 2004 on the attribution of domain names, as it was described in article L.45 of the French Electronic Communications Act. Would the Constitutional Council want to take the power out of the AFNIC’s « hands » over French domain names? Not exactly…
Article L.45 wanted the attribution of .FR domain names to be done « according to the general interest and the non-discriminatory public rules which make sure the intellectual properties are taken into account. […] The legislator had totally delegated the power to decide in which conditions the domain names should be given, renewed, refused or withdrawn ».
If the constitutional Council calls this law into question it’s because according to him, the rules given by the AFNIC « do not settle down a satisfying legal framework » since those rules are « incomplete ». As a matter of fact, the members of the Council report that « the article L. 45 of the French Electronic Communications Act must be declared against the constitution ».
However, there is absolutely no threats regarding the AFNIC as the registry of .FR. The chief executive of the AFNIC is proud to underline that « This is only a matter of legal form. The Council simply thinks that some points of the law should be more specified but does not question its content ».
The Constitution Council has a bit more than 9 months to review article L.45. The new article should be effective on July, 1st 2011. Until then, the current policies of .FR registration and attribution rules remain unchanged.
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Posted on : 14/10/2010
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