How do I declare the domain name of a website?

Verified 30 September 2021 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Do you want to create a website to sell products or services online or to publicize your business? You need to reserve a domain name so that users can access the website's web pages.

The domain name is the name that identifies a website and constitutes the means of locating and accessing the pages of this website.

The rules for reserving a domain name vary according to the nature of the site:

  • Geographical domains with a national focus, according to the geographical location of the company:
    • .fr (France)
    • .de (Germany)
    • .it (Italy)
    • .eu (European Union)
  • Generic domains, international in scope:
    • .com (for commercial activities)
    • .net (for companies)
    • .org (for associations or non-governmental organizations, etc.)

The domain name is assigned to the person who requests the reservation first. So that's the rule of first come, first served which prevails.

To reserve a domain name, you must contact the managing body that is responsible for it.

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.fr or .tm.fr

Who shall I contact

The domain name can be assigned to:

  • any entity or person having a legal existence in France,
  • any natural person residing in the European Union (EU),
  • any legal person having its registered office or principal place of business in the EU.

Please note

upon registration, you must write a self-declaration stating that you meet the criteria for the allocation and that you do not cause problems for other domain name holders.

.re (Reunion), .yt (Mayotte), .pm (Saint Pierre and Miquelon), .wf (Wallis and Futuna), .tf (French Southern and Antarctic Lands)

Who shall I contact

.eu

The domain name can be requested by:

  • a citizen of the European Union (EU), irrespective of his or her place of residence,
  • a natural person who is not an EU citizen and resides in a Member State,
  • a company established in the EU,
  • an organization established in the EU, taking into account the applicable national law.

.com and .net

Who shall I contact

.org

Who shall I contact

Reservation of the domain name is not a protection of intellectual property.

Indeed, the domain name does not correspond to a trademark, which is a protected intellectual property right after its filing.

To protect your domain name from cybersquatters or competitors, it is recommended that you also register your domain name as a trademark in addition to reserving your domain name.

It is possible to check the availability of a domain name reservation and a trademark application before doing so in order to avoid conflicts between domain names, trademarks or company names.

Check availability of a brand, logo, domain name

Warning  

in the event of a dispute, priority is given to the trademark previously registered in the domain name.

Individual business When declaring an internet site or a business, a declaration of activity may be attached to the declaration of activity relating to the domain name of a website. It entails its inclusion in the constituent elements of the company (with an entry in the SCR: titleContent for a commercial company).

Therefore, the domain name is mentioned in the extract Kbis of the company.

Legal entities have the possibility to declare multiple domain names.

Declaration on the domain name(s) of the website(s)

FYI  

the declaration of the domain name has no effect on the corporate name or trade name company.

You can also contact a domain name registrar called registrar. He is in charge of the administrative and technical procedures for registering a domain name with the registers concerned.