Are NON French companies allowed to own domains in France?

[David-E-Carey]

Hi,

I was wondering if any one knows if the French government has changed it's stance in recent years to the ownership of domains in their country. My understanding is that it can be pretty difficult to own a domain there if you do not reside there. In the past I have had people register domains using their passport as identification to prove their domicile in that country.

We like many others have sites with .com/fr etc. and we do have one domain that is a .fr and seriously out performs the .com version.

Many thanks for any input on this question.

David

*** UPDATE - Sorry no need for a response, I've just been informed that businesses who are located in a Member State of the European Union (EU) are allowed to own .fr domains which the French government needs to comply with.

Best,

David

[David-E-Carey]

Thanks Gary for coming back on this one. - nice suggestion.

We ended up buying the domain in France.

Many thanks,

David

[gazzerman1]

For countries where it is not possible, I would suggest if you must have the domain, a cheap virtual office is an option to take. This way you have an address in that country to use. Not many people know about this option.