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    • .frl

    Generic top-level domainsIDNDNSSEC

    Overview

    .frl is the Internet top-level domain intended for Friesland and Frisian communities. It is a geographic/community-focused gTLD from ICANN's New gTLD Program. Registrations are taken directly at the second level and the zone supports DNSSEC.

    History

    • Applied for under ICANN's New gTLD Program; the applicant/registry actor referenced in documents is the Metaregistrar.
    • A Registry Agreement with ICANN was signed on 15 May 2014 (as noted in application/contract records).
    • Delegation to the DNS root zone is recorded as 30 August 2014; other sources note delegation activity around 1 September 2014 and the first site (nic.frl) went online on 2 September 2014.
    • The TLD is operated under the name FRLregistry B.V.

    Usage and Audience

    • Target audience: Frisian people in the province of Friesland, Frisians elsewhere in the Netherlands, Frisians living abroad, and Frisian communities in northern Germany.
    • Intended to serve as a cultural/identity domain that helps Frisians identify and connect with Frisian heritage online.
    • The applicant anticipated significant uptake from the local population and diaspora (application documents projected conservative estimates and potential registrations in the tens to hundreds of thousands).
    • IDN use: the TLD was promoted as enabling Internationalized Domain Names for Frisian-language spellings (for example fryslân.frl) to better represent Frisian orthography.

    Registration Rules

    • Registrations are open and unrestricted to any ICANN-accredited registrar.
    • Registrations are accepted directly at the second level (example.frl).
    • Character rules and reserved names (from applicant statements):
      • Hyphens are allowed but no two hyphens may be adjacent.
      • Domain names starting with the punycode prefix "xn--" will not be accepted by the registry.
      • Certain names (examples given in application: example.frl, www.frl, iris.frl, nic.frl and country/territory names specified by ICANN) are reserved.
    • WHOIS and privacy: public WHOIS will show a limited set of data in line with Dutch privacy laws; a web-based WHOIS with additional information will be protected (captcha) and a private WHOIS service is available to parties with legitimate need and to connected registrars.
    • DNSSEC is enabled for the TLD.

    SEO and Brand Impact

    • The TLD was positioned as a regional/community brand to strengthen Frisian identity online and encourage the use of the Frisian language on the web.
    • Promoters expected the availability of IDNs and a dedicated regional TLD to boost websites featuring Frisian-language content and to help entities visually identify themselves as Frisian.
    • ICANN's Geographic Names Panel at one stage determined the string did not meet their strict geographic definition; application notes indicate this ruling did not necessarily have negative repercussions for the application.

    Notable Cases or Examples

    • nic.frl was the first .frl domain brought online.
    • A related cultural note: a fictional .fy TLD was published as an April Fools' Day joke in 2006 to highlight interest in Frisian-language domains.

    Operator

    FRLregistry B.V.

    Whois

    % IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       FRL

organisation: FRLregistry B.V.
address:      Willemskade 3
address:      Leeuwarden 8911AM
address:      Netherlands (the)

contact:      administrative
name:         Administrative contact
organisation: FRL Registry BV
address:      Willemskade 3
address:      Leeuwarden 8911AW
address:      Netherlands (the)
phone:        +31 (0) 58 76 30 650
fax-no:       +31 (0) 58 84 50 145
e-mail:       info@frlregistry.com

contact:      technical
name:         CTO
organisation: CentralNic
address:      Saddlers House, 4th Floor
address:      44 Gutter Lane
address:      London EC2V 6BR
address:      United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the)
phone:        +44 20 33 88 0600
fax-no:       +44 20 33 88 0601
e-mail:       tld.ops@centralnic.com

nserver:      A.NIC.FRL 194.169.218.87 2001:67c:13cc:0:0:0:1:87
nserver:      B.NIC.FRL 185.24.64.87 2a04:2b00:13cc:0:0:0:1:87
nserver:      C.NIC.FRL 212.18.248.87 2a04:2b00:13ee:0:0:0:0:87
nserver:      D.NIC.FRL 212.18.249.87 2a04:2b00:13ff:0:0:0:0:87
ds-rdata:     16639 13 2 d3ccc215301c0738fc3b1aa14deb7602421ff42d3889bd15d018ee2212373d38
ds-rdata:     46635 13 2 7564b5a11e4aed3dcf92f5d40b75a3089d7eb5e0dc97c4b467218e6b6e9e95c0

whois:        whois.nic.frl

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: https://registreer.frl

created:      2014-08-22
changed:      2023-10-05
source:       IANA

    Registrars