Frequently asked questions

.frl is available for everyone. Only at the launch, back in 2015, Frisian brands, companies and people were invited to a priority phase. Since the priority phase is over, .frl domains are available for Frisians and non-Frisians. Why would a non-Frisian want to use a .frl domain? Simply because Friesland is in anyone’s heart a little bit, isn’t it? Just abide to our acceptable use policy.

Most of the webhosting companies in the Netherlands offer .frl as one of their standard extensions. The bigger international registrars also offer .frl.

Before registering a .frl domain, check if the domain name is still available for registration. You can do so with your hosting company, or on our homepage.

Also consider whether you just want your domain name, or also webhosting and/or e-mail. Check the offerings of several parties and define your criteria before choosing one. A selection of .frl providers is available on our Registrars page.

The price for a .frl domain is defined by the registrars and resellers, and may vary among different providers. It might be beneficial to compare prices before you start registering your domain. Do not forget to check the price for renewal as well, to prevent surprises after the first year when your domain is up for renewal.

Premium domain names are domain names that are either very short, or very generic. Those domains can be registered at a special fee (the “premium” fee). For short domain names, consisting of only 1 or 2 characters, contact your provider. They are able to register those domains directly. Longer, generic domain names are sold through the Sedo platform.

If you want to use a premium domain for an idea that benefits the Frisian community as a whole, contact us to see what we can do for you!

Yes! Contrary to .nl, the true and full Frisian alphabet is supported by .frl. A domain like sûkerbôle.frl is perfectly possible! This is called an “IDN”, an “Internationalized Domain Name.” The letter supported by .frl are: á, é, ó, ú, â, ê, ô, û, ä, ë, ï, ö and ü.

We must be honest: although everything will work perfectly from a technical point of view, there’s a chance that your e-mail application or order forms on websites cannot handle such special characters. Do not let this prevent you from being creative with your website!

It is very easy to transfer a domain name to another provider. First, request from your current provider the authorisation code and ask them to remove any transfer lock from the domain. Send the authorisation code to your new provider. They will start the transfer. You might receive one or a few e-mails, and at most five days later, the domain is under management of the new provider.

Be careful: when you transfer a domain name, your web hosting and your e-mail is not automatically transferred as well! Contact your new provider for more information.

Note that a transfer cannot be started within 60 days from registration, a previous transfer or an owner change.

If you have an existing website already, for example a .com or .nl domain, you can migrate to your own .frl domain. Check with your webhosting provider for all details; maybe they can even help you with a simple migration.

Some things to think about:

• For your SEO, a .frl domain is as good as any other domain extension. Keep in mind that it can take a few days before Google indexes all new pages.
• Therefore, it’s wise to redirect the pages of your old website to the corresponding pages on your new website.
• Don’t forget your offline business: where do you need to change your domain name as well? For example, think of letterhead paper or business cards.
• We strongly advise not to cancel your original domain name immediately. If you keep it alive, your redirects will remain functional and nobody can abuse your name.
• Last but not least: consider translating your website in Frisian!

Sometimes, a domain name is so important or valuable, that the registrant wants to have the utmost control over the name, and wants to be sure that the registration cannot be altered without explicit approval. This can be applicable to any domain name for which potential downtime leads to serious damage.

Registry Lock is the service that offers an additional security layer. With .frl Registry Lock, no single setting of a domain name can be changed without explicit, manual upfront approval.

More information about Registry Lock, also for the registrar who has to activate the lock, is available on our special Registry Lock page.

Your first point of contact is the domain holder. Find basic information of this entity through the whois page. If that does not succeed, contact the registrar. This is the company managing the domain name. The registrar’s details are available from the whois as well. If also this does not work, let us know.

Every domain name is unique. In other words: if a domain is registered once, nobody else can register this same domain name. Domain names are assigned on a first come, first served basis. So if a taxi company from Dokkum registers taxi.frl, and a taxi company from Leeuwarden also wants this domain, this second party needs to find an alternative.

This applies to company, brand and product names as well. Having such a name does not grant you the right to register the corresponding domain name. Only if the domain owner is clearly abusing your brand or company name, there is a chance that you can get the domain name taken down or transferred to you. Your first point of contact in such cases is the domain owner or the registrar.

There are two ways to manage .frl domains for your customers:

• As a registrar: you buy your .frl domains directly from FRLregistry B.V.. The most important requirement is that you are an ICANN accredited registrar. More information.
• As a reseller: you buy your .frl domains through a third party. There are no special requirements for this, other than an agreement with your supplier. In many cases, your existing provider (that you use for registering .com or .nl domains already) also provides .frl and you can easily add this to your offerings.

Both registrars and resellers can be listed on our registrars page. On this page you can also read how to apply for listing.

Premium domain names are domain names that are either very short, or very generic. Those domains can be registered at a special fee (the “premium” fee). For short domain names, consisting of only 1 or 2 characters, contact your provider. They are able to register those domains directly. Longer, generic domain names are sold through the Sedo platform.

If you want to use a premium domain for an idea that benefits the Frisian community as a whole, contact us to see what we can do for you!

A domain name is an internet address like the one you type into your web browser. Common examples include google.com, bbc.uk and db.de. Anything before or after this name is not part of the domain name. For example, consider the web address “https://www.bbc.com/news/business-23150658″. The domain name itself is just bbc.com. The rest just tells the web browser which specific page to load.

The letters after the dot are called the “domain extension”. While the rest of the domain name can be almost anything that you want, the domain extension has to be chosen from a limited set. The domain extension often implies the website’s target audience. This can be a country (.uk, .de), a city or region (.frl, .london) or a generic term (.com, .shop, .app).

A reseller is a company that does not buy .frl domains directly from FRLregistry B.V., but uses a third party for this. Using resellers is very common in the domain industry, because there’s just a limited number of companies with a direct contract to FRLregistry B.V.; those are the so-called registrars.

All registrars and a selection of resellers is available on our registrar page.

A registrar is a company that buys its .frl domains directly from FRLregistry B.V.. Sometimes your webhosting provider is a registrar, but more often there are one or more additional layers in the supply chain. An overview of all .frl registrars and the most important resellers is available on our registrar overview page.

A registrant is the private or legal entity that registered a domain name and who is listed as the domain owner. In most cases this is the customer or the user of the domain name.