Hello,
I want to register a domain name under .asso.fr.
For any search, whatever the domain (let's say tartempion.asso.fr), the OVH tool tells me the domain is already taken and offers to transfer it for €149.
However, the various WHOIS records clearly show that the domain name is available.
Is this normal? What is happening?
Thank you for your responses.
Hm! Hm! @EmmanuelM49
The domain has already been taken since 1995 and reserved until 2098
---> https://www.ovhcloud.com/fr-sn/domains/whois/
domain: asso.fr
status: NOT_OPENED
eppstatus: inactive
hold: NO
holder-c: NA102-FRNIC
admin-c: NF100-FRNIC
tech-c: CTC7217858-FRNIC
registrar: Registry AutoRenew
Expiry Date: 2098-12-31T23:00:00Z
created: 1995-01-01T00:00:00Z
source: FRNIC
Hi,
It's a specific domain name (like gouv.fr or chirurgiens-dentistes.fr and others).
Under certain conditions you can have a subdomain of asso.fr
Ok, thanks for your reply. I want a domain name for an association, so it seemed logical, but a .fr would work just as well. That said, what are the conditions to obtain a .asso.fr, do I have to go directly through AFNIC?
Yes, I admit I haven’t tested tartempion, but for the domain names I’m interested in, there is no WHOIS record.
I don’t know. I guess there’s an open association 
And actually, there you tested the domain asso.fr; but .asso.fr is an extension, which explains the NOT_OPENED status and an inactive eppstatus.
Well, the association is created. The thing is that the association’s name (roue libre) is already taken in .fr by the RATP (since 2002 and they haven’t done anything with it, anyway…)
So I’m looking for variants, hence .asso.fr (all the more relevant since it’s an association)
The whois tells me the domain name is available: https://www.whois.com/whois/rouelibre.asso.fr; the OVH whois too (https://www.ovhcloud.com/fr-sn/domains/whois/ despite the crappy captcha)
But if I do a search on the OVH portal (https://www.ovhcloud.com/fr/domains/), for rouelibre.asso.fr, it indicates that the domain name is already reserved…
NB – asso.fr is not a domain name but an extension; there are plenty of associations that have a domain name with this extension (in sectors as different as medico‑social: https://www.realise.asso.fr/, https://www.abrapa.asso.fr/, https://snc.asso.fr/ or finance: https://www.afg.asso.fr/fr/, https://www.anacofi.asso.fr/, etc.)
So I don’t understand why I can’t order it… And I don’t see how to get information from OVH, apparently they no longer have a commercial service reachable by phone…
So: Create an Incident ticket:
Manager OVH > https://www.ovh.com/manager/#/dedicated/useraccount/dashboard > My support requests > Create a request / ticket
then:
Call OVH customer support at +33 9 72 10 10 07. Preferably between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. in the morning, or around 3 p.m. there is less waiting.
Or on Twitter @ovh_support_fr or #OVHcloudsupport
Hello @EmmanuelM49!
After many minutes of research, I discovered that the .asso.fr extension was linked to a campaign launched by AFNIC in 2001: Press release: Launch of the .asso.fr operation
A report on the operation was published in 2002: Report on the .asso.fr operation for the centenary of the 1901 law
And Wikipedia notes that registration of the extension has been closed since December 2011: AFNIC - Second‑level domains
Thanks a lot for this info, I hadn't looked into it more than that since the last feedback. I'll read your various links, but basically it's probably better for me to stick with a simple .fr.
A more general reflection (outside the technical or commercial aspects), it's still curious that we can have domain names like .shop, .paris, .xyz, .best, .space, and so on, while .asso.fr is closed to registration. When you see that associations are losing public funding everywhere, one might think it's better to sell Chinese plastic on an e‑commerce site than to try to create social bonds… In short…
A .fr, domain is less than €10 per year at OVH.
It’s not expensive to be independent. 
Yes, I quite agree with you...
I came across your question because I was looking for the same thing as you.
