BBC:France sparks .wine address row ahead of ICANN London for lack of adequate redress mechanisms

France has expressed anger at the organisation responsible for assigning internet domains over the planned launch of .wine and .vin addresses.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has been rolling out new custom web names.

But France said addresses like .wine would put trade agreements regarding the sale of region-specific products like champagne at risk.

French minister Axelle Lemaire said Icann needed to be more transparent.

She called for a new general assembly to be set up to govern domain names, with a “one country, one vote” system.

The US agreed earlier this year to relinquish ultimate control over Icann, which is based in California. Discussions are continuing as to what kind of body should replace it.

In a letter to Icann, quoted by the Financial Times, Ms Lemaire said:

“The lack of adequate redress mechanisms and, above all, the lack of accountability demonstrate the need for significant reform of Icann even before the current debate on the global internet governance system comes to a conclusion.”

A meeting of stakeholders involved in Icann is taking place in London this week. On the agenda will be the continued creation of the new generic top-level domains (gTLDs).

In 2012, a whole host of new gTLDs was announced – widening the possibilities from the likes of .com and .net to include custom extensions such as .amazon, .nike and .bbc. Read More from BBC