Martinique's territorial extension
Domain mq
The mq domain is about domain name registration under .mq, Martinique's extension. The page sets out who may file a label, how to check that it is free, what the whois shows, how to read a quote and in which order to prepare the DNS zone. domainemq.com is a guide: it is not the registry, and no name is reserved from here.
Who may apply for a .mq domain
A .mq domain is meant first for a business with a real link to Martinique: a hotel on the bay of Fort-de-France, an agricultural rum distillery, a firm in Le Lamentin, a yole racing association, a commune publishing its opening hours. The holder may be a company, an association, a local authority or an individual. The registry's charter, read again on the day of filing, is the only document that says whether local proof is required.
The .mq cannot be ordered from AFNIC. AFNIC runs .fr together with .re, .yt, .pm, .wf and .tf, not the Martinique extension. A search on a .fr portal therefore says nothing about whether the label is free. You need an office that handles .mq, an administrative contact who can be reached, and the exact name of the holder as written in the articles of association or the identity document.
- Company whose business or one establishment is in Martinique
- Association registered on the island
- Commune or local public body
- Individual, if that day's charter allows it
- Holder of a .fr opening a second, separate file
Finding out whether the .mq name is free
Availability is a fact you observe. A label may be free, already assigned, reserved by the registry (commune, institutional term, well-known trademark) or blocked while a procedure is under way. The only reliable source is the registry's tool or the extension's whois, queried on the day of the decision. A name free in the morning may be gone in the afternoon: do not announce a campaign until the creation is confirmed in writing.
Prepare two or three spellings before searching, with and without a hyphen. “pelee” and an accented form are not automatically the same name if the registry does not open internationalised domains. Write down the result, the time and the tool. That record saves you from briefing a designer on a label already taken in Fort-de-France or Schoelcher.
What a .mq whois makes public
The whois, or the RDAP that complements it, identifies the state of a name and the servers that carry it. It usually shows the status (active, pending, expired), the creation and expiry dates, the published contacts and the DNS servers. An individual's data is often masked under the GDPR, but the registry keeps it: a mask on screen does not authorise a false address.
Reading the record before filing avoids two frequent mistakes on the island: aiming at a name another business of the same memory already carries, or assuming that the absence of a website means abandonment. After registration, read the record again. A typo in the administrative email prevents you from receiving the renewal notice, and the name then drifts into the pool of unrenewed domains.
Price, renewal and case fees
The price of a .mq domain is not set here and does not appear in the .fr price list. The registrar's quote is the only amount that counts. It almost always separates the creation for a period, often a year, the renewal on expiry, the transfer if you change provider, and sometimes case fees when a person reviews the request instead of an automated system.
Add what the name does not include: DNS hosting if you do not supply your own servers, email, the certificate that serves the site over HTTPS, the writing of the pages. A low first year can cost far more at renewal: read that line before signing and set a reminder thirty days earlier. Case fees are not always refunded if the registry refuses the label.
Choosing a label that is heard and spelled
A good .mq name is spelled out on the phone at the first attempt. Stay with unaccented letters, digits and an internal hyphen: no space, no apostrophe, no hyphen at the start or end of the label. Keep it short. Mount Pelee, carnival or a commune can inspire the word, provided you do not suggest you are the institution itself.
Check the trademark at the IP office before painting the sign or the yole. A conflict is badly settled once the cards are printed. Avoid misleading proximity to a tourist office, a local authority or an already well-known rum house: the registry may remove a filing made in bad faith, and a judge can be asked even earlier.
Lead times between filing and the first DNS answer
The registry may accept a .mq within minutes when the order is automated, or take several days if it reviews a supporting document. That delay does not depend on the host. Until the creation is confirmed, the name does not exist: there is no point debugging a zone on a domain that is still absent.
Once the name is created, the delegation spreads according to resolver memory. Count on twenty-four to forty-eight hours for a distant visitor to see the same answer as you, especially if old data lingers with a long TTL. Open the booking desk or the shop after a test from another network, not within the hour of payment.
DNS zone: the minimum for a stable site
The technical zone says where the name points. Two name servers on separate networks are the expected practice. If they themselves end in .mq, you need glue records, otherwise resolution goes round in circles. The SOA carries the technical contact and the cache timers. The NS announced to the registry and those in the zone must be the same.
For a website and email, plan an A or AAAA record, an MX, and a TXT record publishing the SPF policy. DKIM and DMARC are added once mail really goes out in the domain's name. DNSSEC, if it is offered for .mq, means publishing a DS record at the registry once the signatures are already being served. Keep moderate TTLs on launch day.
Duties of the holder and of the operator
Filing a .mq creates concrete duties. The contact details must stay accurate: a change of manager or a move of premises is recorded in the file, otherwise the registry's messages are lost. The name is renewed before expiry. Use of the site follows the law applicable in Martinique, therefore French law: legal notice, data protection, fair advertising.
The operator also watches what is plugged into the name. An abandoned form, a mailbox that bounces or an expired certificate damage trust. In the event of a complaint or a registry request, you must answer within the stated delay. The registered holder remains responsible for the name even when a provider runs the zone day to day.
Filing a .mq, in order
Each step ends with a proof: an availability answer, a named holder, listed servers, an identified payment, then a test from outside.
List the labels
Write down three names at most, from favourite to fallback, and drop those a search engine already ties to another island business.
Check availability
Query the registry on the same day and keep the answer. A namesake in .fr or .com says nothing about .mq: they are separate spaces.
Name the holder
Choose the registered legal or natural person, with the email that will still be read in two years, not a passing address.
Supply the DNS servers
Give at least two reachable servers. If the zone is not ready, a provider can publish a minimal zone while the site is being built.
Accept the charter and pay
Read the term, the renewal price and the grounds for refusal. Pay only against the registrar's quote, never against a reminder whose sender is not verified.
Verify the delegation
Once confirmed, test the whois, the resolution, the page and the mail. Note the expiry date in the agency calendar.
Reading a .mq quote line by line
The table gives no price in euros: it is there so a line is not forgotten. The real amounts are the registrar's, on the day of the order.
| Item | Purpose | When | What to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creation | Opens the name for a given period | At filing | The dated quote prevails, not a rumour about pricing |
| Renewal | Extends the name before expiry | At each expiry | Read the second-year price before choosing |
| Transfer | Changes provider without changing holder | When you decide to | Unlock the name and watch the anniversary date |
| Case fees | Covers a manual registry review | If the registry provides for them | They are sometimes still due when the filing is refused |
| DNS | Publishes the zone that makes the name answer | As soon as it is created | Two servers, on two networks |
| Restoration | Attempts to recover an expired name | After an oversight | Act fast: recovery is not guaranteed |
Five questions before filing a .mq
These questions come up whenever a Martinique team compares .mq with the .fr it already knows.
Is the .mq domain sold by AFNIC?
No. AFNIC operates .fr and several overseas extensions, but not .mq. A search in the .fr interface does not say whether a Martinique name is free. You have to query the .mq registry or an office that distributes it.
Do I need an address in Martinique to register a .mq?
That depends on the charter in force on the day of filing. Some territorial registries require a link with the territory, others are more open. Prepare up-to-date proof and have the rule confirmed before you freeze the visual identity.
Does the whois publish my home address?
The registry keeps the holder's details. Public display of an individual is often reduced to comply with the GDPR, without erasing the data. A company usually appears under its corporate name. In both cases the record must stay accurate.
How long before a .mq shows up?
Creation at the registry and DNS propagation are two steps. The first ranges from a few minutes to several days if the file is reviewed. The second often takes up to forty-eight hours depending on caches. Test from another network before announcing the address.
What happens if I forget to renew?
The name stops being renewed and may stop answering, then become recoverable by a third party. Exact timelines vary by registry. The useful habit is a reminder one month before expiry and a contact email that is still read.
Preparing a whois or a .mq reservation
The search and reservation service is coming soon. Meanwhile the form shows the domain name searched, the .mq extension, the name, the email and the phone, with every field disabled: no data leaves the browser.