Administrative Contact vs Local Presence

[glaxxon]

:hi:
I was looking around for nice domain hacks in cctld's and came across these terms -
1. Administrative contact
2. Local Presence Required (Locally registered entities)

Now what exactly is the difference between these?
Is #2 like .re registration requirements and #1 needs just the administrative contact to be in that particular country and you can still be the real owner?

As you cannot be the real owner for .re domains so i wanted to know if any of you are investing in them? Is it worth all the restrictions?

As for #1, will this put in similar restrictions as #2?

All help appreciated.

 

[Kate]

The meaning of local presence is not always very clear, it depends on the registrar.

For example:
.de: anybody can register a .de but the admin contact must reside in Germany. So if you (the holder) is foreign, you need to appoint a local admin contact. This is for legal reasons, in case you are served legal papers etc. Some registrars will perform this function, even for free.

.fr: you need to be resident in France (now French citizens residing abroad are also eligible). To own a .fr otherwise you would need a trade mark or you can appoint a third party (registrar) to be the owner on your behalf. In that case, local presence actually means a trustee agreement whereby they become the legal owner of the domain.

To sum up, local presence could mean the registrar just provides an admin contact for you, or it could mean they take ownership of the domain so you can use it. I suggest that you check the official registry website, make sure you understand the rules, and read the 'local presence' contract carefully.

In the case of .re I think it's restricted to local residents (individuals/companies) so you have to appoint someone that is resident there to be the owner on your behalf.