Transfac is the transcription factor binding site database. It is available by anonymous FTP.3.11 Unpacking the distribution reveals a file called site.dat. This is the one EMBOSS needs.
Run tfextract to extract the data from TRANSFAC.
% tfextract Extract data from TRANSFAC Full pathname of transfac SITE.DAT: /databases/transfac/site.dat
tfscan can now access the TRANSFAC database.