The .cat domain is managed by Fundació puntCAT, which is a non profit organization and is open to the participation of all interested persons and entities.

• already have contents in Catalan published online.
• you could benefit of Sunrise's phases 1 or 3 validation codes.
• you have access to an special code (sometimes called ENS)
• issued during special promotions or by agreements with certain institutions.
• you develop activities (in any language) to promote the Catalan culture and language.
• or you are endorsed (sponsored mail) by 3 people that or 1 institution already using a .cat domain name.

Sure. The .cat domain is not territorial, but applies to all the Catalan-speaking community. Therefore, if you fulfill the conditions described above (domain naming conventions and web related to the Catalan culture or language), you may register a .cat domain regardless of where you live.

Yes. Any individual, association, organization, company, etc. that fulfills the conditions mentioned earlier can apply for a .cat domain.

The minimum is for 1 year and the maximum 10 years.

Yes. The restricted launch period (Sunrise) went from February 13^th to April 21^st 2006. The registry is open for everybody since April 23^rd 2006.

The .cat domain is a generic domain, like the .com or .org, however, unlike these two, has a more restricted personality as it is addressed to the Catalan linguistic and cultural community in the Internet. And Fundació puntCAT has an ICANN's contractual duty to verify that all domains are related to this community.

Therefore, whoever may demonstrate its relation with the Catalan linguistic and cultural community may get a .cat domain. For instance, you may communicate online or have a web site in Catalan, you are member of an entity that already has a .cat domain, or you just want to address the Catalan speaking community in its language.

No. The domains must be bought via the authorized registrars.

You can find the current list of authorized registrars http://domini.cat/en_registrar.html

Sure. You may register as many .cat domains as you wish as far you comply with the rules of nomenclature and suitability described in this FAQ.

The final price will be fixed by the registrars and, therefore, as it happens with other domain names, price will vary according to each registrar's added services (DNS servers; hosting, mail, phone support, etc...).

Like for all the new domains, prices are higher at Sunrise, due to the particular restrictions and checks that are necessary during this phase, and the possibility to register your domain before the general opening. After Sunrise you may get different prices at different registrars and also special reduced prices during promotions.

The .cat domain, like all the generic domains (.com, .org. info, .museum...) can only be registered via authorized ICANN registrars that in addition want to register .cat domains too. Here (http://www.icann.org/registrars/accreditation-process.htm) you will find the description of the conditions and the process. If you are interested in becoming a .cat registrar and fulfill ICANN's conditions, you can contact us.

The majority of the registrars have reseller networks. Talk to the .cat authorized registrar you prefer.

The domain is an entry in a data base that associates your domain name to an IP address (that is, the location of a computer in the net). The registrars that offer hosting services (that is, space of disk where to put your web site or to receive and to send your electronic mail) they will indicate you how you can rise the contents of your pages or how can read the mail with the reader that you use.

No. The domain names length must have more than 2 characters and less than 63. The accepted characters are those of the Catalan alphabet, plus digits (0-9) and the hyphen (aka minus sign), but this last cannot be the first or last character of the domain name, and you cannot put two hyphens side by side. Capital letters and lower case characters are treated as the same character.

Yes. The .cat domain accepts the 11 Catalan special characters (à; ç; è é; í; ï; l·l; ò; ó; ú; ü). Note than if you register a domain with accents, you will also register (for free) the domain without accents. For instance, if you register fundació.cat you will get fundacio.cat too. Both domains behave, as a matter of fact, like a single one.

It is necessary to say that these special IDN or 'Internationalized Domain Names' are still in an experimental phase, but work. Not all the web browsers recognize them in a direct way yet (the Internet Explorer needs to get a plug-in), and they cannot be used in electronic mail. Nevertheless, Fundació puntCAT believes important that, despite the somehow limited functionality, users can use all the characters of the Catalan language.