Not yet. The launch period (Sunrise) starts on February 13th 2006, and ends on April 21st 2006. The registry will open for everybody on April 23rd 206, just after the Sunrise ends.

We do not recommend joining any pre-registry or waiting list until we publish the precise conditions, prices, authorized registrars, etc in this web site. In any case, you can ask your usual registrar to keep you updated, but in any case you cannot waive any right, nor priority for any domains you might have asked for.

You can join this mailing list (in Catalan), where we will post the most relevant news regarding the Sunrise and registry process.

It depends. The launch process (called Sunrise) starts in February and, when you qualify, you will be able to register certain .cat domain names. Please, read below to get more details about the Sunrise process.

No domain does it. It is necessary to make an orderly launch in order to minimize collapses and the risks of cybersquatting as much as possible.

This is impossible. Nobody knows which entities are going to want a .cat (or any other domain) not to mention the possible rights they may have on the names they want to register. The best currently world wide used method is to set a launch period or Sunrise where only selected categories of users can register their domains and, afterwards, open the registry to everybody.

No. The .cat is a domain that has a linguistic and cultural basis and, therefore, this is the referent used during the 3 Sunrise phases.

Phase I is reserved to institutions directly related with the promotion of the Catalan language and culture; for instance schools, radios, publishing companies, sport clubs, cultural entities, administrations, etc. The .cat registry will publish the criteria and the corresponding listings in this web as soon as possible.

We will publish the criteria and the corresponding lists for public comment. We expect your collaboration when writing them.

Phase I starts on February 13th 2006 and ends on April 21st 2006.

Phase II is reserved to any entity that has pre-existent online communications in Catalan. For instance, a web site, a mailing list or a blog. In the form to register a .cat domain you will find space to indicate the service you were offering, so we can check it out.

No. The criteria is that a significant part (that is, not an isolated sentence) has to be in Catalan. But it can be also in as many languages you want.

Phase II will start on February 20th and finish on April 21st.

Phase III is reserved to the more than 68.000 individuals and entities that supported the campaign to achieve the .cat domain via the http://www.puntcat.org web site

You will receive an email (to the mailbox you used to support) explaining the steps and conditions to get a .cat domain in phase III.

February 27th to April 21st.

Phase I starts earlier, but all phases end on the same day. Several phases are useful to establish the priority among requests: any request that arrives from an entity that qualifies for Phase I will have priority, regardless of its arrival date during Sunrise, above any request of the Phase II and III. Equally, requests that belong to Phase II will have priority on requests that belong to Phase III.

No. Inside each phase, the priority is temporary: if two persons that qualify for Phase III ask for the same domain, the first request will obtain it. But, if some entity belonging to Phases I or II, asks for the same domain, even after the launch window, as they belong to a phase with higher priority, they will get the domain.

The domains that qualify for Phase I will be activated as they arrive, since it is the phase with maximum priority. Inside this phase temporary priority is applied (first come, first served). But all the domains requested in accordance with Phases II and III will be pending until the end of the Sunrise, when they will be all activated at once.

If your domain qualifies for phases II or III, it won't be activated until the end of the Sunrise.

No. The domains you request must be related with the applicant. For individuals, domain names requests during Sunrise must be related with pre-existent domains they might have, activities directly related with them, their family name, rights of copyright, etc..... For instance, the individuals who supported the campaign for the .cat domain (Phase III) may only register their names, variations of their names, initials, etc.

Because this period is addressed to protect names of entities or individuals, not to allow them to benefit of this restricted window to register domain names at their will. Whoever wants to register a "fantasy" domain name will be able to do it once the Sunrise finishes, so with the same opportunities of any other applicant and following the first come, first served policy provided the applicant fulfills the registry conditions described above.

Yes, all domains do it like this. The right to register first has a value and a cost and there are also costs associated to manually validating all the requested domains and verify them. Moreover, during this period you must register your domain for two years, while in the open registry phase after the Sunrise, you can register for as low as one year or as much as ten years.
Notice that the individuals who gave supported the campaign (Phase III) will have some nicer conditions (and a price!) as a sign of recognition and gratitude.

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.

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

We are currently negotiating with some of them. We will publish the list and a link to the authorised registrars as soon contracts are closed.

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 at info@domini.cat.

The majority of the registrars have reseller networks. If you are interested in knowing which registrars will offer the .cat domain to become one of their resellers, we will shortly publish the list of accredited resellers in this web.

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. But if it is in Catalan, you will not need to justify anything else. However, if there is not a significant part of the web site in Catalan, it will not be possible to apply for a .cat domain without proving your links with the Catalan linguistic and cultural community. If you can demonstrate any relation with the promotion of the Catalan culture or language, even if your web site is in any other language, you can get a .cat domain.

To honor the contract Fundació puntCAT set with ICANN. In the same way an individual cannot register a .edu nor a .museum domain, the .cat domain can only accept the domains related to the Catalan linguistic and cultural community.

Yes. The conditions of the contract between Fundació puntCAT and ICANN determine clearly that .cat is a domain related with the Catalan language and culture. Any web site that does not fulfill these conditions will have to be immediately amended or the domain will be blocked. For instance, if your domain is used to host a web site in English devoted to cats, you will loose your domain.

As far as you honor the rules of the registry described above and web content is legal, you may publish whatever you like.

All domains are compatible. The same web site can be simultaneously accessible as .com and .cat as far as you own both domains. You will be able the have the same address only if it is free when you decide to register it.

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, etc. that fulfills the conditions mentioned earlier can apply for a .cat domain.

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

If you own the domain, you need to register the same (or similar) domain in .cat. However, if it is a domain offered by an access provider or web mail provider, you will need to ask them to do so.

Yes. The only difference among domains is the meaning they have: .edu for the higher education, .org for non profit organizations and the .cat for the catalan linguistic and cultural community.

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.

The domain .cat, like any other domain, can be used for web sites, mail, ftp, etc. If you want your email provider to offer the .cat option, you may need to ask him for it.

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 services of hosting (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.

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. But, for instance, .cat prices at Sunrise will be lower that the .eu equivalent ones.

Sunrise will start in February 13th 2006 and give priority to institutions, companies, associations, individuals, etc. that fulfill the conditions set in accordance with the contract with ICANN. Starting April 23rd, the process will open to everybody that fulfills the conditions.