Here you will find all the information related to .cat domains.
 
General Information
The .cat domain is a generic Internet domain that is part of the sponsored TLD system (sponsored TLD or sTLD). The term “sponsored” means that the extension has a specific use and is not generic like .com or .net, for example. The specific use of the .cat domain implies that it was created to promote the Catalan language and culture. It was officially approved at 23:04 (GMT) on September 15, 2005 by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). It is managed by the Fundació puntCAT.
 
Motivation for registering a .cat domain
Anyone can register a .cat domain. The website associated with a .cat must contain content in Catalan, which can coexist with content in other languages. Using a .cat domain does not require the entire website to be in Catalan.
 
Registering a .cat domain
To register a .cat domain you can go to our website. You also have a tutorial explaining the steps to register a domain.
 
Restrictions
 Restrictions on registering .cat domains:
.cat domains are sTLDs (Sponsored Top Level Domains) and therefore cannot be used by everyone in the world. .cat domains are intended to serve the Catalan linguistic and cultural community. This includes people who use Catalan in their online communications and/or promote aspects of Catalan culture online and/or intend to use the domain for Catalan-language communication. As such, registration is open to individuals, groups, companies, associations, entities, organizations or any initiatives that can prove they belong to the Catalan linguistic and cultural community.
  • .cat domains may have a maximum of 63 characters and a minimum of 2.
  • The accepted characters for domain registration are: a-z, 0-9 and - (hyphen). The hyphen cannot be placed at the beginning or end of the name.
 
Restrictions on renewing .cat domains:
  • A .cat domain can be renewed for a maximum period of up to 10 years.
 
Restrictions on transferring .cat domains:
  • .cat domains cannot be transferred if they are expired.
  • .cat domains cannot be transferred if they are in the clientTransferProhibited status.
  • To initiate the transfer of .cat domains, the AUTHCODE is required.
  • To approve the transfer of a .cat domain, access to the administrative contact email is required.
 
Lifecycle

Since they have an expiration date, domains go through several phases or periods. This lifecycle is established by ICANN, the entity responsible for the regulations applicable to domains. In the following chart you can see the lifecycle of a .cat domain and its states.

 

 

  • Available domain: the domain has not yet been registered and is therefore available. When a registration request is submitted, it will be assigned to the first request received.
  • Registered domain: when a request is sent for an available domain, it is assigned to the requesting person. Registration can be requested for a period of 1 to 10 years.
  • Active domain: the domain remains active for the number of years requested. During this period, additional years can be added to prevent expiration.
  • Grace period: the domain has expired and stops working. This period lasts 30 days and allows renewal without penalty fees.
  • Redemption period: this period lasts 30 days. The domain has been deleted but can be restored and renewed at a higher cost than the usual renewal price.
  • Pending delete: the domain can no longer be restored and will be released.

 

Multilingual .cat domains – IDN special characters
Registering domains with special characters (IDN)

Since its creation, the .cat domain supports the IDN specification (Internationalized Domain Names). It allows the use of any character in the Catalan alphabet except the apostrophe: à é è í ï ó ò ú ü ç l·l.

However, the registration process for a .cat domain with special characters is different from other IDN domains. To have a .cat domain with a special character, you must have the homonymous domain without the special character. For example, to request cdmón.cat, you are actually registering cdmon.cat, and the IDN variant cdmón.cat is added. Unlike other extensions such as .es, where cdmón.es and cdmon.es are independent. The advantage is that paying for a single .cat domain gives you all IDN variants.

.cat IDN domains are special because they are linked to the main domain and automatically redirect to it. You must create a hosting alias so that the IDN domain works and points correctly to the hosting.

The following table shows the valid special character variations in relation to the homonymous domain without the special character:

Special characterHomonymous characterExample
àato have català.cat, you actually register catala.cat
éepréssec.cat ⇒ pressec.cat
èeagència.cat ⇒ agencia.cat
íidestí.cat ⇒ desti.cat
ïitraït.cat ⇒ trait.cat
óofundació.cat ⇒ fundacio.cat
òoressò.cat ⇒ resso.cat
úualgú.cat ⇒ algu.cat
üupiragüisme.cat ⇒ piraguisme.cat
çcvicenç.cat ⇒ vicenc.cat
l·ll-lcol·legi.cat ⇒ col-legi.cat

 

How to register a .cat IDN domain?

To simplify the process, you must request the registration using the special character directly from the domain registration page. Search for the domain with the special character; the system will check availability and indicate whether you can register it. When processing the registration, the system actually registers the domain without the special character and adds the IDN variant. For example, if you search for explicación.cat, the system will show that it is available. When processed, it registers explicacion.cat and adds the IDN variant explicación.cat. Both domains work separately, but only the non-IDN version is actually registered.

 

Transferring domains with special characters (IDN)

You can transfer your .cat domain registered with another provider through our domain transfer page. For transfers, you must enter the domain name without the special character, using its homonymous version (see conversion table above).

 


 

For more information, you can contact us.