.cat

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.cat
puntCAT
Introduced 2005
TLD type Sponsored top-level domain
Status Active
Registry Associació puntCAT
Sponsor Fundació puntCAT
Intended use Catalan linguistic and cultural community
Actual use 24,000 domains and about 4 million web pages (as of September 2007)
Registration restrictions Screening is done both before and after registration to ensure registrants are part of applicable community
Structure Direct second-level registrations are allowed
Documents ICANN New sTLD RFP Application
Dispute policies UDRP, Charter Eligibility Dispute Resolution Procedure (CEDRP), Compliance Reconsideration Policy (CRP)
Website puntCAT

.cat TLD is a generic domain. Its policy has been developed by ICANN and Fundació puntCAT. It was approved in September 2005. It is intended to be used to highlight Catalan language and culture.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

Before .cat was available, and given the reluctance of certain Catalan institutions, companies, and people to use .es, .fr, .it domains (depending on the state respectively) for their webpages, alternatives emerged. An example of this is the website for the city of Girona in Catalonia, which uses a .gi domain ("http://www.ajuntament.gi/", the word "ajuntament" meaning both "city council" and "town hall"), even though .gi is the country code for Gibraltar.

To solve this problem, in September 2005 the .cat TLD was approved for all webpages, etc., intending to serve the needs of the Catalan linguistic and cultural community on the Internet. This community is made up of those who use the Catalan language for their online communications, and/or promote the different aspects of Catalan culture online. The initial registration period went from February 13th, 2006, to April 21st, 2006. The registry was open to everybody starting April 23rd, 2006.[2]

[edit] Restrictions

The .cat domain is not territorial, but applies to the whole Catalan-speaking community, whether or not a site is based in the Catalan Countries. In order to be granted a .cat domain, one needs to belong to the Catalan linguistic and cultural community on the Internet. A person, organization or company is considered to belong if they:[2]

  • already have contents in Catalan published online.
  • have access to a special code (sometimes called ENS), issued during special promotions or by agreements with certain institutions.
  • develop activities (in any language) to promote the Catalan culture and language.
  • are endorsed by 3 people or 1 institution already using a .cat domain name.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ CAT
  2. ^ a b CAT

[edit] External links

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