Names of a generic nature and which are not tied to any special interest for all or part of the Swiss community are basically ineligible for .swiss domain names.
Brands and company names that have a designation that is generic and that are not tied to any special interest can still be assigned to the holder of the trademark rights, provided that issuing the domain does not result in any confusion, damage to a third party, or major competitive advantage on the Internet.
Domain names of a generic nature or that resemble generic domains and are tied to a special interest for all or part of the Swiss community are basically eligible to apply via name space mandate for the domain name when the open registration period begins on 11 January 2016.
These are names that generally refer to a category or class of goods (e.g. chocolate.swiss, cookies.swiss, pizza.swiss, watches.swiss), services (e.g. bank.swiss, finance.swiss, hairdresser.swiss, insurance.swiss), persons or groups (e.g. consumers.swiss, lawyers.swiss, students.swiss, families.swiss), organizations (e.g. universities.swiss, associations.swiss, clubs.swiss), objects (e.g. machines.swiss, tools.swiss, vehicles.swiss), industries (e.g. bakeries.swiss, carpentry.swiss, construction.swiss) or activities (e.g. soccer.swiss, sports.swiss, yoga.swiss) or that describe these.
A name space mandate can include several similar .swiss domain names in German, French, Italian and English.
OFCOM has published a list of generic name examples that can be assigned with a name space mandate. This is not a definitive list.
The following provisions apply for .swiss domains issued via a name space mandate.
• Applicants must use the name to represent the entire or a significant portion of the group of persons in question or be supported by this group of persons.
• Use of the .swiss domain name and the associated services benefit the entire group of persons in question.
• The .swiss project must offer a benefit to the group of persons in question and for the Swiss community.
• The application meets OFCOM's quality criteria for the .swiss domain name or for the intended undertaking.
• The general and specific criteria for issuing .swiss domain names are met.
With the .swiss domain ending, you emphasize your Swissness, distinguishing yourself from other companies with a .ch domain. After all, .ch domains can be registered by anyone in the world.
So register your company's .swiss domain today. We would be happy to accept your request as a pre-order. Of course, the domain will only be billed to you if the registration can be completed successfully on your behalf.
The purchase of .swiss domains is reserved exclusively for companies. But OFCOM reserves the right to loosen this restriction at a later point in time.
We continuously update our .swiss domain FAQs in our Support Center.
