.ch
.ch is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Switzerland. The code comes from the name "Confoederatio Helvetica" (Helvetic Confederation), the Latin name for the country. It is managed by SWITCH (The Swiss Education & Research Network).[1]
Rules and Restrictions
SWITCH will refuse registration of a domain name if the domain name in question has been reserved by the Swiss Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM), which is the regulatory authority for second-level domain names, unless the requirements for registration defined by OFCOM for the relevant category are met.
SWITCH may refuse registration if the designation infringes the public order, moral standards, or applicable law.
As a temporary measure SWITCH is entitled to block a domain name administratively, as a result of which its transfer to a third party or any change to technical or administrative parameters is prohibited, even where SWITCH is not a party to the corresponding proceedings, if there is a justified suspicion that the domain name is being used to obtain sensitive data by wrongful means (phishing) or to disseminate harmful software (malware).[2]
Characters
The domain name cannot:
- contain hyphens as the first, as the third combined with the fourth and/or as the last character (e.g. "-hallo.ch", "ha--llo.ch", "hallo-.ch");
- contain fewer than 3 or more than 63 characters, subject to statutory exceptions or exceptions approved by OFCOM.
Acceptable characters are a-z, 0-9, hyphens and the following: á, à, ã, â, ä, å, æ, ç, é, è, ê, ë, í, ì, î, ï, ð, ñ, ó, ò, ô, õ, ö, ø, ú, ù, û, ü, ý, Þ, ÿ and œ.[2]