Facts

The .swiss Top Level Domain creates added value for its holders, because it

• unmistakably indicates the origin and the base of Swiss businesses and organisations.
• underlines identification with the Swiss brand and its values.
• gives the web presence of Swiss organisations the exclusivity they deserve.
• raises the profile of Swiss brands far beyond the national frontiers.

The services of the registrars are charged at a market price. The total price for the end customer is published by registrars. Current market prices vary between approximately CHF 115.00 and CHF 170.00.

The naming mandates (generic domain names) involve a more costly assignment procedure, which costs several thousand Swiss francs on a one-off basis. The continuous monitoring of assigned generic domain names will be reflected in a price of a few hundred Swiss francs per year.

Quality in the .swiss namespace is based on three pillars:

An exclusive circle of holders
Applicants for a .swiss domain name must set out a sufficient connection with Switzerland. This connection may exist through a registered place of business and a physical administrative base in Switzerland. An entry in the commercial register or the status of an association or a foundation is also required. An offering for natural persons is not currently planned.

Privileged treatment of public bodies and owners of trademark rights
In the launch phase, the desired domain name must be associated with a Swiss public body or with a trademark right (identifiers such as companies and trademarks in Swiss law).

Controlled assignment and supervised use of generic domain names (naming mandates)
Generic terms such as tourist.swiss, schokolade.swiss, finetools.swiss, armyknife.swiss or flug.swiss are specially protected. They can be used only for the benefit of the whole community concerned by the domain name. Applicants must provide proof of benefit when applying for a naming mandate. Implementation will be controlled by OFCOM.

In addition the publication of applications for 20 days before an assignment enables the inclusion of broader circles in the assignment procedure.

OFCOM assumes the function of the registry. It ensures that domain names can be registered and incorporated into the structure of the internet. Customer support is provided by accredited registrars and their resellers. The list of registrars is published at dot.swiss and at nic.swiss.

.swiss stands for the features of the Swiss brand which are recognised worldwide, such as quality, precision and reliability. In addition to the existing country domains such as .ch and designations such as .org, which have already been assigned, additional generic namespaces on the internet were made possible in 2012 by ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). The Confederation has acquired the .swiss Top Level Domain in order to guarantee that it is used beneficially for the Swiss community and the Swiss economy.

The Federal Office of Communications OFCOM has been entrusted with the operation of the .swiss domain and with covering the incurred costs. As the registry, it will assign the domain names within .swiss according to fixed criteria and will promote quality and density in the .swiss namespace (Ordinance on Internet Domains OID, CC 784.104.2).