.cat Domain

The .cat is the sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) representing the Catalan linguistic and cultural community on the internet, launched in 2005 following an agreement between ICANN and Fundació puntCAT (operating under the brand Accent Obert), a Catalan private non-profit foundation established on December 28, 2004, to promote the Catalan language and culture in the field of the internet and information technologies.

Registering a .cat domain requires belonging to the Catalan linguistic and cultural community: this can be shown by having access to a special code (known as ENS), carrying out activities — in any language — that promote Catalan culture or language, or by being endorsed by at least 3 people or 1 institution that already holds an active .cat domain. A quirk unique to this extension: Fundació puntCAT requires content in the Catalan language to be published, at least on a significant part of the site, although a multilingual site is possible as long as Catalan is present. At the time of registration, the applicant must also make a declaration — not necessarily very detailed, but truthful — about the intended use of the domain; if that declared use is not honored, or if the domain is used for spam or speculative purposes, Accent Obert can request explanations or even deactivate the domain.