.ch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Introduced | 1987 |
|---|---|
| TLD type | Country code top-level domain |
| Status | Active |
| Registry | SWITCH Information Technology Services |
| Sponsoring organization | SWITCH Information Technology Services |
| Intended use | Entities connected with Switzerland |
| Actual use | Very popular in Switzerland |
| Registration restrictions | None |
| Structure | Registrations permitted at second level |
| Documents | Terms and conditions |
| Dispute policies | Dispute Resolution Proceedings |
| Web site | Switch |
.ch is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Switzerland. It is administered by SWITCH Information Technology Services.
The use of "ch" may seem odd to someone who is not familiar with Switzerland. It does not come from the name for Switzerland in any of its national languages; "die Schweiz", "Suisse", "Svizzera" or "Svizra". Instead, it comes from Confoederatio Helvetica (Helvetic (Swiss) Confederation), the Latin name for the country (all Swiss coins are also stamped with this name).
Given no registration restrictions, and that words in English commonly end with -ch, this allows many domain hacking possibilities.
Registrations of internationalized domain names have been accepted since March 2004 (see details).
