The Swiss Federal Administration recently announced that natural persons domiciled in Switzerland and Swiss nationals will be entitled to register a .swiss domain name.
Applications will be considered from 24 April 2024.
Natural persons will be allowed to register a .swiss domain name if it contains at least one of the following designations:
- their own official name or another name registered in the civil register, forename, married name, registered partnership name, the name received in a religious order, the artist’s name under which they have become known or a name attached to a distinctive sign (e.g. a registered trade mark) to which they have the rights. A freely chosen designation may be added to any of these designations.
- Names that correspond to or are similar to generic names cannot be allocated to a natural person. Such names can only be allocated to a natural person if they are supplemented by another name, for example a first name, a ficticious name or a reference to a hobby.
Swiss nationals domiciled abroad will not be entitled to use a .swiss domain name for commercial activities from abroad.
The .swiss extension is strategic for the Swiss market. It allows to increase the online visibility of the “Swiss made” attributes of the company, its brands, its products or its services.
The relaxation of the eligibility requirements may raise cybersquatters’s interest.
For companies operating in Switzerland, defensive registrations are recommended.
To register a .swiss domain name, the company must be registered with the Swiss commercial register, have its headquarters and an actual administrative site in Switzerland.
