Swiss .ch domain: who can register one and what the rules are

A .ch domain is the country code domain of Switzerland. Anyone can register one: you do not need to be Swiss, live in Switzerland or have a business there. You register a .ch domain with a registrar accredited by SWITCH, and you can then connect it to your website and email at LJPc hosting.

Below you can read who can hold a .ch domain, which naming rules apply, when .ch is the right choice, how registration and transfers work, and how to connect your .ch domain to hosting at LJPc.

What is a .ch domain?

.ch is the domain extension of Switzerland. The letters come from Confoederatio Helvetica, the Latin name of the country. The Swiss Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) is responsible for .ch and has entrusted the technical management to SWITCH, a foundation based in Zurich. SWITCH runs the registry of all .ch names and also manages .li, the extension of Liechtenstein. The rules are set out in the Swiss Ordinance on Internet Domains and in the SWITCH general terms and conditions.

You cannot register directly with SWITCH. Registration always goes through a registrar: a company accredited by SWITCH that registers the name for you, passes on your details and bills you.

Who can register a .ch domain?

According to the SWITCH FAQ, anyone can register a .ch domain, wherever they live or are based:

A few obligations apply to every holder:

• Accurate details. Your name, address and contact details must be complete and correct for the whole registration term. If anything changes, tell your registrar straight away. If your details are wrong and the holder can only be traced with disproportionate effort, SWITCH can revoke the domain.
• A Swiss address when asked. You do not need a Swiss address to register. If a Swiss authority asks for one, SWITCH will ask you to provide a correspondence address in Switzerland within 30 days. If you do not do so in time, SWITCH revokes the domain.
• No infringement of other people's rights. SWITCH does not check whether you are entitled to a name. By registering, you confirm that using the name does not infringe anyone else's rights, such as someone else's trademark.

What are the naming rules for .ch?

• Length. A .ch name has 3 to 63 characters, not counting .ch.
• Characters. You can use the letters a to z, the digits 0 to 9 and hyphens. Many letters with umlauts and accents are allowed too, as in bücher.ch.
• Hyphens. A name cannot start or end with a hyphen, and cannot have hyphens in both the third and fourth position, as in ab--cd.
• Reserved names. OFCOM reserves some names. For example, only a Swiss municipality can register its own name.
• Term. At SWITCH a registration runs for an unlimited period, until the domain is deleted or moves to a new holder. Your registrar sets the price and how often you pay.

A name with an umlaut or accent exists in the DNS as a string of plain characters starting with xn--: bücher.ch, for example, becomes xn--bcher-kva.ch. The 63-character limit applies to that string, so a name with special characters can itself be shorter. Browsers and email programs support these names, but SWITCH advises against relying on them alone for important uses. So register the plain variant as well, such as buecher.ch, and use it for your email addresses. The SWITCH page on IDNs has more detail.

When is a .ch domain the right choice?

According to Google's guidelines for multi-regional sites, a country code domain is a strong signal that a site is meant for that country. .ch is not on the list of country codes Google treats as generic, so Google sees a .ch site as a site for Switzerland.

Switzerland has several national languages. If you target it in more than one language, give each language its own URL, such as yourdomain.ch/de/ and yourdomain.ch/fr/, and use hreflang to show which version belongs to which language, as Google recommends. To point a second domain at your main site, see redirect a domain to another website.

How to register a .ch domain

1. Check in the SWITCH lookup whether the name is still available. If it is taken, the lookup shows which registrar it is with.
2. Choose a registrar from the list of accredited registrars. It includes companies in Switzerland, the rest of Europe and other countries. Prices and terms are on each registrar's website.
3. Register the name in your own name or that of your organisation, with your own address and an email address you read.
4. Enter the name servers your domain should point to. If you host with LJPc, those are our name servers, as explained below.

SWITCH adds new or changed name servers to the .ch zone within an hour of the registration or change. The new information then has to spread across the internet, as explained in what is DNS propagation.

Connect your .ch domain to your website and email at LJPc

Your .ch domain stays with your registrar, and we take care of your website and email. To connect it:

1. Open the order wizard in the customer portal, choose I already have one at another registrar and enter your domain, for example yourdomain.ch. No account yet? Create one first.
2. Choose Keep domain elsewhere, connect hosting here.
3. Pick your hosting or redirect package and complete the order. LJPc then creates a DNS zone for your domain.
4. Log in at your registrar and set the name servers of your .ch domain to ns1.ljpc.network, ns2.ljpc.network and ns3.ljpc.network. See change your name servers for how this works.

Prefer to keep DNS at your registrar? Then add individual records there that point to your hosting with us, as described in point your domain to LJPc hosting. If DNSSEC is on at your registrar, have the DS record removed before you change the name servers. For other points to check, such as email hosted elsewhere, see register and link a domain to your hosting.

Transfer a .ch domain to another registrar

You transfer a .ch domain with a transfer code, the Auth-Code. You request it from your current registrar and give it to your new registrar, who then requests the transfer. SWITCH requires registrars to let you move your domain to another registrar at any time.

1. Not sure which registrar your domain is with? Look it up in the SWITCH lookup. Who manages your domain explains how to find your registrar, DNS provider and hosting.
2. Request the Auth-Code from your current registrar.
3. Give the code to your new registrar and start the transfer there.
4. After the transfer, check that your name servers still point to the right place. With hosting at LJPc these are ns1, ns2 and ns3.ljpc.network, so your website and email keep working.

If the domain needs to go to a new holder, the current holder requests this through the registrar. Change the owner of a domain explains what a change of holder involves.

Who owns a .ch domain? The .ch WHOIS

Since 1 January 2021, SWITCH no longer publishes the holder's name and address. The lookup only shows the registrar and technical details such as the name servers. Holder details are only available on request, through the SWITCH information service. You prove who you are and show an overriding legitimate interest, for example because a domain infringes your trademark. According to SWITCH, wanting to buy a domain or contact a website owner is not enough.

Deleted: the 40-day transition period

When a .ch domain is deleted, for example because the holder cancels it or SWITCH revokes it, a 40-day transition period applies. During that time nobody else can register the name, and the previous holder can ask their registrar to restore the domain. After 40 days the name becomes available and anyone can register it. For how quarantine works with other extensions, see expired domain, redemption period or quarantine.

Want to connect your .ch domain to hosting at LJPc and need a hand? Create a support ticket and we will help you.