As of 2 October, it is possible to register .es domains with characters such as ñ, ç, accent marks, diaresis and others characteristic of the Spanish official languages.

The characters are typical of Spanish, Catalonian, Basque and Galician languages and are now available from the .es domains registry, thus fulfilling the commitment made by the Government on the Information Society Impulse Measures Act currently under consideration in Congress.

Red.es, an agency of the Department of Commerce, Industry and Tourism in charge of the domain registration authority in Spain, has informed the different accredited registrars that the characters that may be included on .es domains are the following:

• á, à
• é, è
• í, ï
• ó, ò
• ú, ü
• ñ
• ç
• l•l (Catalonian geminated l)

The registration of .es domains with the aforementioned characters has been put in operation gradually. The first stage that commenced on 2 October, 2007 at 6 am and will conclude on 30 October at 6 pm, only the holders of domain names registered prior to June 1, 2007 will be able to request the IDN versions of domains pursuant to the allocation rules established on the last Executive Order from June 1 and based on the principles of derivation and priority.

Red.es Domain Registry has available a website with information on the issue at dominios.es and an information line at 902 010 755 (+34 91 203 0142 from outside Spain).

The above news release is a translation from the original Spanish news release. The Spanish version, Ya es posible registrar dominios “.es” con los caracteres de las lenguas oficiales, is available from red.es here.