This sections sets out the regulations applicable to “.es” domain names, the rates for assignment and renewal, and the regulatory standards for operational procedures managed by the Red.es “.es” domain names registry.
On this page you can find information about:
I.- National Plan for domain names under ".es"
II.- Instruction of the General Director of Red.es, of 2 January 2010, developing the procedures applicable to the assignment and other operations associated with the registration of domain names under ".es"
III - Instruction of the President of Red.es, of 12 September 2005, on the approval of lists of prohibited or reserved terms of ".es" second level domains.
IV.- Other procedural instructions on ".es" domains:
1. Instruction of 29 October 2012 on the Procedure for the Reassignment of ".es" domain names in the General Interest.
2. Instruction, 19 September 2018, on the Special Cancellation Procedure due to database cleansing.
3. Instruction of 14 January 2008 on applicable tariffs.
4. Instruction of 7 November 2005 of the General Director of Red.es establishing the regulations for the out-of-court dispute resolution procedure for domain names under the country code corresponding to Spain (".es").
1. Main Rules for Implementation.
3. Resolutions of the Public Corporate Entity Red.es.
I - National Plan for names under ".es"
The National Plan for domain names under the country code corresponding to Spain (".es") is the regulatory text par excellence for the ".es" domain name system, through which the assignment criteria established for ".es" domain names are developed.
Some of the most important aspects established by the National Plan for ".es" domain names are the following:
- A domain is automatically assigned if it is in free assignment status, except for the extensions ".gob.es" and ".edu.es".
- Any natural or legal person with interests or links to Spain is entitled to obtain the domain.
- A number of restrictions that were previously in place have been removed in order to make registration more flexible.
- The characters permitted for a domain name are:
1. Those belonging to the Spanish alphabet: from "a" to "z".
2. The digits 0 to 9.
3. Dash: "-" (Cannot be the first or last character of the name).
4. Multilingual characters: "á,à,é,è,í,ï,ó,ò,ú,ü,ñ,ç,l·l".
- There is no distinction between lower and upper case.
- For second level domains, a maximum of 63 and a minimum of 3.
- For third level domains, a maximum of 63 and a minimum of 2.
- Section 7 of the National Plan for ".es" domain names provides for the approval by the Public Corporate Entity Red.es of a list of prohibited terms and six lists of reserved terms, on which the concept of free assignment will be limited.
The aim is to make the regulatory framework and the process for assigning domain names under ".es" more flexible and streamlined.
II - Instruction of the General Director of Red.es, of 2 January 2010, developing the procedures applicable to the assignment and other operations associated with the registration of domain names under ".es".
The purpose of the Instruction is to establish the procedures for the assignment and other operations associated with the registration of domain names and Internet addresses under the country code corresponding to Spain ".es".
The Instruction regulates procedures for the assignment, renewal, deletion, modification of data, transfer of management, cancellation and transmission of domain names under ".es".
The resolutions adopted by the Assignment Authority for the better management of the domain name registry, issued in development and execution of the Instruction, shall be binding provided that they have been made public and in advance through its Internet site, at least fifteen calendar days prior to their entry into force, unless there is a justified reason for their urgent entry into force.
III - Instruction of the President of Red.es, of 12 September 2005, on the approval of lists of prohibited or reserved terms of ".es" second level domains.
Section 7 of the National Plan for ".es" domain names provides for specific limitations and lists of prohibited or reserved domain names at the second level, on which the concept of assignment will be limited.
The lists were approved by the Instruction of the President of Red.es, dated 12 September 2005, on the approval of lists of prohibited or reserved terms of ".es" second level domains:
These lists are:
- The list of banned terms includes a reduced and updated list of Internet terms whose use as a domain name is prohibited because of their potential for confusion.
- There are three lists of reserved terms which may not be freely allocated:
- The first grants reserved status to a list of domain names relating to names of constitutional bodies or other State institutions, as well as terms relating to the Royal Household that have not been previously assigned and that remain vacant.
- The second grants reserved status to domain names relating to names of officially accredited international and supranational organisations, which have not been previously registered, or which become vacant.
- The third grants reserved status to an updated list of domain names consisting of toponyms that coincide with the official name of territorial public administrations and that have not been previously assigned, or that remain vacant.
These lists have been supplemented and updated by the following Resolutions:
- Resolution of the General Director of Red.es of 28 June 2006.
- Resolution of the General Director of Red.es of 27 September 2007.
- Resolution of the General Director of Red.es of 29 October 2007.
- Resolution of the General Director of Red.es of 16 May 2011.
- Resolution of the General Director of Red.es of 27 February 2014.
- Resolution of the President of Red.es of 25 March 2024.
IV - Further procedural instructions on ".es" domains
1 Instruction of the Procedure for the Reassignment of ".es" domain names in the General Interest.
Below, you will find the Instruction of the General Director of the Public Corporate Entity Red.es establishing the reassignment procedure for ".es" domain names of exceptional general interest.
2 Instruction of the Special Cancellation Procedure due to database cleansing.
In this section you will find the Instruction of the General Director of Red.es, dated 19 September 2018, which regulates and develops the special cancellation procedure for the purging of the database associated with the registration of domain names under ".es".
Further information
3 - Applicable tariff instructions.
Below you will find the Instruction of the General Director of Red.es, dated 14 January 2008, which establishes the public price rates for the assignment, renewal and other registration operations for domain names under the country code corresponding to Spain (".es").
4 - Instruction of the Rules of Procedure for the out-of-court settlement of disputes.
Instruction of the General Director of Red.es, of 8 November 2005, which establishes the Regulations of the out-of-court dispute resolution procedure for domain names under the country code corresponding to Spain (".es").
The Rules of Procedure for Dispute Resolution Procedures shall apply to all ownership disputes arising in connection with the registration of domain names under ".es" without prejudice to any legal action that the parties may bring.
V - Other rules for implementation.
1. Main Rules for Implementation.
- Law 34/2002, of 11 July, on Information Society Services and Electronic Commerce, regulates a series of sections of great importance in the registration of domain names under ".es". The Sixth Additional Provision regulates the system for assigning domain names under ".es". On the other hand, the Eighth Additional Provision includes the collaboration of domain name registries established in Spain in the fight against illegal activities. Finally, the Ninth Additional Provision establishes a system for collaboration in the management of cybersecurity incidents affecting the Internet.
- Law 9/2014, of 9 May, General Telecommunications.
The Public Corporate Entity Red.es is the Assignment Authority responsible for managing the registration of internet domain names and addresses under the country code corresponding to Spain ".es", in accordance with the registration policy determined by the Ministry for the Digital Transformation and Civil Service, and in the corresponding regulations, in accordance with the provisions of the Sixteenth Additional Provision of Law 9/2014, of 9 May, on Telecommunications.
It is Law 9/2014, of 9 May, General Telecommunications Law, which defines the domain name as a public resource for numbering, addressing and naming. It is a publicly owned resource, therefore, through its assignation, what is granted is a right of use and not ownership of it. This same regulatory text establishes that the procedures for the granting of these rights over public resources shall be open, objective, non-discriminatory, proportionate and transparent.
- Law 40/2015, of 1 October, on the Legal Regime of the Public Sector.
The Public Corporate Entity Red.es is constituted by virtue of the provisions of article 84, section 1a) 2º, of Law 40/2015, of 1 October, on the Legal Regime of the Public Sector. The contracting regime is governed by the provisions contained in this respect in the public sector contracting legislation (Law 9/2017, of 8 November, on Public Sector Contracts).
2. Related regulations.
- Law 56/2007 of 28 December 2007, measures to promote the Information Society.
- Law 9/2017, of 8 November, on Public Sector Contracts. Red.es is part of the public sector as a public corporate entity. Its contracting regime is fully subject to all the regulations provided for in this regulatory text.
- Article 34(3) of Law 17/2001 of 7 December 2001 on Trade Marks, "Rights conferred by a trade mark", provides that the proprietor of the trade mark granted may prohibit: "(f) Use of the trade mark in telematic communication networks and as a domain name"
- The Eighteenth Additional Provision of Law 14/2000 of 29 December 2000 on Fiscal, Administrative and Social Order Measures, as amended by article 70 of Law 24/2001, of 27 December 2001, on Fiscal, Administrative and Social Order Measures, sets out the "Procedure for assigning domain names and addresses under the country code corresponding to Spain (.es)".
- Royal Decree 164/2002 of 8 February 2002, approving the Statute of the Public Corporate Entity Red.es (last amended on 25 August 2018).
3. Instructions and Resolutions of the Public Corporate Entity Red.es
- Resolution of the General Director of the Public Corporate Entity red.es, of 4 December 2003, approving the declaration forms, deadlines and form of payment of the fee for the assignment of the limited resource of domain names and Internet addresses.
- Resolution of 10 February 2000, of the General Secretariat for Communications, designating the Ente Público de la Red Técnica Española de Televisión (Public Entity of the Spanish Technical Television Network) as the competent authority for the management of the Registry of Internet domain names under the country code corresponding to Spain.
- Resolution of the General Director of the Public Corporate Entity Red.es modifying the instruction on multilingual characters under the ".es", i.e. the one mentioned in the previous point.
VI. RPSI
Re-use of Public Sector Information (RISP)
Royal Decree 1495/2011, of 24 October 2011, which implements Law 37/2007, of 16 November 2007, for the state public sector, establishes the obligation of the bodies of the General State Administration and other bodies and entities referred to in the aforementioned law, to approve ‘... a plan of measures to promote the reuse of public sector information, by electronic means, within its scope of competence’.
The Red.es Open Data initiative is governed by the Plan of Measures to Promote Re-use, Open Data being a philosophy and practice that seeks to make certain public data freely available to everyone, without restrictions of copyright, patents or other control mechanisms. Data is published in raw (unprocessed) form and in known formats that facilitate re-use.
The application of this Plan for ".es" domains is implemented by offering the download of a text file with the list of active ".es" domain names. In addition, for those cases in which the holder is a legal entity, the name of the holder and its Tax ID number are included. Access to them shall be by prior request and their use shall be regulated in accordance with the actions defined in the following Resolution of the General Director of Red.es of 26 June 2014.
