Because the Internet isn’t just for English speakers, domain names are becoming more open to the diversity and linguistic specificities of each population. Internet users in Latin America have long had to consider domain names composed exclusively of Latin letters (A to Z) and numbers (0 to 9). The Network Information Center registry, in charge of Paraguay’s national extension, has now moved things forward: 3rd level domain names (for example .com.py or .org.py) can now include Internationalized Domain Names (IDN).
The launch phase, initiated on September 13, 2023, aims to prevent any cybersquatting risks. Current owners of third-level domain names can immediately and free of charge register the IDN versions of their domain name until the end of this launch period, which ends on January 25, 2024. They can then decide whether to renew this new domain name at the applicable rate or let it expire. Thus, the owner of “senor.com.py” will have priority to acquire “señor.com.py” and renew it if they wish at the end of this period.
Country-specific rules
IDNs were introduced in 2003 by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the organization that manages domain names globally. The rules for IDNs, domain names that include these “special” characters, depend on the registry managing the ccTLD (Country Code Top-Level Domain) for each country or region. Here is the list of accepted IDNs by registries for Latin American countries:
- Argentina: [à, á, â, ã, é, ê, í, ó, ô, õ, ú, ü, ç, ñ] (Spanish, Portuguese)
- Brazil: [à, á, â, ã, é, ê, í, ó, ô, õ, ú, ü, ç] (Portuguese)
- Chile: [á é í ó ú ü ñ] (Spanish)
- Colombia: [á é í ó ú ü ñ] (Spanish) + (Icelandic, Danish, Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian)
- Cuba: [á é í ó ú ü ñ] (Spanish)
- Guatemala: [á é í ó ú ü ñ] (Spanish)
- Nicaragua: [á é í ó ú ü ñ] (Spanish)
- Paraguay: [á é í ó ú ü ñ ã ẽ ĩ õ ũ g̃ ỹ ý] (Spanish and Guarani)
- Puerto Rico: [á é í ó ú ñ ä ë ï ü ö â ê î ô û à è ù æ ç œ ã õ] (Spanish, Portuguese, French and German)
- Uruguay (only 2nd level “.uy”): [á é í ó ú ü ñ] (Spanish)
It’s up to the Internet to adapt to its users, not the other way around. IDNs are therefore destined to grow. They enable you to better reach your audience and assert your brand identity. IDNs are also an opportunity for typosquatting. It’s important to avoid this risk by positioning yourself on these spelling variants, which can lead to confusion.
Contact our Corporate team for more information.
