New extension
.gal domain name
What you need to know about .gal: who can register it, which details are required and how transferring works.
Specifications
The key details of .gal
- Registry
- nic.gal
- Registration period
- 1 to 10 years
- Renewal period
- 1 to 10 years
- Domain name length
- 1 to 63 characters
- Time to registration
- immediately
- Transfer time
- 5 days
- Renewal on transfer
- yes, transferring renews the domain
- Transfer lock available
- yes
- Number of nameservers
- 2 to 12
- Renewable after expiry date
- 35 days
- Quarantine after deletion
- 30 days
Features
- DNSSEC: yesYou can secure your domain name with DNSSEC.
- IPv6: yesThe nameservers for this extension can also be reached over IPv6.
- Special characters: yesDomain names with letters such as é, ü or ø (and sometimes other scripts) are possible.
- Whois privacy: no
- Trustee: no
Requirements
Who can register a .gal?
- You may only register and renew a .gal domain name if you, as an individual or organisation, have a connection with the .gal community, and that connection must continue after registration.
- You must be part of the Galician linguistic and cultural community on the internet: you communicate online in Galician (or commit to doing so), you promote Galician culture online, or you aim your online communication and services specifically at that community.
- What you do within the community and how you use the domain name must be generally recognised as legitimate, contribute to the values of the Galician linguistic and cultural community, be in keeping with the significance of the name and be in good faith.
- You must be able to show that you meet the conditions both at registration and for as long as you hold the domain name.
- If you give an incorrect statement about the intended use, this is considered bad faith and the domain name may be suspended.
- When you register, you agree to the registry's eligibility conditions. You can find more information on the registry's website and on the official .gal portal.
Additional details for registration
- You provide a statement of up to 256 characters on how you intend to use the domain name.
- If the domain name isn't the same as your organisation's name, you explain in that statement on what grounds you're entitled to the name.
- If the domain name matches a trademark, you provide the trademark number.
Good to know when registering
- After a successful registration, the registry places a 60-day transfer lock on the domain name. During that period, you can't transfer it to another registrar.
Transfer
Transferring a .gal
- First, request the transfer code from your current registrar.
- Make sure there's no transfer lock on the domain name. You can check this in the WHOIS.
- If your current registrar has set a lock, ask them to remove it.
- After you submit the request, the registry notifies your current registrar, who then sends the registrant an email about the transfer, often with the option to approve or reject it.
- If you neither approve nor reject the transfer, it's completed automatically after 5 days.
- You can't transfer the domain name within the first 60 days after registration.
The transfer code
- To transfer a .gal domain name, you need a transfer code.
- You get the code from your current registrar. The registrant or the administrative contact can request it there.
- The code is 8 to 32 characters long and contains at least one letter, one digit and one special character.
Owner
Change of registrant
Change of registrant
- You can move a domain name to another owner. ICANN's transfer rules apply to this.
- The new owner must also meet the eligibility conditions for .gal themselves.
Renewal, cancellation and quarantine
- You can only renew the domain name as long as you still meet the conditions, including your connection with the Galician linguistic and cultural community.
More information
Registry rules and links
- Registry website nic.gal
- Dispute resolution policy icann.org
- Registry terms and conditions nic.gal
Related extensions
View all domain extensionsCompiled from the registry's rules. Registries sometimes change their rules; if in doubt, the registry's terms take precedence. Updated on 11/11/2026.