Buy .al Domain Name

Yes. Article 13.1(a) opens direct .al registration to traders whose place of commercial activity is in Albania and in any other state in the world, provided they are properly registered under the law of that state. For a foreign company that simply means your own commercial register entry. You do not need a branch in Albania, a local representative or a trustee service. The sub-zone com.al is different: the same article ties it to a seat in Albania.

Registration rests on a declaration, not a document file. Article 4.1 states that AKEP acts on the principle of self-declaration and treats the data given in the application form as accurate; the applicant is legally responsible for that accuracy. The form asks legal persons and traders for a tax registration number, the legal representative's name and the type of identity document. Supporting documents are mandatory only for restricted sub-zones such as .gov.al, .mil.al and .edu.al. AKEP may verify at any time if it has doubts.

If payment is missed, the name is first blocked for 30 calendar days. Article 25.2 says the holder keeps the right to reopen the existing name during that period by paying. If the situation is not resolved by then, the name is closed; a closed name returns to free status within 30 calendar days and can be registered by someone else. One practical point matters: the address does not resolve while the name is blocked, so a recovery window is not the same as uninterrupted service. AKEP emails a reminder 30 days before expiry.

There are two separate operations. For a registrar change, article 29.3 applies: the gaining registrar sends the request to AKEP electronically, AKEP verifies it and the move completes within five working days; as a rule, outstanding fees must be settled first. One detail matters commercially: changing registrar does not extend the validity period, so no year is added to the term. A change of holder is a different operation and, under article 29.1, requires AKEP's prior approval.

No. Article 20.1 limits the permitted characters to the letters A-Z, the digits 0-9 and the hyphen. Article 20.2 then bans four forms: single-character names, names starting or ending with a hyphen, names longer than 63 characters, and the two characters followed by two hyphens pattern written as «xy--». That last ban closes the door on internationalised names, because every punycode label begins with exactly that pattern. So a .al name carrying ë or ç cannot be registered.

It is not. Albania has no public port-43 WHOIS service; the whois server line in the IANA root zone record is empty. The rules explain why: article 32.1 treats information and documents held by AKEP as confidential by their nature and releases them to third parties only under a legal obligation or on a written request made in order to bring a lawsuit. Article 32.3 adds that AKEP respects the holder's right to privacy in every case. You therefore do not need to buy a separate privacy service.