.se is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Sweden. The top domain is operated by NIC-SE , but domains must be registered through one of the approved registrars. Only the first payment goes to the registrar, the rest go to NIC-SE , and it's not possible to pay for more than a year at a time.
Prior to April 2003, the rules governing domains under the .se top domain were highly restrictive. Only companies registered nation-wide were allowed to register a domain, and it had to be very similar to the registered name. Individual products were not eligible for separate domain names, even if they were registered trademarks. Individuals could register one (and only one) domain with the suffix .pp.se (pp is an abbreviation for "private person"), and companies and organizations registered in just a single county were eligible for domains with a <county letter>.se suffix. The restrictive rules made alternative top-domains popular for entities that needed to register domains not allowed by the Swedish rules; .nu and .com were common.
With the new rules, any entity or person may register any number of domains, subject to few restrictions. As of October 2003, NIC-SE started accepting registrations of internationalized domain names, containing the letters å, ä, ö, ü and é.
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