Dialkyl carbonates can be prepared by the reaction of carbon monoxide with alkyl nitrites in a continuous gas phase reaction, using a platinum group metal catalyst on an alumosilicate zeolite having acidic centers, preferably in the H.sup.+ form, as a support, which catalyst may optionally comprise additional material of a compound of antimony, bismuth, aluminum, copper, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, tin, iron, cobalt, nickel or a mixture of a plurality of these, and hydrogen halide being added in the course of the reaction intermittently or continuously. In this reaction, the dialkyl carbonates are formed with almost quantitative selectivity; the corresponding dialkyl oxalates cannot be detected in most cases.