[council] Draft Applicant Guidebook for New gTLDs Available Soon

[Glen de Saint Géry <Glen@xxxxxxxxx>]

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http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-2-16oct08-en.htm
Draft Applicant Guidebook for New gTLDs Available Soon

Six-module guide out for public comment in next fortnight

16 October 2008

In the next two weeks, in the lead up to ICANN's Cairo public meeting, the new 
generic top-level domain (gTLD) Applicant Guidebook, also called the "draft 
Request for Proposal (RFP)", will be released. This document will provide 
information to applicants wanting to apply for a new gTLD.

The Draft Applicant Guidebook will be in a draft format and posted for public 
comment and review. It will comprise six modules:

Introduction to the gTLD Application Process, which includes the main 
application fee
Evaluation Process
Objection and Dispute Resolution
String Contention
Transition to Delegation
Top-Level Domain Allocation Terms and Conditions
An accompanying announcement to the Draft Applicant Guidebook will highlight 
areas of the process that remain under development. These areas will be made 
available for public consultation in the near future.

A public comment webpage will allow for detailed review and input submitted by 
the Internet community. ICANN expects to engage in a productive and robust 
dialogue with the Internet community through a consultative process that will 
last for forty-five days. Comments will be used to revise and prepare the final 
Applicant Guidebook, to be released early 2009.

In addition to the Draft Applicant Guidebook, ICANN will post a series of 
papers that will serve as explanatory memoranda to assist the Internet 
community to better understand the implementation work. Some of the topics 
covered by these papers include the proposed methodologies for string 
contention resolution and protection of rights of others.

For current information, timelines and activities related to the New gTLD 
Program, please go to http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtld-program.htm.


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New gTLDs and ICANN - a brief overview

Since ICANN was founded ten years ago as a non-for-profit, multi stakeholder 
organization dedicated to coordinating the Internet's addressing system, one of 
its foundational principles, recognized by the United States and other 
governments, has been to promote competition in the domain-name marketplace 
while ensuring Internet security and stability. The expansion will allow for 
more innovation, choice and change to the Internet's addressing system, now 
constrained by only 21 generic top-level domain names. In a world with 1.5 
billion Internet users - and growing - diversity, choice and competition is key 
to the continued success and reach of the global network.

The decision to launch these coming new gTLD application rounds followed a 
detailed and lengthy consultation process with all constituencies of the global 
Internet community. Representatives from a wide variety of stakeholders - 
governments, individuals, civil society, business and intellectual property 
constituencies, and the technology community - were engaged in discussions for 
more than 18 months. In October 2007, the Generic Names Supporting Organization 
(GNSO) - one of the groups that coordinate global internet policy at ICANN - 
completed its policy development work on new gTLDs and approved a set of 
recommendations. The culmination of this policy development process was a 
decision by the ICANN Board of Directors to adopt the community-developed 
policy in June 2008 at the ICANN meeting in Paris. A thorough brief to the 
Policy process and outcomes can be found at 
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/new-gtlds/.

 Related links:

New gTLD program:
http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtld-program.htm

Cairo international public meeting:
http://cai.icann.org/



Glen de Saint Géry
GNSO Secretariat
gnso.secretariat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://gnso.icann.org