[council] Public Comment: Initial Report on Vertical Integration Between Registrars and Registries

[Glen de Saint Géry <Glen@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-2-23jul10-en.htm

Public Comment: Initial Report on Vertical Integration Between Registrars and 
Registries

Comments can be sent to <vi-pdp-initial-report@xxxxxxxxx> 
and reviewed at http://forum.icann.org/lists/vi-pdp-initial-report/.

23 July 2010

The GNSO Vertical Integration Working Group is seeking comments on its Initial 
Report on Vertical Integration Between Registrars and Registries. This Initial 
Report [PDF, 731 KB] is posted for public comment as a required step in the 
GNSO's Policy Development Process on Vertical Integration between Registrars 
and Registries. The Initial Report describes various proposed solutions for 
restrictions on vertical integration between registrars and registries for 
adoption in the New gTLD Program.

Please note: The Working Group is working under an extremely aggressive 
schedule in order to meet the requirements that have been placed on it by the 
GNSO Council and the ICANN Board. The Working Group is planning to continue its 
analysis throughout the public comment period. Reviewers are encouraged to 
submit comments early to provide the group as much time as possible to consider 
them.

The public comment period ends on 12 August 2010.

Background:

The GNSO Council has commenced a policy development process (PDP) on the topic 
of vertical integration between registrars and registries. The GNSO Council 
formed a working group to evaluate whether any policy recommendations should be 
developed on the topic of vertical integration between registrars and 
registries affecting both new gTLDs and existing gTLDs.

ICANN is currently in the process of finalizing the implementation details for 
the launch of new gTLDs. ICANN has posted four draft applicant guidebooks and a 
series of topic papers for public comment describing the manner in which ICANN 
proposes to implement this program. These documents include proposals on the 
topic of vertical integration and whether cross-ownership restrictions or other 
rules related to vertical integration should be adopted to apply to the New 
gTLD Program.

The Initial Report describes several proposals regarding vertical integration 
that have been developed and analyzed by the VI Working Group. No proposal has 
achieved consensus support within the VI Working Group. These proposals are 
included for the purpose of seeking public comment and will be subject to 
further analysis and debate as the VI Working Group continues to strive to 
develop a consensus position to recommend to the GNSO Council on an expedited 
basis.

The Initial Report published for public comment is a "snapshot" of a living 
document that will be revised several times during the public comment period. 
Reviewers are encouraged to check on the working-group wiki for the latest 
version of this Initial Report.

This public comment forum is an opportunity to comment on any of the proposed 
vertical integration models that are described the Initial Report. The Initial 
Report will be posted for a public comment period that closes on 12 August 
2010. Comments can be sent to vi-pdp-initial-report@xxxxxxxxx and reviewed at 
http://forum.icann.org/lists/vi-pdp-initial-report/.

Additional Information:

To review the Issues Report on Vertical Integration Between Registries and 
Registrars, please refer to 
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/vertical-integration/report-04dec09-en.pdf [PDF, 
254 KB].

The ICANN Board resolution on Vertical Integration is posted at 
http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/resolutions-12mar10-en.htm#5.

To review the charter describing the policy work undertaken by the Vertical 
Integration Working Group, please refer to: 
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/vertical-integration/vi-chartered-objectives-10mar10-en.pdf
 [PDF, 41 KB].

For information on the details of the implementation planning activities for 
new gTLDs, please refer to the documents posted at 
http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtld-program.htm

To review updates to the Initial Report that may be developed by the VI Working 
Group during the public comment period, please refer to the archive of Initial 
Report snapshots posted at 
https://st.icann.org/vert-integration-pdp/index.cgi?initial_report_snapshots.

Staff responsible: Margie Milam


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