[council] ICANN Seeks Interest in IDN ccTLD Fast-Track Process

[Glen de Saint Géry <Glen@xxxxxxxxx>]

[To: council[at]gnso.icann.org; liaison6c[at]gnso.icann.org]
[To: ga[at]gnso.icann.org; announce[at]gnso.icann.org]
[To: regional-liaisons[at]icann.org]

http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-02oct08-en.htm
ICANN Seeks Interest in IDN ccTLD Fast-Track Process

2 October 2008

The IDNC WG recommended that as part of the implementation plan of the IDN 
ccTLD "fast-track" process a request for information (RFI) is sent out to all 
territories to gain an understanding of the interest of individual territories 
to participate in the Fast Track process. Participation in the RFI is not be 
mandatory to be eligible for an IDN ccTLD under the Fast Track.

In recent weeks the CEO & President of ICANN has written to national 
governments about the introduction of IDNs at the lop level of the domain name 
system, and to seek their assistance in forecasting the number of countries and 
territories interesting in seeking an IDN ccTLD/s through the "fast track: 
process.

A copy of this correspondence is available below:
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Date:

To

Dear ,

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the 
international not-for-profit organisation which coordinates the technical 
policies and associated data bases by which 250,000 private and public networks 
operate as one global, interoperable Internet.  To reach another person on the 
Internet you have to type an address into your computer - a name or a number. 
That address has to be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN 
coordinates these unique identifiers across the world. Without that 
coordination there would not be one global Internet.

One of the most significant innovations in the Internet since its inception 
will be the introduction of Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) at the top 
level of the domain name system. Until now, top level domains (TLD) such as 
.com, .org and .uk have, for technical reasons, been presented only in the 
basic Latin alphabet (or script). This is now changing and over the next year 
ICANN will introduce the capacity to have TLDs in other character sets, such as 
Arabic and Chinese (to list just two examples). IDNs offer many potential new 
opportunities and benefits for Internet users of all languages around the world 
by allowing them to establish and use domains in their native languages and 
alphabets.

In addition to the technical challenges associated with introducing IDNs at the 
top level,

ICANN's policy making bodies have been considering a number of interesting and 
challenging policy issues, particularly with regard to IDN country-code top 
level domains (hereafter referred to as an "IDN ccTLD"). ICANN's policies are 
developed through bottom-up consensus based processes and in this instance the 
policy issues will be addressed by ICANN's country code Names Supporting 
Organisation (ccNSO) in accordance with Annex B: ccNSO Policy-Development 
Process (ccPDP) http://www.icann.org/en/general/bylaws.htm#AnnexB of the ICANN 
bylaws. Some of the key policy questions being as part of the ccPDP include who 
is eligible to apply for an IDN ccTLD, how many IDN ccTLDs can a territory 
apply for (currently countries or territories on the ISO 3166-1 list has one 
two letter ccTLD) and should a list of possible strings (or names) be mandated. 
The Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) of ICANN (see www.gac.icann.org) 
which considers and provides advice on the activities of ICANN as they relate 
to concerns of governments, have been actively involved in this process and 
contributed to the framing of the policy questions.

It is anticipated that this ccPDP will take in the order of two years to 
complete and will result in a well-defined policy allowing for the introduction 
of IDN ccTLDs into the domain name system. However, early consultations and 
discussions on this issue revealed that there are already some countries and 
territories who have an urgent need for an IDN ccTLD. As a result, a "fast 
track" process that does not pre-empt the outcome of the ccPDP, is being 
developed to address this need. As part of this process, ICANN is attempting to 
forecast the number of countries and territories interested in seeking an IDN 
ccTLD/s through the "fast track" process. I would appreciate your assistance 
with this forecasting by ensuring that the questionnaire which immediately 
follows this email is completed and returned to idn-cctld-rfi@xxxxxxxxx or fax 
+1 310 823 8649 by 17 October 2008. I would recommend that you read the 
Important Background Information also enclosed with this letter for context.

I would emphasise that the questionnaire is for planning and information 
purposes only. It is intended that any information you provide will be 
published on the ICANN website as transparent information will benefit and 
accelerate the process. However, any indication that you would like all or part 
of the information treated as confidential will be respected. Responding to the 
questions is not mandatory to be eligible for an IDN ccTLD under the "fast 
track" process, nor should a response to the questions be considered a 
commitment by ICANN to introduce a particular IDN ccTLD.

I will also be writing to [XX] the ccTLD manager for [.XX] about this matter. 
You may wish to involve them in formulating your responses.

ICANN is committed to the widest possible consultation on policy issues such as 
this and governments can participate in the process through the GAC. More 
information on the GAC is available at http://gac.icann.org Further information 
about ICANN is available on our website http://icann.org and information about 
IDNs can be found at http://icann.org/topics/idn.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Donna Austin, 
Manager, Governmental Relations.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to participate in this exercise. I 
would also like to take this opportunity to let you know that I will be writing 
to you again in the near future regarding the introduction of new gTLDs.

Yours sincerely,



Paul Twomey

CEO & President

cc. [GAC member]




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Enc.



Important Background Information

Questionnaire

Important Background Information

The purpose of the fast-track is to introduce a limited number of 
non-contentious IDN ccTLDs associated with the ISO 3166-11 list of two-letter 
country codes in a short timeframe to meet near term demand. It is anticipated 
that the fast-track will be made available in 2009 and the process will 
continue until the ICANN policy development process is concluded in the next 
few years.

To be eligible under the fast-track process:

the territory2 should be listed on the ISO 3166-1 list ; and
the proposed domain name (or string) should be a meaningful representation of 
the name of the territory in an official language3 of the territory.
the language is represented in a non-Latin script.
For the purposes of the fast-track, a domain name (or string) is considered 
meaningful if it is in an official language and:

is the name of the territory; or
a part of the name of the territory that denotes the territory in the language; 
or
a short-form designation for the name of the territory, recognizably denoting 
it in the indicated language ; and
There is a limit to the length of the domain name as described in the attached 
documentation but it is likely that all complete country and territory names 
can be accommodated.

As a first step in the process, it will be the responsibility of the respective 
territory's local Internet community4 to, among other things:

identify the script and official language to be used in the domain name
select the domain name which is a meaningful representation of the territory
document the endorsement of the selected domain name, the script and language 
to be used.
appoint or select an IDN ccTLD manager (delegate) or identify the relevant 
public authority to perform the role until one is selected and prepare 
documentation on endorsement/support, and other items necessary to enter the 
Due Diligence stage
prepare a language table that describes the list of eligible letters or 
characters required to express the official language
The above information represents only selected elements of a report on the 
fast-track process prepared by an ICANN working group. If you believe your 
territory is interested in participating in the fast track process, but has not 
been involved in the ICANN policy discussions, it is important that you read 
the full report which is available at 
http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-15jul08-en.htm.


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Questions for Each Territory [PDF, 29K]




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1 International Organisation for Standardisation ISO 3166-1, Codes for the 
representation of names of countries and their subdivisions-Part 1: Country 
Codes (http://www.iso.org/iso/country_codes.htm)

2 To be read as 'country and territory'.

3 For the purpose of the fast track an official language is one that has a 
legal status in the territory or that serves as a language of the 
administration.

4 Selected delegate (IDN ccTLD manager), relevant public authority and parities 
served by the IDN ccTLD.

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