[council] Public Comment: CRAI Report on gTLD Registries and Registrars

[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]
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http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-24oct08-en.htm
Public Comment: CRAI Report on gTLD Registries and Registrars

24 October 2008

ICANN has received a report today, issued by CRA International, titled 
"Revisiting Vertical Separation of Registries and Registrars" [PDF, 493K].

ICANN requested CRAI to perform economic research pursuant to two resolutions 
of the ICANN Board of Directors: 1) the 18 October 2006 resolution of ICANN's 
Board of Directors seeking more information relating to the registry and 
registrar marketplace; and, 2) the 26 June 2008 resolution of ICANN's Board, 
directing the development and completion of a detailed implementation plan for 
the new gTLD Policy.

CRAI's report makes certain recommendations regarding the relationship between 
registries and registrars. In particular, the CRAI report makes two proposals 
that might apply to the implementation of the new gTLD program.

First, CRAI proposes that, for single organization TLDs, that organization be 
permitted to operate both the registry and the registrar that sells 
second-level domain name subscriptions.

Second, CRAI proposes that a registry may own a registrar so long as the 
wholly-owned registrar does not sell second-level domain names subscriptions in 
the TLDs operated by the registrar.

ICANN would like to solicit public comment on these proposals, which if 
implemented, would have an immediate effect on applications under the new gTLD 
program.

Comments on the CRAI report are welcome via email to crai-report@xxxxxxxxx. An 
archive of all comments received will be publicly posted at 
http://forum.icann.org/lists/crai-report/.

NOTE: CRA International (CRAI) is a highly respected economic consulting firm. 
ICANN asked CRAI to consider issues associated with certain competitive aspects 
at the registry and registrar level, including registry-registrar separation, 
for the purpose of helping guide the discussions related to the new TLD program.

CRAI does not speak for ICANN, and ICANN has not adopted this report. ICANN's 
Board, Management and Staff have not taken a position regarding this report. 
ICANN hopes that the community will benefit from the report and welcomes 
comments on the report.

Related Links:

Public comment period: 
http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-200812.html#crai

CRAI report: http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtld-crai-report-24oct08-en.pdf 
[PDF, 439K]

New gTLD public comment page: 
http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtld-comments-en.htm

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