[council] Draft Applicant Guidebook Now Available in Additional Languages for Comment

[Glen de Saint Géry <Glen@xxxxxxxxx>]

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http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-18nov08-en.htm
Draft Applicant Guidebook Now Available in Additional Languages for Comment

18 November 2008

A draft 'Applicant Guidebook' for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) is now 
available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish and Russian for review and 
comment at http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/comments-en.htm. The draft 
Guidebook provides information for those interested in applying for new generic 
top-level domains.

Designed to accompany the draft Applicant Guidebook is a set of Explanatory 
Memoranda that are intended to assist understanding of the implementation work 
for new gTLDs.

Since these are not the final documents, applicants should not rely on the 
details contained in the documents since they remain subject to further 
consultation and revision.

Some areas of the new gTLD program remain under development. These include 
details on: the duration of each stage of the application; third party service 
providers that will be part of the evaluation panels and manage the dispute 
resolution; and fees in addition to the "evaluation fee" that will apply only 
to some applicants depending on the application path. These areas will be made 
available for public consultation in the near future.

ICANN expects to engage in a productive and robust dialogue with the Internet 
community through this consultative process. Staff will review all comments and 
provide a summary/analysis of comments to help production of the final 
Applicant Guidebook, to be released early 2009.

New gTLDs and the Internet - Openness Change Innovation

After years of discussion and thought, new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) 
are being expanded. They will allow for more innovation, choice and change to a 
global Internet presently served by only 21 generic top-level domain names.

As a non-for-profit corporation dedicated to coordinating the Internet's 
addressing system, ICANN is not doing this to add to its revenue.  An 
implementation plan is being developed with opportunities for public comment.  
There will be processes for objections. There has also been detailed technical 
scrutiny to ensure the Internet's stability and security. There will be an 
evaluation fee but it will recover costs only (expenses so far, application 
processing and anticipated legal costs). Many thousands of people representing 
organizations as diverse as domain name registries and registrars, businesses, 
engineers, scientists, governments, user, academics, and the legal community 
have contributed.

Promoting competition and choice is one of the principles upon which ICANN was 
founded. In a world with 1.5 billion Internet users (and growing), diversity, 
choice and innovation are key. The Internet has supported huge increases in 
choice, innovation and the competition of ideas. Expanding new gTLDs provides 
further opportunities.

Find out detail at: http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtld-program.htm


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