[council] Revised New gTLD Registry Agreement Including Additional Public Interest Commitments Specification

[Glen de Saint Géry <Glen@xxxxxxxxx>]

Revised New gTLD Registry Agreement Including Additional Public Interest 
Commitments Specification
Comment/Reply Periods (*)

Important Information Links

Comment Open:

5 February 2013

Comment Close:

26 February 2013

Close Time (UTC):

23:59

Public Comment 
Announcement<https://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-3-05feb13-en.htm>

Reply Open:

27 February 2013

To Submit Your Comments 
(Forum)<mailto:comments-base-agreement-05feb13@xxxxxxxxx>

Reply Close:

20 March 2013

View Comments 
Submitted<http://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-base-agreement-05feb13>

Close Time (UTC):

23:59

Report of Public Comments

Brief Overview

Originating Organization:

ICANN

Categories/Tags:

Top-Level Domains

Purpose (Brief):

To receive community feedback on the revised New gTLD Registry Agreement that 
includes certain updates and changes, including a Public Interest Commitments 
Specification

Current Status:

The current draft of the New gTLD Registry Agreement was published in June 2012 
as part of the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook: Base Agreement & 
Specifications<http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/agb/base-agreement-specs-04jun12-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 917 KB]. The New gTLD Registry Agreement requires various updates and 
changes, including the addition of the Public Interest Commitments 
Specification.

Next Steps:

ICANN staff will consider public comments on the revised New gTLD Registry 
Agreement and recommend any additional necessary changes to the Board for 
approval.

Staff Contact:

Daniel Halloran

Email:

daniel.halloran@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:daniel.halloran@xxxxxxxxx?subject=More%20information%20on%20the%20Revised%20New%20gTLD%20Registry%20Agreement%20Including%20Additional%20Public%20Interest%20Commitments%20Specification%20public%20comment%20period>

Detailed Information

Section I: Description, Explanation, and Purpose


The New gTLD Registry Agreement is the contractual document between successful 
New gTLD Applicants and ICANN, and will govern the rights and obligations of 
new gTLD registry operators.

ICANN proposes to revise the New gTLD Registry Agreement in connection with 
developments since the last posting of the Applicant Guidebook in June 2012 and 
a general review of the contractual needs of the new gTLD program. Among the 
proposed changes, ICANN has added the Public Interest Commitments Specification.

The Public Interest Commitments Specification will require operators of new 
gTLDs to use only registrars that are party to the 2013 Registrar Accreditation 
Agreement (which is under negotiation). The Public Interest Commitments 
Specification is also a mechanism to allow registry operators to commit to 
certain statements made by the registry operator in its application for the 
gTLD, as well as to specify additional public interest commitments, in either 
case transforming such commitments into binding contractual obligations that 
may be enforced by ICANN through a new dispute resolution mechanism that will 
be available to any party harmed by a registry operator's failure to comply 
with such public interest commitments.

Concurrent with this public comment period on the proposed revisions to the 
agreement, ICANN will also ask each applicant to submit a TLD-specific Public 
Interest Commitments Specification. ICANN will communicate directly with 
applicants regarding the details of submitting Public Interest Commitments 
Specification. ICANN expects to request applicants to submit their Public 
Interest Commitments Specifications by 5 March 2013, and ICANN plans to have 
them all posted for public review by 6 March 2013.

The proposed revised New gTLD Registry Agreement is now open for public comment.

Section II: Background


The new generic Top-Level Domain (New gTLD) Program was developed to increase 
competition and choice by introducing new gTLDs into the Internet's addressing 
system. The Applicant Guidebook (AGB) was produced to define the program and 
provide instructions on the application process. Within the AGB, Module 5 
contains the draft New gTLD Registry Agreement. This is the document that will 
be entered into by successful applicants and ICANN before proceeding to the 
next phase of delegation and will contain the rights and obligations of each 
New gTLD registry operator. The current version of the New gTLD Registry 
Agreement, published as part of the AGB in June 2012, requires certain updates 
and changes before it can be finalized for use by successful applicants.

Each new gTLD application includes business plans and statements of intent 
regarding applicant plans for operation of the proposed new gTLD registry. For 
example, some applicants stated in their applications that they intend to 
implement registration restrictions or heightened rights protection mechanisms 
above those required in the current draft of the New gTLD Registry Agreement. 
Outside of community-based applications, there are no mechanisms for requiring 
these plans and objectives to be incorporated into the New gTLD Registry 
Agreement. The GAC's Toronto Communiqué provided advice to the Board of 
Directors of ICANN that "it is necessary for all of these statements of 
commitment and objectives to be transformed into binding contractual 
commitments, subject to compliance oversight by ICANN." In response to the GAC, 
the New gTLD Program Committee of the Board has approved a public comment 
period on a proposed Public Interest Commitments Specification as a mechanism 
to transform application statements into binding contractual commitments, as 
well as to give applicants the opportunity to voluntarily submit to heightened 
public interest commitments. The Public Interest Commitments Specification has 
been incorporated into the revised New gTLD Registry Agreement as Specification 
11 and is being submitted for public comments along with various other updates 
and changes to the New gTLD Registry Agreement more specifically described in 
the Summary of Changes, available below.

Section III: Document and Resource Links


 *   Revised gTLD Registry Agreement with Public Interest Commitments 
Specification 2013-02-05 - 
clean<http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/agb/base-agreement-specs-05feb13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 886 KB]
 *   Revised gTLD Registry Agreement with Public Interest Commitments 
Specification 2013-02-05 - 
red-lined<http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/agb/base-agreement-specs-redline-05feb13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 787 KB]
 *   Summary of Changes 
2013-02-05<http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/agb/base-agreement-specs-summary-changes-05feb13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 445 KB]
 *   Draft gTLD Registry Agreement 2012-06-04 version: Base Agreement & 
Specifications<http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/agb/base-agreement-specs-04jun12-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 917 KB]
 *   ICANN Website for New Generic Top-Level Domains Applicant Guidebook: 
http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/agb

Section IV: Additional Information

None




(*) Comments submitted after the posted Close Date/Time are not guaranteed to 
be considered in any final summary, analysis, reporting, or decision-making 
that takes place once this period lapses.


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