[council] Report from Fadi Chehadé on Registrar Accreditation Agreement Negotiation Session

[Bruce Tonkin <Bruce.Tonkin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

http://blog.icann.org/2013/02/registrar-accreditation-agreement-negotiation-session


Registrar Accreditation Agreement Negotiation Session

by Fadi Chehadé on February 7, 2013

Building on the great work that has been achieved to date, yesterday I met with 
the Registrar Stakeholder Group's Negotiating Team to continue with 
negotiations toward a new Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA). We started 
the day by affirming our commitment to further, in good faith, a new RAA that 
will address the needs of the community as well as prepare the Internet domain 
name system for a new season of growth.
 
The RAA negotiations provide an important opportunity to carefully balance the 
various requirements voiced by the ICANN community, as well as to evolve 
relations with the registrars who are at the frontline delivering the 
innovation and consumer choice enabled by the new gTLD program.
 
We discussed several items that had been tabled since this group met last year 
and made headway in considering additional enhancements that will complete the 
agreement in a manner that best achieves our goals rooted in the public 
interest.
 
We continued to explore how the proposed RAA can be synchronized with the new 
gTLD Registry Agreement that ICANN published for comment on 5 February 2013. 
Assuming such alignment, this will bring a more cohesive framework across these 
agreements.
 
I will endeavor, with every tool available, to ensure that all agreements with 
our contracted parties are embraced in the broadest way plausible, and 
furthermore to support efforts by ICANN as it works to create a level playing 
field for all participants in this growing sector.
 
Without compromising any of our principles, we hope to achieve closure as soon 
as possible. I look forward to continuing this spirited and collaborative 
dialogue with the registrars as ICANN and the registrars are committed to 
moving through this process in a deliberative and expeditious way.