[council] Proposed 2013 RAA Posted for Comment

[Glen de Saint Géry <Glen@xxxxxxxxx>]

https://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/proposed-raa-07mar13-en.htm
Proposed 2013 RAA Posted for Comment
Comment / Reply Periods (*)
Comment Open Date:
7 March 2013
Comment Close Date:
28 March 2013 - 23:59 UTC
Reply Open Date:
29 March 2013
Reply Close Date:
19 April 2013 - 23:59 UTC
Important Information Links
Public Comment 
Announcement<https://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-2-07mar13-en.htm>
To Submit Your Comments (Forum)<mailto:comments-proposed-raa-07mar13@xxxxxxxxx>
View Comments 
Submitted<http://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-proposed-raa-07mar13/>
Brief Overview
Originating Organization:
ICANN
Categories/Tags:

 *   Contracted Party Agreements
Purpose (Brief):

ICANN is seeking public comments on a Proposed 2013 Registrar Accreditation 
Agreement (RAA), particularly on areas where ICANN and the Registrar 
Negotiating Team have not been able to reach agreement in principle. This 
represents the first time in the nearly 18 months of negotiations that 
community comment is formally sought on this document.
Current Status:

ICANN and the Registrar Negotiating Team commenced negotiation on amendments to 
the RAA in October 2011. While the documents posted today show many areas of 
agreement, there are differences between the ICANN and Registrar positions are 
highlighted. In addition, further discussion is still ongoing regarding some of 
the specifications to the agreement.
Next Steps:

After review of the comment received, the proposed 2013 RAA will be reviewed to 
determine if further changes are warranted. In addition, ICANN and the 
Registrar NT are likely to continue discussions regarding the areas where the 
specifications remain open. The ultimate goal is to have a 2013 RAA completed 
and approved in the near future.
Staff Contact:
Samantha Eisner, Senior Counsel
Email Staff 
Contact<mailto:samantha.eisner@xxxxxxxxx?subject=More%20information%20on%20the%20Proposed%202013%20RAA%20Posted%20for%20Comment%20public%20comment%20period>
Detailed Information
Section I: Description, Explanation, and Purpose:

After nearly 18 months of negotiations, ICANN is posting a new version of the 
proposed 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) for public comment.

The Registrar Negotiating Team (NT) has continued to engage in good faith 
negotiations to understand ICANN's perspective with respect to the outstanding 
issues, and to share the often divergent positions within the Registrar 
Stakeholder Group. Recently, additional revisions were proposed by ICANN's 
Negotiating Team stemming from the call by ICANN's CEO, Fadi Chehadé, to work 
to improve the image of the domain industry and to protect registrants through 
a further updated contractual framework. The Registrar NT considered each of 
these new issues, and worked towards finding solutions where appropriate. The 
RAA posted today reflects hard-fought concessions on many of key issues raised 
throughout the negotiations, and highlights issues remaining in order for the 
final 2013 RAA agreement to be reached.

Throughout the RAA and its Specifications, there are portions where two 
versions of draft text appear side by side. These highlight areas where ICANN 
and the Registrars have not been able to reach agreement in principle on an 
issue, therefore both positions are provided for comment. Unless otherwise 
noted, the remainder of the document reflects agreements in principle among 
ICANN and the Registrar NT.

A fuller discussion of the status of negotiations and areas of difference is 
available in ICANN's RAA Posting 
Memorandum<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/memo-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 66 KB].
Section II: Background:

The current round of negotiations over the RAA began in October 2011. ICANN and 
the Registrar Negotiation Team have presented updates to the community at each 
of ICANN's public meetings since that time. Information on the history of the 
negotiations, including previously released documentation, is available at the 
community wiki at 
https://community.icann.org/display/RAA/Negotiations+Between+ICANN+and+Registrars+to+Amend+the+Registrar+Accreditation+Agreement.
 This includes the group of documents posted in June 2012, which demonstrated 
the progress to date in the negotiations.
Section III: Document and Resource Links:

There are multiple documents for review as part of this posting. The new RAA is 
anticipated to be a base document with a series of specifications attached. 
This posting includes all documents that are currently anticipated to be part 
of the 2013 a. As noted above, a fuller discussion of the status of 
negotiations and areas of difference is available in ICANN's RAA Posting 
Memorandum<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/memo-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 66 KB].

The base RAA documents:

 *   Proposed 2013 RAA, Annotated to Show Differences Between ICANN and 
Registrar 
Positions<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-agreement-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 281 KB]
 *   Redline showing changes between Proposed 2013 RAA and the June 2012 RAA 
Posting<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-agreement-03jun12-redline-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 205 KB]
 *   Redline showing changes between Proposed 2013 RAA and the 2009 
RAA<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-agreement-2009-redline-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 259 KB]
 *   A Summary of Changes from the June 2012 RAA 
Posting<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-agreement-summary-changes-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 268 KB] is also available.

The Specifications and Addendums:

For the Consensus and Temporary Policy Specification, the Data Retention 
Specification, and the Whois Accuracy Program Specification, each is available 
in annotated format to show where differences remain with the registrars, as 
well as redlines showing the differences in the documents from the 2012 posting.

 *   Proposed Consensus and Temporary Policy Specification, Annotated to Show 
Differences Between ICANN and Registrar 
Positions<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-consensus-temporary-policy-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 121 KB]
 *   Redline showing changes between to the Consensus and Temporary Policy 
Specification and the June 2012 
Version<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-consensus-temporary-policy-redline-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 95 KB]
 *   Proposed Data Retention Specification, Annotated to Show Differences 
Between ICANN and Registrar 
Positions<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-data-retention-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 113 KB]
 *   Redline showing changes between to the Data Retention Specification and 
the June 2012 
Version<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-data-retention-redline-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 118 KB]
 *   Proposed Whois Accuracy Program Specification, Annotated to Show 
Differences Between ICANN and Registrar 
Positions<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-whois-accuracy-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 116 KB]
 *   Redline showing changes between to the Whois Accuracy Program 
Specification and the June 2012 
Version<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-whois-accuracy-redline-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 142 KB]

For the remaining specifications to the RAA, the versions below are provided as 
ICANN's latest proposal. The Registrar Negotiation Team is still considering 
each of these specifications:

 *   Proposed Registrant Rights and Responsibilities 
Specification<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-registrant-rights-responsibilities-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 48 KB]
 *   ICANN Proposed Specification on Proxy/Privacy 
Services<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-privacy-proxy-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 70 KB]
 *   ICANN Proposed Additional Registrar Operation 
Specification<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-additional-operation-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 78 KB]
 *   ICANN Proposed Registrar Information 
Specification<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-registrar-information-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 76 KB]
 *   ICANN Proposed Whois 
Specification<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-whois-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 160 KB]
 *   ICANN Proposed Compliance 
Certificate<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-compliance-certificate-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 64 KB]
 *   ICANN Proposed Transition Addendum 
<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-transition-addendum-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 63 KB]
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