[council] Proposed Final New gTLD Registry Agreement - Open for Public Comments

[Glen de Saint Géry <Glen@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-29apr13-en.htm
Proposed Final New gTLD Registry Agreement
Comment / Reply Periods (*)
Comment Open Date:  29 April 2013
Comment Close Date:  20 May 2013 - 23:59 UTC
Reply Open Date:  21 May 2013
Reply Close Date:  11 June 2013 - 23:59 UTC
Important Information Links
Public Comment 
Announcement<http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-29apr13-en.htm>
To Submit Your Comments 
(Forum)<mailto:comments-base-agreement-29apr13@xxxxxxxxx>
View Comments 
Submitted<http://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-base-agreement-29apr13/>
Brief Overview
Originating Organization:
ICANN
Categories/Tags:

 *   Top-Level Domains
Purpose (Brief):

ICANN is seeking public comment on a revised draft of the New gTLD Registry 
Agreement that will serve as the contractual document between successful New 
gTLD Applicants and ICANN, and will govern the rights and obligations of new 
gTLD registry operators. ICANN has made certain updates and changes to the New 
gTLD Registry Agreement in response to community feedback on the version of the 
New gTLD Registry Agreement posted for public comment on 5 February 2013 and 
discussions of the New gTLD Registry Agreement at the ICANN 46 meeting in 
Beijing, China 7-11 April 2013.
Current Status:

On 5 February 2013 ICANN posted a revised version of the New gTLD Registry 
Agreement for the community's information and review. Based on community 
feedback during the ICANN 46 meeting in Beijing, ICANN and the Registry 
Agreement Negotiating Team have continued to negotiate the proposed terms of 
the New gTLD Registry Agreement.
Next Steps:

After review of the public comments received, the ICANN Board will consider the 
adoption of the revised New gTLD Registry Agreement.
Staff Contact:
Daniel Halloran
Email Staff 
Contact<mailto:daniel.halloran@xxxxxxxxx?subject=More%20information%20on%20the%20Proposed%20Final%20New%20gTLD%20Registry%20Agreement%20public%20comment%20period>
Detailed Information
Section I: Description, Explanation, and Purpose:

ICANN is posting today for public comment the proposed final New gTLD Registry 
Agreement that will be entered into between ICANN and successful new gTLD 
applicants. The proposed final agreement is the result of several months of 
negotiations, formal community feedback during a public comment forum initiated 
on 5 February 2013, and meetings with various stakeholders and communities. The 
proposed final draft also includes feedback from the ICANN community at the 
ICANN 46 Meeting on 7-11 April 2013 in Beijing. (Note: this version of the 
agreement does not address the recent Beijing GAC Communiqué.) Included in the 
proposed revisions are the following:

 *   Agreement Amendment Procedures: The amendment procedures have been 
substantially reworked to provide greater clarity and procedural safeguards. A 
new mechanism for bilateral negotiation of amendments to the agreements has 
been added, including provision for public comment on proposed revisions and 
potential arbitration of some classes of proposed amendments.
 *   Confidentiality Provision: A new confidentiality provision was inserted to 
ensure appropriate treatment of confidential information provided by a party to 
the other under the Agreement.
 *   Reserved Names: Proposed revisions to Specification 5 would clarify the 
reserved names requirements, including a provision addressing registry operator 
use of names for the operation or the promotion of the TLD (capped at 100 
names).
Section II: Background:

After the ICANN Board approves the final terms of the New gTLD Registry 
Agreement, it will serve as the contractual document between successful New 
gTLD Applicants and ICANN, and will govern the rights and obligations of new 
gTLD registry operators.

On 5 February 2013 ICANN posted a proposed "Revised New gTLD Registry Agreement 
Including Additional Public Interest Commitments 
Specification<http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-3-05feb13-en.htm>."
 In that posting ICANN announced revisions to the agreement in response to 
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.

Since February 5, ICANN hosted two 
webinars<http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/webinars> (6 
March 2013 and 26 March 2013), held meetings with stakeholders, and initiated 
an official public comment period from 5 February 2013 to 20 March 2013 to 
provide the community opportunities to give feedback on revisions to this key 
agreement. A summary and analysis of the public comments received can be 
reviewed at: 
http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/report-comments-base-agreement-01apr13-en.pdf
 [PDF, 508 KB]. An interim revised draft of the agreement was posted for 
information on the ICANN Blog on 1 April 
2013<http://blog.icann.org/2013/04/revised-registry-agreement-posted-for-review/>.

(Please note that this version of the agreement does not address the recent 
Beijing GAC 
Communiqué<http://www.icann.org/en/news/correspondence/gac-to-board-18apr13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 156 KB]. The community is invited to provide feedback on how the ICANN 
Board New gTLD Program Committee should address GAC Advice on New gTLDs by 
submitting a comment to that public comment forum at 
http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/gac-safeguard-advice-23apr13-en.htm.)

The Registry Agreement Negotiating Team asked ICANN to publish the following 
statement:

"The Registry Agreement Negotiation Team (RA-NT) is an ad-hoc group of 
volunteers from the Registry SG, NTAG, BRG, and individual applicants. This 
team was formed during the Beijing ICANN meeting in response to substantial 
changes proposed by ICANN on April 1, 2013. The RA-NT agreed to review the new 
gTLD Registry Agreement with ICANN staff in an effort to minimize some of the 
more controversial aspects of the Agreement for applicants as a whole. While 
participants reflected a variety of perspectives, the team did not "represent" 
or have any authority to "speak for" new gTLD applicants generally, or any 
group of applicants. The team's discussions with ICANN focused on a limited set 
of the most controversial and broadly applicable aspects of ICANN's proposed 
changes to the registry agreement published in the final New gTLD Application 
Guidebook. Applicants may disagree with the way these controversial issues are 
addressed in the draft, and may have concerns or comments about issues in the 
proposed agreement that the negotiating team did not discuss with ICANN. 
Further, not all members of the negotiating team agreed on every point.

"The form of the Registry Agreement may be subject to additional changes in 
response to the public comment period. Also, as noted in 5.1 of the Applicant 
Guidebook, 'Applicants may request and negotiate terms by exception; however, 
this extends the time involved in executing the agreement.' All applicants are 
encouraged to review this draft."
Section III: Document and Resource Links:

 *   Revised gTLD Registry Agreement 2013-04-29 
(clean)<http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/agb/base-agreement-specs-29apr13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 600 KB]
 *   Revised gTLD Registry Agreement 
(redline)<http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/agb/base-agreement-specs-redline-29apr13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 515 KB]
 *   Summary of 
Changes<http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/agb/base-agreement-specs-summary-changes-29apr13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 278 KB]
 *   Beijing GAC Communiqué 
2013-04-11<http://www.icann.org/en/news/correspondence/gac-to-board-18apr13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 156 KB]
 *   Draft gTLD Registry Agreement, 2013-04-01 
version<http://blog.icann.org/2013/04/revised-registry-agreement-posted-for-review/>
 *   Draft gTLD Registry Agreement, 2013-02-05 
version<http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/base-agreement-05feb13-en.htm>
 *   Draft gTLD Registry Agreement, 2012-06-04 
version<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<mailto:gnso.secretariat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
http://gnso.icann.org<http://gnso.icann.org/>