[registrars] URGENT AND IMPORTANT: .NET Amendment Comments

["Bhavin Turakhia" <bhavin.t@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

As marcus pointed out - today is the last day for any comments from
Registrars towards the proposed .NET Amendments.

TO POST YOUR COMMENTS WRITE TO: net-amendment-comments@xxxxxxxxx


Please read the below email as well as review the links before posting your
comments

When I spoke to several Registrars at luxembourg there were 2 major concerns
for most registrars.

FIRST: Price Cap
SECOND: Verisign should not treat registrars inequitably, especially with
regards to pricing

The registrars working group have done a FANTASTIC job of negotiating with
ICANN and Verisign to get certain necessary amendments in the .Net RRA, A
summary of the process and the final modifications is available at -

http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-22sep05.htm.


Below is a discussion about just the above 2 points and what reflects in the
current version of amendments posted by ICANN -


===================
Equitable Treatment
===================

* The working group had proposed the following addition to the RRA which was
rejected by Verisign:

2.15. Equitable Treatment.  VNDS shall treat all registrars equitably, and
shall afford all registrars equal opportunities with regard to services set
forth in this Agreement.

The above clause was discussed amongst all the members of the working group.
The consensus was that while in certain circumstances Verisign may need to
treat different Registrars differently, however the treatment should never
be inequitable.

However the above clause was rejected by them. Instead they made the
following change in the .NET ICANN-Verisign agreement -

"Volume discounts and marketing support and incentive programs may be made
if the same opportunities to qualify for those discounts and marketing
support and incentive programs is available to all ICANN-accredited
registrars"

Some Registrars may still have an issue with the above wording. For instance
if Verisign comes up with a program that says any Registrar who sells
200,000 domain years per month will get a 50% discount, would mean "same
opportunity" but would not be "equitable or fair"

If Registrars have concerns with the above wording, then they must comment
about it today. I believe the wording should read -

"Volume discounts and marketing support and incentive programs may be made
if same and equitable opportunities to qualify for those discounts and
marketing support and incentive programs is available to all
ICANN-accredited registrars"

Anyone who agrees with this concern, should post it to the comment list
TODAY


=========
Price Cap
=========

* The ICANN-Verisign contract has been amended to allow Verisign to increase
its .NET Domains price by 10% per year

If anyone has concerns about this you must post a comment to the .NET
amendments comment list today



Best Regards
Bhavin Turakhia
Founder, Chairman & CEO
Directi
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