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Purpose (Brief): The Arabic script community has formed the Task Force on Arabic Script IDNs(TF-AIDN), also acting as the Arabic script Generation Panel (GP), which in turn has developed a Proposal for the Arabic Script Root Zone Label Generation Rules (Proposal [XML, 29 KB] andProposal Documentation [PDF, 2.35 MB]). As per the LGR Procedure [PDF, 772 KB], this proposal is being posted for public comments to allow those who have not participated in the Arabic script GP to make their views known to the Generation Panel so it can finalize the proposal for integration into the Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone.

Current Status: Currently there are multiple script communities which are actively working towards developing the Label Generation Rules (LGR) for the Root Zone. These include Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Chinese, Cyrillic, Devanagari, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Japanese, Kannada, Khmer, Korean, Malayalam, Oriya, Tamil and Telugu. Among these, Arabic script GP is the second community to complete and submit an LGR proposal, whereas Proposal for the Armenian Script Root Zone Label Generation Rules is already in the public comment process.

Next Steps: Following the public comments, and submission of the proposal with any changes to reflect the public comments, the Integration Panel (IP) will evaluate the final proposal by the Arabic script GP. If evaluation by the IP is successful, the Proposal for the Arabic Script Root Zone Label Generation Rules will be integrated into the first version of the Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone (LGR-1). Otherwise, the proposal will be sent to the Arabic script GP with comments for further consideration and revision.

Following the Call for Generation Panels to Develop Root Zone Label Generation Rulespublished on 11 July 2013, the Arabic script community organized to form the Arabic script GP, which was seated by ICANN on 14 February 2014. The Arabic script GP has developed aProposal for the Arabic Script Root Zone Label Generation Rules [XML, 29 KB], following the format prescribed in the LGR specification, together with supporting documentation for this proposal [PDF, 2.35 MB].

According to the LGR Procedure [PDF, 772 KB], the starting point for the work of the Arabic script GP is the second version of the Maximal Starting Repertoire (MSR-2). The work has been carried following the specification of Generation Panel's tasks, as described in the LGRProcedure [PDF, 772 KB] in particular, Section B.3 "Variant Rule Generation Procedure". These tasks are summarized in the guide on Setting up and Running a Generation Panel.

As per the LGR Procedure [PDF, 772 KB], the generation panel's proposals are posted for public comment using the ICANN public comment procedures. This permits those who have not participated in the generation panel to make their views known to the integration panel. A well-functioning public comment procedure is a critical component of this procedure, because there is no formal appeal mechanism for the LGR being developed.

The LGR Procedure [PDF, 772 KB] consists of two passes. The first pass creates a set of LGRs, each specific for a given script or writing system; this task is carried out by Generation Panels composed of people with deep experience or interest in the script, writing system or language used by some community of Internet users. These panels submit their LGR proposals to ICANNfor review by an Integration Panel.  The Integration Panel consists of independent experts inDNS, Unicode and scripts, and has responsibility for the second pass. This second pass involves integrating the proposals into a unified set of LGRs for the root zone, taking into account the need for a secure, stable and reliable DNS Root Zone.

Label Generation Rules (LGR) for the Root Zone are being developed to define a conservative mechanism to determine valid IDN TLDs and their variants, for stable and secure operation of the Internet's Root Zone.

Successful development of Label Generation Rules depends on having community based Generation Panels for each script that will be used in the Root Zone. Generation Panel members are representatives of the each of the communities that use a particular script or writing system – their role is to identify the valid characters, variants and Whole Label Evaluation (WLE) rules for the given script or writing system. Each Generation Panel starts by considering the code points for the relevant script that are present in the Maximal Starting Repertoire and, based on them, develop a Label Generation Rule proposal to be used to generate TLDs for that script. In doing so, they may need to coordinate efforts with other GPs, whenever their respective scripts are closely related. These proposals are then reviewed by the community through public comment and by an expert Integration Panel for approval and integration into the LGR for the Root Zone. The details are defined in Procedure to Develop and Maintain the Label Generation Rules for theRoot Zone in Respect of IDNA Labels [PDF, 1.39 MB].

• TF-AIDN Workspace: https://community.icann.org/display/MES/TF-AIDN+Work+Space
• Procedure to Develop and Maintain the Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone in Respect of IDNA Labels: https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/draft-lgr-procedure-20mar13-en.pdf [PDF, 1.39 MB]
• Maximal Starting Repertoire: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/msr-2015-06-21-en
• Machine readable specification for the Label Generation Rules:https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-davies-idntables
• Repository of Guidelines and other relevant documents:https://community.icann.org/display/croscomlgrprocedure/Document+Repository