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13.08.2014

Introduction of Two-Character Domain Names for .LUXURY, .WANG, XN--3BST00M, XN--6QQ986B3XL, XN--CZRU2D, XN--45Q11C, .BUILD, .REN, .PIZZA, .RESTAURANT, .GIFTS, .SARL, XN--55QX5D, XN--IO0A7I, and 20 TLDs associated with Top Level Domain Holdings Limited

ADOPTED by default, see this motionDev Anand Teelucksingh23.08.201427.08.2014 20:00 UTCn/an/an/an/a30.08.2014AL-ALAC-ST-0814-03-00-EN


For information about this PC, please click here 

Brief Overview

To obtain community input on the proposed amendments to the Registry Agreements of several registry operators. The proposed Amendments are to implement a new registry service, submitted through the Registry Services Evaluation Process (RSEP), that would permit the introduction of two-character domain names for registration in the new gTLDnamespace.

Comment Period: 23 Jul 2014 - 13 Aug 2014 23:59 UTC
Reply Period: 14 Aug 2014 - 4 Sep 2014 23:59 UTC

Section I: Description, Explanation, and Purpose

Specification 5 (Schedule of Reserved Names), Section 2 of the New gTLD RegistryAgreement addresses reservations of two-character labels. As provided in Specification 5:

All two-character ASCII labels shall be withheld from registration or allocated toRegistry Operator at the second level within the TLD. Such labels may not be activated in the DNS, and may not be released for registration to any person or entity other than Registry Operator, provided that such two-character label strings may be released to the extent that Registry Operator reaches agreement with the related government and country-code manager of the string as specified in the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 standard. The Registry Operator may also propose the release of these reservations based on its implementation of measures to avoid confusion with the corresponding country codes, subject to approval by ICANN.

The New gTLD registry operators listed below submitted requests to ICANN through theRegistry Services Evaluation Process (RSEP) to release certain two-character labels. In total, the requests concern 34 New gTLDs. Implementation of the proposal would require an amendment to the Exhibit A, Approved Services of the respective Registry Agreements, which are being posted for public comment.

ProposalTLDRegistry NameDocuments
2014039Multiple TLDs*Top Level Domain Holdings LimitedTop Level Domain Holdings Limited Request 21 July 2014 [PDF, 15 KB]
2014037xn--55qx5d
xn--io0a7i
Computer Network Information Center of Chinese Academy of SciencesComputer Network Information Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences (China Internet Network Information Center) Request 17 July 2014 [PDF, 16 KB]
2014035pizza
restaurant
gifts
sarl
Binky Lake LLCBinky Lake, LLC Request 11 July 2014[PDF, 16 KB]
2014034renBeijing Qianxiang Wangjing Technology Development Co., Ltd.Beijing Qianxiang Wangjing Technology Development Co., Ltd. Request 11 July 2014 [PDF, 15 KB]
2014031buildPlan Bee, LLCPlan Bee, LLC Request 10 July 2014[PDF, 18 KB]
2014029wang
xn--3bSt00M
xn--6qQ986B3xL
xn--czRu2D
xn--45Q11C
Zodiac RegistryLimitedZodiac Registry Limited Request 30 June 2014 [PDF, 15 KB]
2014028luxuryLuxury Partners, LLCLuxury Partners, LLC Request 27 June 2014 [PDF, 18 KB]

*Note: Top Level Domain Holdings Limited has submitted one RSEP request for 20 gTLDs.

As part of these requests, each registry operator described the two-character domain names that it would offer for registration. These RSEP requests were posted for public information on the Registry Service Evaluation Process webpage, available athttps://www.icann.org/resources/pages/rsep-2014-02-19-en.

See below for a summary of each RSEP request:

  • Multiple Top Level Domain Holdings Limited TLDs – On 21 July 2014, ICANNposted for public information a request made by Top Level Domain Holdings Limited (on behalf of twenty Top Level Domain Holdings Limited operated TLDs). The proposal requests the release of two-character domains while reserving the two-letter domains that correspond to the two-letter country code names. The request applies to the following TLDs: .abogado, .bayern, .beer, .budapest, .casa, .cooking, .country, .fashion, .fishing, .garden, .horse, .luxe, .miami, .nrw, .rodeo, .surf, .vodka, .wedding, .work, and .yoga. Among these twenty (20) TLDs, .bayern and .nrw are affiliates of Top Level Domain Holdings Limited, while the remaining eighteen (18) of them are operated by Top Level Domain Holdings Limited.

  • xn--55qx5d, xn--io0a7i – On 17 July 2014, ICANN posted for public information a request made by Computer Network Information Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences (China Internet Network Information Center) (CNNIC) (on behalf of two CNNIC operated TLDs). The proposal requests the release of all two-character ASCII labels that do not appear on the ISO 31661-1 alpha-2 list and for which there is no corresponding country-code operator. If ICANN approves this proposal, CNNIC notes that all the released two-character ASCII labels will be equitably provided to any potential registrants as other normal labels.

  • .sohu – On 11 July 2014, ICANN posted for public information a request made by Sohu.com Limited. The proposal requests the release of all two-character ASCII labels that do not appear on the ISO 31661-1 alpha-2 list and for which there is no corresponding country-code operator. The registry operator noted in its RSEPrequest that "As permitted under Specification 5, Section 2, Registry Operators may propose the release of the two-character ASCII label reservations where there is the ability to avoid confusion with the corresponding country codes, subject to approval by ICANN. We are not seeking an amendment to the Registry Agreement; rather we seek approval from ICANN in the form of a written waiver stating that .SOHU RegistryOperator is permitted to make available for registration those two-character ASCII labels that do not appear on the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 list and for which there are no corresponding country-code operators."

  • .pizza, .restaurant, .gifts, .sarl – On 11 July 2014, ICANN posted for public information a request made by Binky Lake, LLC (on behalf of four Donuts, Inc. operated TLDs). The proposal requests the release of all two-character ASCII labels that do not appear on the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 list and for which there is no corresponding government or country-code operator. To avoid user confusion with the two-character country codes, the registry operator noted in its RSEP that "the release of these two-character ASCII labels poses no risk of confusion with any country-code. Therefore, the restrictions placed on this set of two-character ASCII labels are unwarranted and should be lifted forthwith."

  • .ren – On 11 July 2014, ICANN posted for public information a request made by Beijing Qianxiang Wangjing Technology Development Co., Ltd. The proposal requests the release of all two-character ASCII labels that do not appear on the ISO31661-1 alpha-2 list and for which there is no corresponding country-code operator. The registry operator noted in its RSEP request that "As permitted under Specification 5, Section 2, Registry Operators may propose the release of the two-character ASCII label reservations where there is the ability to avoid confusion with the corresponding country codes, subject to approval by ICANN. We are not seeking an amendment to the Registry Agreement; rather we seek approval from ICANN in the form of a written waiver stating that .REN Registry Operator is permitted to make available for registration those two-character ASCII labels that do not appear on the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 list and for which there are no corresponding country-code operators."

  • .build – On 10 July 2014, ICANN posted for public information a request made by Plan Bee, LLC. The proposal requests the release of all two-character ASCII labels that do not appear on the ISO 31661-1 alpha-2 list and for which there is no corresponding country-code operator. The registry operator noted in its RSEPrequest that "Should ICANN approve this proposed service, Plan Bee will implement responsible measures to introduce these attractive and memorable labels into the marketplace while protecting the interests of any potentially impacted third parties. IfICANN grants this proposal, none of the two-character labels included in this specific proposal and released by Plan Bee would match existing country codes. Thus, this proposal at this time precludes the existence of country-code-matching labels in the .BUILD namespace, eliminating the possibility that the names released by Plan Bee might be confused with existing country codes."

  • .wang, xn--3bSt00M, xn--6qQ986B3xL, xn--czRu2D, xn--45Q11C –On 30 June 2014, ICANN posted for public information a request made by Zodiac RegistryLimited (on behalf of five Zodiac Registry Limited operated TLDs). The proposal requests the release of all two-character ASCII labels that do not appear on the ISO3166-1 alpha-2 standard and for which there is currently no corresponding government or country-code. The Registry Operator requested for the proposed amendments to include additional two-character domain names to the initially proposed domain name list.

  • .luxury – On 27 June 2014, ICANN posted for public information a request made by Luxury Partners, LLC. The proposal requests the release of all two-character ASCII labels that do not appear on the ISO 31661-1 alpha-2 list and for which there is no corresponding country-code operator. The registry operator noted in its RSEPrequest that "Should ICANN approve this proposed service, Luxury Partners will implement responsible measures to introduce these attractive and memorable labels into the marketplace while protecting the interests of any potentially impacted third parties. If ICANN grants this proposal, none of the two-character labels released by Luxury Partners would match existing country codes. This commitment precludes existence of country-code-matching labels in the .LUXURY namespace, eliminating the possibility that the names released by Luxury Partners might be confused with existing country codes."

As provided by the Registry Services Evaluation Policy, ICANN has undertaken a preliminary determination on whether the proposals might raise significant competition, security or stability issues. ICANN's preliminary review (based on the information provided) did not identify any such issues for these requests.

To note, in its 27 March 2014 Singapore Communiqué, the GAC noted that it "discussed the Brand Registry Group proposal for a streamlined process under an addendum to theRegistry Agreement for the approval of country names and 2-letter and character codes at the second level." The GAC stated that it "has no major concerns about brand owners seeking approval for such names," but that the approval should be "done directly with the countries concerned rather than through a GAC-level operational process." The GACnoted that "individual GAC members could assist with proposals relevant to their particular country if requested," and the GAC suggested that "consideration be given to establishing a register of countries that do not require individual requests to be made." The GAC will be informed of this public comment period.

Section II: Background

In 2006, .name requested for a limited release of reserved two-character names whichICANN staff performed an initial technical evaluation, and referred the matter to theRegistry Services Technical Evaluation Panel (RSTEP) process. The RSTEP panel considered the security and stability impacts of the proposal, which focused on unexpected responses being received from the DNS for both existing and non-existing domains, as well as simply user confusion where the idea of two letter second-level domains is unfamiliar. Based on the report of the RSTEP Panel, internal experts and other public comments, there were no significant security and stability issues related to introduction of the proposal, and the board adopted a resolution on 16 January 2007 to authorize ICANN to amend the .name Registry Agreement to implement the proposed registry services.

From 2007 to 2012, ICANN processed various RSEP proposals related to the release of two-character labels for 11 TLDs (.jobs, .coop, .mobi, .biz, .pro, .cat, .info, .travel, .tel, .asia, and .org).

On 12 June 2014, a similar public comment period regarding six RSEP proposals and amendments for the introduction of two-character domain names was opened. The sixRSEP proposals are for the following 148 gTLDs: .kred, .best, .ceo, .wiki, .globo, and 143 Donuts, Inc. operated TLDs (Note: Binky Lake, LLC has submitted a RSEP request on behalf of Donuts, Inc. for 143 gTLDs.). The public comment forum for these six requests can be found here: https://www.icann.org/public-comments/two-char-new-gtld-2014-06-12-en.

On 8 July 2014, a similar public comment period regarding six more RSEP proposals and amendments for the introduction of two-character domain names was opened. The sixRSEP proposals are for the following twelve gTLDs: .deals, xn--fjq720a, .city, .xyz, .college, .gop, .trade, .webcam, .bid, .healthcare, .world, and .band. The public comment forum for these six requests can be found here: https://www.icann.org/public-comments/two-char-new-gtld-2014-07-08-en.

Approving amendments to the identified Registry Agreements to implement the proposed new registry service would be the first of its kind in the new gTLD space.

Section III: Relevant Resources

Section IV: Additional Information

Staff Contact

 

FINAL VERSION TO BE SUBMITTED IF RATIFIED

Please click here to download a copy of the document below.

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FINAL DRAFT VERSION TO BE VOTED UPON BY THE ALAC

The final draft version to be voted upon by the ALAC will be placed here before the vote is to begin.

The At-Large Community has taken note of the many Registry Services Evaluation Process (RSEP) requests submitted to ICANN by many New gTLD Registries applying for exceptions to Specification 5, Section 2 of the New gTLD Registry Agreement (see page 68 of the http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/agb/agreement-approved-09jan14-en.pdffor the text of Specification 5, Section 2).

Many of the RSEP requests are for the release of two character ASCII labels not on the ISO 3166-1 alpha 2 standard. However, the ISO 3166-1 alpha 2 standard is not a static document; it will be updated to reflect changes to countries and territories. For example, BQ, CW and SX were added to the ISO 3166-1 alpha 2 standard in late 2010 (see http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_3166-1_newsletter_vi-8_split_of_the_dutch_antilles_final-en.pdf). This gives rise to a potential disparity in the implementation of Specification 5, Section 2 where future countries and territories would be treated differently than those countries and territories on today's ISO 3166-1 alpha 2 list.

However, two character ASCII labels at the second level have been made available for some gTLDs and many ccTLDs. Shorter domains are more desirable to potential registrants and two character ASCII labels can be used for alternative meanings than the one for the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 standard. For these reasons, absent any DNS-related security or stability issues, the ALAC believes that all the restrictions of two character ASCII labels at the 2nd level within a TLD should ultimately be removed, and has no problem with the current exceptions being approved.



FIRST DRAFT SUBMITTED

See At-Large Introduction of Two-Character Domain Names in the New gTLD Namespace Workspace for the first draft

The At-Large Community has taken note of the many Registry Services Evaluation Process (RSEP) requests submitted to ICANN by many New gTLD Registries applying for exceptions to Specification 5, Section 2 of the New gTLD Registry Agreement (see page 68 of the http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/agb/agreement-approved-09jan14-en.pdf for the text of Specification 5, Section 2).

Many of the RSEP requests are for the release of two character ASCII labels not on the ISO 3166-1 alpha 2 standard. However, the ISO 3166-1 alpha 2 standard is not a static document; it will be updated to reflect changes to countries and territories. For example, BQ, CW and SX were added to the ISO 3166-2 alpha 2 standard in late 2010 (see http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_3166-1_newsletter_vi-8_split_of_the_dutch_antilles_final-en.pdf). This gives rise to a potential disparity in the implementation of Specification 5, Section 2 where future countries and territories would be treated differently than those countries and territories on today's ISO 3166-1 alpha 2 list.

However, two character ASCII labels at the second level have been made available for some gTLDs and many ccTLDs. Shorter domains are more desirable to potential registrants and two character ASCII labels can be used for alternative meanings than the one for the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 standard. For these reasons, absent any DNS-related security or stability issues, the ALAC believes that all the restrictions of two character ASCII labels at the 2nd level within a TLD should ultimately be removed, and has no problem with the current exceptions being approved.

 


 

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