Introduction
Steve Chan, Senior Policy Manager, ICANN, kicked off the session with a brief introduction on the background leading to the rollout of the new gTLD program, the publication of the Applicant Guidebook, and the launch of the New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Policy Development Process (PDP) Working Group.
Current Status
Avri Doria, PDP Working Group (WG) co-chair, shared her updates on the WG discussions and engaged the APAC community with her candid views on different topics. She provided a detailed update on the work to date regarding PDP WG, and ran through the 6 overarching issues and the questions that arose from it. They are:
- Additional new gTLDs in the future.
- Categorization or differentiation of gTLDs (for example brand, geographical, or supported/community) in ongoing new gTLD mechanisms.
- Future new gTLDs assessed in “rounds.”
- Predictability should be maintained or enhanced without sacrificing flexibility. In the event changes must be introduced into the new gTLD Application process, the disruptive effect to all parties should be minimized.
- Community engagement in new gTLD application processes.
- Limiting applications in total and/or per entity during an application window.
Avri shared her insights into the comments that have come in thus far.
She also provided a useful overview of the key considerations and deliberations of the WG with regard to the different work tracks:
- Overall Process, Support and Outreach
- Legal, Regulatory and Contractual Obligations
- String Contention, Objections and Dispute Resolution
- IDNs, Technical & Operations
Avri assured the APAC community that efforts are made to encourage more WG discussions to take place in APAC timings. At the same time, she called for more participation from APAC and welcomed comments from the community on the PDP.
Community discussion and questions
The follow-on discussion, led by community lead for APAC Space - Edmon Chung, CEO, DotAsia, focused on the timeline of the process, how APAC can participate in the discussions, and effectively engage in community outreach for new gTLD.
Notable discussion/questions from the APAC community include:
- Edmon asked about the timeline for the completion whether this will be affected if more people from APAC participates in this discussion. Avri asked for any comments from APAC to come in quickly as the deadline has been extended several times. The community can join in the discussion even if there is no submission of comments. Steve shared that the WG is hoping to wrap up its deliberations on all of the subjects in mid 2017 and begin drafting the Initial Report at that point.
- A community member asked about the Board letter to the WG which asked if anything could be done to speed things up, Avri explained that there is a lot of coordination required, and that many of the reviews such as the Rights Protection Mechanism (RPM) and Competition, Consumer Trust and Consumer Choice (CCT) reviews are interlinked. She also noted that the WG was divided on the response and could not come to an agreement. She hoped that a firmer schedule could be built at ICANN57 meeting.
- Asha Hemrajani, ICANN Board member, asked for Avri’s view on the need for community engagement and outreach for new gTLD program, especially in APAC and underserved regions. Avri agreed that outreach from the policy perspective should be done and much of this outreach would come from the implementation of the program. However, how this is done remains open.
