Statement of ICANN's Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC) on
the GNSO New GTLD Committee Final Report
| Recommendation # |
Text of Recommendation |
Level of NCUC Support | NCUC Comments |
| 1 |
ICANN must implement a process that allows the
introduction of new top-level domains. The evaluation and selection
procedure for new gTLD registries should respect the principles of
fairness, transparency, and non-discrimination. All applicants for a
new gTLD registry should therefore be evaluated against transparent and
predictable criteria, fully available to the applicants prior to the
initiation of the process. Normally, therefore, no subsequent
additional selection criteria should be used in the selection process. |
Support |
NCUC supports the broad introduction of new
generic top-level domains in an expeditious manner. |
| 2 |
Strings must not be confusingly similar to an
existing top-level domain. |
Support |
|
| 3 |
Strings must not infringe the existing legal
rights of others that are recognized or enforceable under generally
accepted and internationally recognized principles of law.
Examples of these legal rights that are internationally recognized
include, but are not limited to, rights defined in the Paris Convention
for the Protection of Industrial Property (in particular trademark
rights), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (in particular
freedom of
expression rights). |
Support |
But "strings" cannot infringe freedom of
expression
rights, as the text implies, so NCUC notes that the reference to
freedom of expression rights is intended to recognize protection for an
applicant's freedom of expression rights and to balance the recognition
of trademark rights. |
| 4 |
Strings must not cause any technical instability. |
Support |
|
| 5 |
Strings must not be a Reserved word. |
Support | |
| 6 |
Strings must not be contrary to generally
accepted legal norms relating to morality and public order that are
enforceable under generally accepted and internationally recognized
principles of law. Examples of such principles of law include, but are not limited to, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, intellectual property treaties administered by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). |
Oppose |
NCUC opposes "morality and public order" as evaluation criteria. See NCUC's Dissenting Statement on Rec. #6. |
| 7 |
Applicants must be able to demonstrate
their technical capability to run a registry operation for the
purpose that the applicant sets out. |
Support | |
| 8 |
Applicants must be able to demonstrate their
financial and organisational operational capabilities. |
Support | |
| 9 |
There must be a clear and pre-published
application process using objective and measurable criteria. |
Support | |
| 10 |
There must be a base contract provided to
applicants at the beginning of the application process. |
Support | |
| 11 |
<<
intentionally blank >> |
||
| 12 |
Dispute resolution and challenge processes must
be established prior to the start of the application process. |
Support | |
| 13 |
Applications must initially be assessed in
rounds until the scale of demand is clear. |
Support | |
| 14 |
The initial registry agreement term must be of a
commercially reasonable length. |
Support | |
| 15 |
There must be renewal expectancy. |
Support | |
| 16 |
Registries must apply existing Consensus
Policies and adopt new Consensus Policies as they are approved. |
Support | |
| 17 |
A clear compliance and sanctions process must be
set out in the base contract which could lead to contract termination. |
Support | |
| 18 |
If an applicant offers an IDN service, then
ICANN’s IDN guidelines must be followed. |
Support | |
| 19 |
Registries must use only ICANN accredited
registrars in registering domain names and may not discriminate among
such accredited registrars. |
Support | |
| 20 |
An application will be rejected if an expert
panel determines that there is substantial opposition to it from a
significant portion of the community to which the string may be
explicitly or implicitly targeted. |
Oppose |
NCUC
opposes Rec. #20 because it is overly broad in its rejection of domain
names, violates due process and freedom of expression rights,
privileges "established institutions" against innovators, and creates
unprecedented rights over the use of language. See NCUC's Dissenting Statement on Recommendation #20 and Implementation Guidelines F, H, and P. |
IMPLEMENTATION GUIDELINES
| Text of Implementation Guideline |
Level of NCUC Support |
Comments: |
|
| IG-A |
The application process will provide a
pre-defined roadmap for applicants that encourages the submission of
applications for new top-level domains. |
Support | |
| IG B |
Application fees will be designed to ensure that
adequate resources exist to cover the total cost to administer the new
gTLD process. Application fees may differ for applicants. |
Support | |
| IG C |
ICANN will provide frequent communications with
applicants and the public including comment forums panels. |
Support | |
| IG D |
A first come first served processing schedule
within the application round will be implemented and will continue for
an ongoing process, if necessary. Applications will be time and
date stamped on receipt. |
Support | |
| IG E |
The application submission date will be at least
four months after the issue of the Request for Proposal and ICANN will
promote the opening of the application round. |
Support | |
| IG F |
If there is contention for strings, applicants
may: i) resolve contention between them within a pre-established timeframe; ii) if there is no mutual agreement, a claim to support a community by one party will be a reason to award priority to that application. If there is no such claim, and no mutual agreement a process will be put in place to enable efficient resolution of contention and; iii) the ICANN Board may be used to make a final decision, using advice from staff and expert panels. |
Oppose |
See NCUC's Dissenting Statement on Recommendation #20 and Implementation Guidelines F, H, and P. |
| IG G |
Where an applicant lays any claim that the TLD
is intended to support a particular community such as a sponsored TLD,
or any other TLD intended for a specified community, that claim will be
taken on trust with the following exception: i) the claim relates to a string that is also subject to another application and the claim to support a community is being used to gain priority for the application Under this exception, Staff Evaluators will devise criteria and procedures to investigate the claim. |
Support | |
| IG H |
External dispute providers will give decisions
on complaints. |
Oppose |
See NCUC's Dissenting Statement on Recommendation #20 and Implementation Guidelines F, H, and P. |
| IG I |
An applicant granted a TLD string must use it
within a fixed timeframe which will be specified in the application
process. |
Support | |
| IG J |
The base contract should balance market
certainty and flexibility for ICANN to accommodate a rapidly changing
market place. |
Support | |
| IG K |
ICANN should take a consistent approach to the
establishment of registry fees. |
Support | |
| IG L |
The use of personal data must be limited to the
purpose for which it is collected. |
Support | |
| IG M |
ICANN may establish a capacity building and
support mechanism aiming at facilitating effective communication on
important and technical Internet governance functions in a way that no
longer requires all participants in the conversation to be able to read and write English. |
Support | |
| IG N |
ICANN may put in place a fee reduction scheme
for gTLD applicants from economies classified by the UN as least
developed. |
Support | |
| IG O |
ICANN may put in place systems that could
provide information about the gTLD process in major languages other
than English, for example, in the six working languages of the United
Nations. |
Support | |
| IG P |
The following process, definitions, and
guidelines refer to Recommendation 20. Process Opposition must be objection based. Determination will be made by a dispute resolution panel constituted for the purpose. The objector must provide verifiable evidence that it is an established institution of the community (perhaps like the RSTEP pool of panelists from which a small panel would be constituted for each objection). Guidelines The task of the panel is the determination of substantial opposition. a) substantial In determining substantial the panel will assess the following: significant portion, community, explicitly targeting, implicitly targeting, established institution, formal existence, detriment. b) significant portion: In determining significant portion the panel will assess the balance between the level of objection submitted by one or more established institutions and the level of support provided in the application from one or more established institutions. The panel will assess significance proportionate to the explicit or implicit targeting. c) community Community should be interpreted broadly and will include for example an economic sector, a cultural community, or a linguistic community. It may also be a closely related community which believes it is impacted. d) explicitly targeting Explicitly targeting means there is a description of the intended use of the TLD in the application. e) implicitly targeting Implicitly targeting means that the objector makes an assumption of targeting or that the objector believes there may be confusion by users over its intended use. f) established institution An institution that has been in formal existence for at least 5 years. In exceptional cases, standing may be granted to an institution that has been in existence for fewer then 5 years. Exceptional circumstance include but are not limited to reorganisation, merger, or an inherently younger community. The following ICANN organizations are defined as established institutions: GAC, ALAC, GNSO, ccNSO, ASO. g) formal existence Formal existence may be demonstrated by: appropriate public registration, public historical evidence, validation by a government, intergovernmental organization, international treaty organisation or similar. h) detriment Evidence of detriment to the community or to users more widely must be provided.] |
Oppose |
See NCUC's Dissenting Statement on Recommendation #20 and Implementation Guidelines F, H, and P. |
| IG Q |
ICANN staff will provide an automatic reply to
all those who submit public comments that will explain the objection
procedure. |
Support |