I Mission and Purpose

1.The Registrar Constituency of the Domain Name Supporting Organization ("DNSO") is one of the initial constituencies of the DNSO, according to Article VI-b, Section 3 of the ICANN Bylaws.

2. The purpose of the Registrar Constituency is to represent the views and interests of professional domain name registrars within the DNSO in all matters and issues of its responsibility according to ICANN bylaws.

3. A registrar is an entity that acts as a (technical and operational) interface between domain name holders ("registrants") and a TLD registry, pursuant to a right to write records to the registry database providing registration services for the public as a business enterprise. Registrars directly submit to the registry zone file information and other data for each of their customers in a given TLD.

4. Registrars are different from registry or registrar resellers, which can provide some value-added registration services, as registrars directly interface with TLD databases operated by registry administrators.

5. The Registrar Constituency shall not act as a Registrar Trade Association nor represent collective registrar views or interests in any other forum than DNSO/ICANN. As registrars are the basic component for competition in the domain-name registration market, the Registrar Constituency shall refrain from facilitating, promoting or otherwise allowing collusion or other anti-competitive behavior among registrars.
 

II Membership

1. Initial Members of the Registrar Constituency

Eligible as Initial Members of the Registrar Constituency are the entities accredited as Registrars by ICANN, those entities intended to be accredited by ICANN, and Network Solutions.

Ninety (90) days following the conclusion of the testbed stage, Initial Members of the Registrar Constituency will be limited to entities accredited as Registrars by ICANN.

2. Additional Members of the Registrar Constituency

1. All entities accredited as Registrars by ICANN will be eligible to the Registrar Constituency as they get accredited.

 
2. Besides Registrars operating with gTLD registries (identified as those accredited by ICANN) the Registrar Constituency would also like to include for membership consideration those registrars operating with ccTLD Registries. As such we understand those organisations which are registered with IANA/ICANN as the designated manager of an ISO-3166 Top Level Domain Registry. Because of implementation problems, this will be a topic of early study for the Registrar Constituency.

 
3. The Secretariat of the Registrar Constituency shall require from ICANN a regularly updated list of the delegated TLD registry managers, and undertake consultations with each such registry in order to ascertain whether they operate through registrars, what are their respective criteria for accrediting registrars, and the list of each registry‘s accredited registrars.

The Registrar Constituency encourages and welcomes the participation of registry and registrar resellers, agents and other entities providing domain-name registration services but failing to qualify as a Registrar, as well as organizations representing these categories, within the Registrar Constituency as non-voting, observer-status members.
 
 

III Organisation and Structure

1. The Registrar Constituency shall consist of:

1. A Membership, as defined in the previous section

 
2. A Secretariat, with the functions described below.

 
3. Three Names Council Representatives. One of these representatives shall chair the Registrar Constituency meetings, which can be either collocated or electronically linked.

1. Reviewing applications for membership in the Registrar Constituency. In this function it will be helped by a Credentials Committee.

 
2. Carrying out the administrative functions associated with the operations of the Registrar Constituency, including the arrangement of meetings, preparation and publication of minutes.

 
3. Facilitating and, where appropriate, formulating membership consensus on policy issues for the purpose of advising the Registrar Constituency representatives on the Names Council

 
4. Assessing and collecting membership fees and preparing the annual budget and accounting, if necessary.

4. The Registrar Names Council Members

1. The three Names Council representatives will act as Registrar Constituency representatives and not as those of their respective entities or organisations. As far as it is practical, Names Council representatives shall consult all relevant matters and decisions with the Registrar Constituency.

 
2. The Registrar Names Council members shall normally serve for two years. They may seek re-election for a second consecutive mandate.

 
3. The initial three interim Registrar Names Council members shall serve until their successors can be promptly elected at the conclusion of the 90 day post testbed period. The Registrar Constituency shall develop prior to that date all relevant substantive and procedural rules in order to run regular elections. This include selecting a Secretariat, appointing a Membership Credentials committee; implementing criteria for ISO-3166 Registrar membership and formalizing policy-development mechanisms and rules.

 
4. Registrar Names Council members, including initial representatives, may serve for two consecutive terms before becoming ineligible for re-election for a third consecutive term. However, any member serving as an interim Names Council representative under the provision set forth above will not have that time of service accessed against these two year term.

 

1. Each Constituency member may propose one individual as a candidate for election to the DNSO Names Council. Nominations will be open for a one-week period.

 
2. All nominees from the same region (as defined in the ICANN Bylaws) as the person with the largest number of votes will be eliminated. From the resulting list, all nominees from the same region as the person with the second number of votes will be eliminated. The three people at the top of the remaining list will be elected as representatives of the Registrar Constituency to the Names Council.

 
3. If the list of nominees contains only members from two or one of the regions, the Secretariat will extend the nomination period for a further week. After that week, elections will take place, providing as many Names Council seats as regions are represented. The Secretariat will organize a new election restricted to nominees of those regions not yet represented. Pending that, the Constituency will only partially fulfill the Names Council seats reserved to it.

 

1. Registrar Constituency members shall have one vote per member, irrespective of the size or the number of domain names registered.

2. Registrar Constituency members will have the ability to vote via a proxy arrangement.

3. Observers shall have no voting rights.
 
 

V Funding

1. The Registrar Constituency members shall arrange any necessary finance for the constituency in a manner to be agreed by the Constituency.

2. The Registrar Constituency shall participate in the DNSO funding in the way decided by the Names Council
 
 

VI Registrar Constituency Processes.

1. The Registrar Constituency shall adhere to the open and transparent process requirements as stated by ICANN. It shall also comply with ICANN-established conflict-of-interest, dispute resolution and review policies,

2. Registrar Constituency meetings will normally be held when possible by electronic means. Once a year a physical meeting shall be arranged, in conjunction with DNSO and/or ICANN-related meetings.