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New sTLD RFP Application

.asia

Part B. Application Form

Name and Address fields

Company/Organization Information

Company Name DotAsia Organisation Limited
Company Address 1 Unit A, 20/F, 128 Wellington Street
Company Address 2 Central
Company City Hong Kong
Company State/Province Hong Kong SAR
Company Postal Code n/a
Company Website Address http://www.dotAsia.org
Company Country China

Sponsoring Organization Information

Sponsoring Organization Name DotAsia Organisation Limited
Sponsoring Organization Address 1 Unit A, 20/F, 128 Wellington Street
Sponsoring Organization Address 2 Central
Sponsoring Organization City Hong Kong
Sponsoring State/Province Hong Kong SAR
Sponsoring Organization Postal Code n/a
Sponsoring Organization Country China
Sponsoring Organization Website Address http://www.dotAsia.org

 

Namestrings and Conventions

First sTLD choice: .Asia
Naming Conventions:
The DotAsia sTLD registry will accept registrations in the second level (e.g.
domain-name.asia).  The sponsored community will be able to register names in
accordance with standard DNS conventions.  The sTLD will conform to the
accepted LDH naming formats. Some names will be reserved in consultation with
sponsoring ccTLDs and relevant parties.

The DotAsia registry intends to coordinate with the appropriate technical
standards bodies, ccTLDs and ICANN to help establish a proof-of-concept
multilingual TLD registry for ".Asia".  This will be done in a deliberate and
phased manner to ensure the continued stability of the DNS system, with
continued adherence to applicable technical standards.

Second sTLD choice: .Asia
Naming Conventions:
The DotAsia sTLD registry will accept registrations in the second level (e.g.
domain-name.asia).  The sponsored community will be able to register names in
accordance with standard DNS conventions.  The sTLD will conform to the
accepted LDH naming formats. Some names will be reserved in consultation with
sponsoring ccTLDs and relevant parties.

The DotAsia registry intends to coordinate with the appropriate technical
standards bodies, ccTLDs and ICANN to help establish a proof-of-concept
multilingual TLD registry for ".Asia".  This will be done in a deliberate and
phased manner to ensure the continued stability of the DNS system, with
continued adherence to applicable technical standards.

Third sTLD choice: .Asia
Naming Conventions:
The DotAsia sTLD registry will accept registrations in the second level (e.g.
domain-name.asia). The sponsored community will be able to register names in
accordance with standard DNS conventions.  The sTLD will conform to the
accepted LDH naming formats. Some names will be reserved in consultation with
sponsoring ccTLDs and relevant parties.

The DotAsia registry intends to coordinate with the appropriate technical
standards bodies, ccTLDs and ICANN to help establish a proof-of-concept
multilingual TLD registry for ".Asia".  This will be done in a deliberate and
phased manner to ensure the continued stability of the DNS system, with
continued adherence to applicable technical standards.

Sponsoring Organization Structure 
The governance structure of the DotAsia Organisation will be constituted based
on two types of membership organisations:

1. Sponsor Members
Sponsor Members shall be organisations in the Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific region,
as defined by ICANN’s Asia / Australia / Pacific Region (based on the ICANN
Region definitions) that manage and operate any of the country code Top Level
Domain (ccTLD) registries in the region.

2. Co-Sponsor Members
Co-Sponsor Members shall be Internet, Information Technology,
Telecommunications, non-profit, NGO or other relevant community organisations
in the Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific region. 

The governance of the DotAsia Organisation will be the responsibility of the
Board of Directors, which will be advised by an Advisory Council.  There will
be eleven (11) persons in the proposed Board of Directors, which will be
elected based on the following structure:

- 8 seats nominated and elected by Sponsor Members
- 2 seats nominated and elected by Co-Sponsor Members
- 1 seat for the CEO of the DotAsia registry

To ensure that the Board of Directors is relevant and representative of the
multicultural Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific region, geographical diversity will be
an important criterion for the selection of the Directors.  This geographical
diversity requirement will be enforced once there are enough Sponsor Members
present in the organisation from each of the 4 areas within the Pan-Asia and
Asia Pacific region: North & Northeast Asia; South & Southeast Asia; Middle
East, Asia Minor & Eurasia; and, Australasia & Pacific.  When this occurs, at
least one individual from each region will be represented on the Board. 
Geographical representation will be based on demonstrable heritage or
inhabitant or citizenship of each Board candidate.  A Geographical Diversity
Consideration Liaison to the Board of Directors may be established to conduct
outreach that can help ensure this requirement is met.

Each member of the Board of Directors will be expected to act on behalf of the
organization as a whole and not as a representative of the organisation from
which s/he was nominated.

An Advisory Council will be created to advise the Board on all policy matters.
The Advisory Council’s membership will be based on the following criteria:
- 1 Representative from each Co-Sponsor Member
- Members nominated by the Board of Directors should the Advisory Council
membership be less than the minimum required; such nominee(s) shall also not be
a member of the Board of Directors and not be in conflict with the interests of
the nominating Board member(s).

In addition to the Board of Directors, a Proceeds Steering Committee (PROSCOM)
will be created by the Board to oversee the allocation of surplus proceeds from
registry operations.  The PROSCOM will solicit, evaluate and recommend (within
the committee or through a third party evaluator) grants to relevant social
and/or technical initiatives and activities from the surplus proceeds.  The
Board will ultimately authorise the grants and decide the qualifications for
and number of members of the PROSCOM.

In summary, the key activities of the DotAsia Organisation will be governed by
three key groups:
- Board of Directors: made up of elected representatives from Sponsor (8) and
Co-Sponsor (2) members and the CEO;
- Advisory Council: made up of representatives of Co-Sponsor members; and
- Proceeds Steering Committee: created by the Board.

A Registrant Constituency made up of individuals and/or registrants may be
introduced by the Board when the number of registered domains and unique
registrants becomes significant.  This group, should it be formed, will be
consulted in the future on policy issues.  Liaisons to the Board of Directors
may also be established.

The DotAsia Organisation will be a membership-based not-for-profit corporation
registered in Hong Kong.  The corporation has been registered as a Limited
Company in Hong Kong.  Should it be awarded the “.Asia” TLD by ICANN, the
DotAsia Organisation will take the necessary steps to receive tax exemption
provisions status as a not-for-profit organisation.  

A number of letters-of-intent (LOI) have already been established between the
organisation and prospective Sponsor (ccTLD) Members and Co-Sponsor Members.
These include: CNNIC (.CN), JPRS (.JP), MONIC (.MO), IUSN (.NU), TWNIC (.TW),
VNNIC (.VN), ccTLD-ID (.ID), APNIC (Asia Pacific Network Information Centre,
the RIR for the Asia Pacific region) and APNG (Asia Pacific Networking Group).

Positive initial responses have also been obtained from the ccTLD managers of a
number of other prospective Sponsor Members. The organisational policies,
structure and governance proposed provides a balanced and relevant framework
that will serve the intended community well.  Many ccTLDs are also currently
formally evaluating the opportunity of becoming members to support and
contribute to the DotAsia initiative but have not officially signed LOI’s due
to time constraints.  Such support will be indicated on the DotAsia Web site,
as well as through indications of support on ICANN’s public comment forum.

A binding Memorandum-of-Understanding (MoU) has also been executed with Afilias
Limited, to be the technology provider of back-end registry services for the
DotAsia Registry. This MoU will become a formal agreement, upon the DotAsia
Organisation’s proposal being accepted by ICANN.

The direct and close involvement of many regional ccTLDs ensures a wealth of
knowledge and expertise in the operational and policy management of a TLD
registry in the Asia and Asia Pacific region.  Furthermore, representation in
governance from successful Asia Pacific Internet and Information Technology
groups, provides broad representation and relevance from the Pan-Asia and Asia
Pacific community.  Together they create a well-balanced governance structure
that forms a solid foundation for a successful TLD registry for Asia.

The mission of the DotAsia Organisation is:

- To sponsor, establish and operate a regional Internet namespace with global
recognition and regional significance, dedicated to the needs of the Pan-Asia
and Asia Pacific Internet community.

- To reinvest surpluses in socio-technological advancement initiatives relevant
to the Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific Internet community; and

- To operate a viable not-for-profit initiative that is a technically advanced,
world-class TLD registry for the Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific community.

As part of the mission, an important philosophy of the DotAsia Organisation is
to be able to reinvest back into the social and technological advancement
initiatives within the community.  Based on the revenue allocation structure of
the DotAsia registry, a guaranteed portion of revenues will be directly
re-invested into the community through participating ccTLDs (as Sponsor
Members) from the very beginning. This ensures that the DotAsia Organisation
will immediately contribute to its sponsored community from its operations.

In summary, the framework for the DotAsia organisation is well balanced from
both a governance and community viewpoint.  The structure ensures that the
registry will be operated in the best interest of the stakeholders of the
Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific community.  The success of the DotAsia registry will
not only further exemplify the collaborative community-based, bottom-up
approach that has made the Asia Pacific Internet groups (such as APNIC) so
successful, but will also serve to extend this cooperative nature beyond the
Internet communities to the economies of the thriving Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific
region.

Furthermore, the DotAsia Organisation intends to leverage the IDN expertise
accumulated in the Asia Pacific region by the many test-bed and production IDN
registration environments at different ccTLDs into the operation of a fully
multilingualised TLD registry with IDN TLDs. (as explained in the above
section: Namestrings and Conventions).  Upon implementation, this will further
provide tremendous value to the community served and the Internet at large.

Appropriateness of Sponsored TLD Community 
The DotAsia registry will serve the Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific community.

The vision of the DotAsia Organisation is to create a globally visible domain
that embodies the successful, cooperative atmosphere established within the
Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific Internet community to accelerate the overall growth
of the region.

With over 60% of the world’s population (and over 90 languages), Asia is a
region that is experiencing tremendous economic, cultural and technical growth.
 Asia has begun to emerge from its financial and economic problems of the
1990s; at this critical juncture of rejuvenation, a special, dedicated domain
can help players in the region to realize their global citizenship as well as
the potential for regionally targeted efforts.

The DotAsia Organisation aspires to bring together the Pan-Asia and Asia
Pacific region.  A regionally dedicated domain can help cement a common
regional identity that will be reinforced by the reinvestment of registry
proceeds into further development for the region.  While a single domain
registry cannot solve all of the macro issues in the region, this initiative
nevertheless seeks to contribute to the realization that regional collaboration
will lead to stronger global competitiveness among Asia and Asia Pacific
corporations, economies and people.

The Internet is playing an increasingly important role in the resurgent
economies in the Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific region.  As corporations and
entities look beyond their local markets, an online identity is key, and a
regional domain is a logical next growth step.  Similarly, when multinationals
establish presence in the region, they need a regional identity instead of
simply a local one.  For example, if a company establishes an Asia headquarters
in Shanghai, a “.CN” address may be best for communicating with prospective
clients in China.  However, when this company visits Japan, a “.Asia” address
reinforces the broader scope of their market.  A regional address may also help
local companies to overcome biases when they expand outside their home market. 


As in most areas, the SME segment (small/medium enterprises) comprises the
largest and fastest growing segment of the market.  We believe this is
precisely the segment that will benefit most from the market-expanding
potential of a regional “.Asia” domain.  

As Prof. Kilnam Chon, a renowned Internet pioneer in Asia, points out, just as
there is a place for international magazines, regional magazines and local
magazines, there needs to be a place for international TLDs, regional TLDs and
local TLDs.  Regional TLDs make more sense than many commercial or sponsored
TLD proposals, which offer little advantage over a domain in COM or ORG or NET,
other than for registries and in the minds of applicants.  From the point of
view of DNS operations, a regional TLD provides specific services for a
specialized community that has unique needs not otherwise served by a generic
or a country code TLD.

The Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific Internet community is a coherent, mature and
thriving Internet community.  This is clearly illustrated by the successful
Asia Pacific Internet groups such as the APNIC, the APNG and the well-attended
annual APRICOT meetings. Clearly, Pan-Asian and Asia Pacific communities have
learned how to sustain viable representative organizations – and their
experience will be leveraged in the DotAsia registry.

The community is experienced in community-based governance and understands its
viability.  The DotAsia Organisation has received many positive remarks from
leaders of the community, commending it on the well-balanced framework that
ensures that the DotAsia Organisation is built for success.  The following
organisations have already expressed formal support for the introduction of the
DotAsia TLD:

MONIC - Macau Network Information Center (.MO)
CNNIC - China Internet Network Information Center (.CN)
TWNIC - Taiwan Network Information Center (.TW)
IUSN - Internet Users Society - Niue (.NU)
VNNIC- Vietnam Internet Network Information Center (.VN)
JPRS - Japan Registry Service Co., Ltd. (.JP)
ccTLD-ID - Country Code Top Level Domain Indonesia (.ID)
APNIC - Asia Pacific Network Information Centre
APNG - Asia Pacific Networking Group
Hong Kong Information Technology Industry Council (HKITIC)
Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC)
Web Commerce Communications Limited (ICANN-Accredited Registrar from Malaysia)
IP Mirror Private Limited (SGNIC-Accredited Registrar from Singapore)
Hong Kong Internet Service Providers Association (HKISPA)
Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited (CYBERPORT)
Hong Kong Information Technology Federation (HKITF)
Information and Software Industry Association, Hong Kong (ISIA)
Hong Kong Telecommunications Users Group (HKTUG)
Hon SIN Chung-Kai, Legislative Councillor, HKSAR
Invest Hong Kong, HKSAR Government (InvestHK)

Representation 
The governance of the DotAsia Organisation will be driven by ccTLDs, who have
the most domain management experience, and will represent the interests of the
local communities.  The governance structure will be augmented by Asia and Asia
Pacific Internet and Information Technology groups, non-profit organizations,
and NGOs that bring input from a broader perspective across the region.  The
balance created by this basic structure of the DotAsia Organisation should
serve to ensure open channels for input from the community.

The DotAsia Organisation may also explore the establishment of a Registrant
Constituency, made up of registrants: individuals and corporations, of the
“.Asia” domain.  The Registrant Constituency will further allow even broader
participation from the community.

A more comprehensive outline of a proposed policy making process that
incorporates different community input is explained in other sections,
including: Proposed Extent of Policy-Making Authority; and, Policy-Making
Process.

Openness and Tansparency 
The DotAsia Organisation intends to operate in an open and transparent manner.
The DotAsia Organisation will maintain a public Web site to post policies and
news of relevance to the community.

All Board meeting minutes will be publicly posted online.  Formal Board
meetings will also be open for observation by the public. The DotAsia
Organisation intends to hold its Board meetings in conjunction with the ICANN
and APRICOT meetings for the convenience of participants and to further
encourage the participation of interested observers.

An open Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held during the annual APRICOT
meetings, which are attended by many leaders and active participants from the
Internet community in the Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific region. This meeting will
include an open comment session.  Minutes of the AGM will also be made publicly
available.  Critical issues that affect the community (e.g. decision on surplus
allocation) may also be open for public commenting.

Notice for policy changes will be made to parties affected and to the public
where appropriate.  Adequate commenting and consultation periods to obtain
input from different constituencies, membership groups or from the public at
large will be provisioned.

Initial Directors, Officers, and Other Staff 
I. Initial Board of Directors 

As sponsoring organisations come forward to express their interest and
participation in the DotAsia registry, we expect that the Initial Board will be
completed prior to the awarding of a contract by ICANN to the DotAsia
Organisation. The Initial / Launching Board of Directors (in no particular
order) for the DotAsia Organisation will include the following distinguished
individuals:

Hirofumi HOTTA (Director, JPRS)

Hiro was one of the founding members of Japan Registry Service, which is the
.JP ccTLD registry. He is an experienced technologist. As a senior manager at
NTT, he was responsible for developing application services in NTT's ISP
services unit. He was Chairman of the Asia & Pacific Internet Association and
was appointed by the ICANN ISP Constituency to be member of the DNSO Names
Council for 2 years. He was a member of the ICANN IDN registry implementation
committee and is one of the promoters of ENUM Trial Japan. He is also a member
of ccNSO Launching Group of ICANN.

YU Yang (Commissioner, International Affairs, CNNIC)

Yang Yu has been a research member in CNNIC's International Domain Name Policy
Studies Program and has served as assistant to Prof. Hualin Qian (director of
ICANN board) since 2000. He joined Asia Pacific Top Level Domains in 2000, and
has been a voting member since 2003. He also served as one of the key
coordinators of ICANN’s Shanghai meeting. Some of his publications include
"IETF-The Cradle of Internet Standards", China Information World No. 61; "The
Global Internet Community", China Internet Development Report 2002; and "ICANN
and China", China Computer World.

Dr. TSENG Shian-Shyong (Chairman, TWNIC)

Dr. Tseng is on the faculty of the Department of Computer and Information
Science at National Chiao Tung University where he is currently a Professor.
Previously he was the Director of the Computer Center National Chiao Tung
University; Chairman of Department of Computer and Information Science; the
Director of the Computer Center at the Ministry of Education; and the Chairman
of Taiwan Academic Network management committee. Later, he founded Taiwan
Network Information Center, where he is now Chairman of the Board of Directors.
He is also President of SIP/ENUM Forum Taiwan and the Chair of the organizing
committee of Taiwan Internet Content Rating Foundation. 

Richard ST. CLAIR (Co-founder and Technical Manager, IUSN)

Richard St. Clair is chairman of the Pacific Region Chapter of the Internet
Society and serves on the board for the Asia Pacific Top Level Domain Forum. He
is the technical manager and co-founder of the Internet User’s Society Niue and
the holder of CET MCSE and CCIE certifications. He has a background in RF
communications. Originally from San Jose, California, he retired in 1992 and
ventured into communications development in emerging nations. As a United
States Peace Corps volunteer, he served in Niue.

Dr. THAM Yiu Kwok (Administrative Contact, MONIC)

Dr. Tham worked in areas of telecommunication with Telesat Canada, GTE Spacenet
and Telstra Research Laboratories, and held academic and research appointments
with the National University of Singapore. He was Visiting Professor at the
Department of Telecommunications and Mathematics, University of
Karlskrona/Ronneby, Sweden, before returning to the Far East. He was Lingnan
Foundation Visiting Teaching Scholar at the Department of Information Systems,
Lingnan University, Hong Kong, before taking up his present post as Head of
Computer Service Bureau at the University of Macau, Macao.

Indra K. HARTONO (Managing Partner, ccTLD-ID)

Before joining ccTLD-ID, Indra was an ISP Senior Executive and System
Information Specialist in Jakarta. Later, he was appointed by the Indonesia ISP
Association as a Program Manager and conducted initial progress on the
Indonesia Internet Exchange and Indonesia Network Information Centre White
Paper. Indra developed IDNIC Digital Domain Registration Form utility software
as well as a few other Internet related utilities. He conducted a Quantitative
Analysis Research on the CO.ID domain. Currently, he maintains and manages the
second level domain, CO.ID. 

Tommy MATSUMOTO (Chairman, APNG)

Tommy is currently the APNG Chair, Vice President at JPNIC, and an ICANN At
Large Advisory Committee Member. He was a founder of AT&T Spin Internet
Service, the first Commercial ISP in Japan, a CIX Board member, founder of 
JPIX and its first Board member, a JPNIC Board member since 1995, and Vice
President of INET 2000 in Yokohama.

II. Initial Advisory Council

The Initial Advisory Council of the DotAsia Organisation will consist of the
following distinguished individuals:

Izumi AIZU (Member Asia / Australia / Pacific, Interim ALAC)

Izumi co-founded the Institute for Networking Design in Tokyo and has served as
secretary general of Networking Forum. He later joined the Center for Global
Communications at the International University of Japan. He co-founded the
Institute for Hyper Network Society as well as Asia Network Research.
Previously he worked as Secretary General of Asia & Pacific Internet
Association. He is a member of the ICANN ALAC, the International Advisory Panel
of Asia Pacific Development Information Program at the United Nations
Development Program, and was an advisory member of Internet Policy Program at
the Aspen Institute.

Dr. XUE Hong (Member Asia / Australia / Pacific, Interim ALAC)

Dr. Xue has been a panelist for the UDRP and other dispute resolution
procedures at the following places: World Intellectual Property Organization;
Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Center; and the Domain Name Dispute
Settlement Center, China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Center.
She is currently a Research Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of
Hong Kong and an Associate Professor, Foreign Affairs College. Previously she
held positions as Visiting Professor, Beijing University, Beijing; Visiting
Lecturer, Murdoch University, Perth; and Attorney, Liu, Shen & Associates,
Beijing. 

Paul WILSON (Director General, APNIC)

Paul Wilson is Director-General of APNIC, the Regional Internet Registry for
the Asia Pacific region. Paul was a founding staff member at Pegasus Networks
and eventually became CEO. There he worked on a range of Internet development
activities, as a consultant to the International Research Development Centre,
United Nations and international agencies. He worked regularly with the IDRC on
its Pan-Asia Networking programme, supporting Internet connectivity or
applications projects in numerous countries. He is currently the Chair of the
Number Resource Organisation, the coalition of all RIRs.

Dr. Vincent CHEN (Advisory Board, APNG)

Vincent is a Board Member of TWNIC and APTLD as well as Associate Professor,
Department of Information Management, National Kaohsiung First University of
Science and Technology, and member of the TWNIC International Affairs
Committee. Vincent has served in various positions at the Computer Center and
Ministry of Education as well as NKFUST.  He has also served as Adjunct
Associate Professor for the Graduate Institute of Information Communications,
Shih Hsin University, and the main advocate of Taiwan BITnet and TANet. 

Khaled FATTAL (Acting Executive Director, AINC)

Mr. Fattal is the CEO of International Business Enterprises LTD. He previously
served as 
President, Waqalat Arbitration Centre, India and Chairman & CEO of the
Multilingual Internet Names Consortium. Khaled is also the Chairman MINC Arabic
Language and Script Working Group. and the Acting Executive Director, Arabic
Internet Names Consortium. 

York MOK (Chairman, Hong Kong ISP Association)

As Deputy Managing Director of HKNet, Mr. Mok is responsible for the overall
operation of the company. He leads the team in spearheading the launch of data
center, broadband services and web solutions and maintaining the company as a
leading Internet Service Provider in Asia. Mr. Mok has over 20 years experience
in the telecom and IT industry, specialized in sales & marketing, business
development as well as corporate and strategic planning. Prior to joining
HKNet, Mr. Mok held various senior executive positions at Cable & Wireless
Group companies. Currently, he is chairman of Hong Kong Internet Service
Providers Association and a Director of Hong Kong Internet Registration
Corporation (.hk ccTLD Manager).

Dr. Kenny HUANG (Advisor, CDNC)

Kenny is a pioneer of Internet Development in Taiwan. He has served on the:
ICANN Address Council as Asia Pacific Representative; ICANN IDN Registry
Implementation Committee; Co-chair, Address Policy SIG, Asia Pacific Network
Information Centre; Advisor, Chinese Domain Name Consortium; Co-Chair, Joint
Engineering Team, formed by JPNIC, KRNIC, CNNIC, TWNIC, and Searchable Internet
Resource Name IRTF.

Charles MOK (President, Hong Kong Information Technology Federation)

Mr. Mok is President of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, and a
past chairman of the Hong Kong Internet Service Providers Association. He is
also a member of the Consumer Council, Information Infrastructure Advisory
Committee, and Trade and Industry Advisory Board, and a former part-time member
of the Central Policy Unit. He is a director of Hong Kong Internet Registration
Corporation (.hk ccTLD Manager) and the CEO of Halo Systems Limited.
Previously, Mr. Mok was a co-founder of HKNet which was acquired by NTT
Communications. He also worked for SunSoft Inc. and Digital Equipment
Corporation in the U.S.

For more information on the interim management, please refer to: Part C,
Business Plan – Current Operations, Section III; and Business Plan – Registry
Requirements, Section V.

Selection of Directors, Officers, Members, Staff 
The Initial Board will be nominated by the founding members of the DotAsia
Organisation.  It is proposed to serve for a period of no longer than 18
months, starting from the execution of a contract between ICANN and the DotAsia
Organisation.  The following is a proposed process for the selection of Board
of Directors, Advisory Council members and officers:

Upon the first election, the proposed structure of the Board of Directors is as
follows:

- 8 Sponsor Member Seats - nominated and elected by participating Sponsor
Members
- 2 Co-Sponsor Member Seats - nominated and elected by Co-Sponsor Members
- 1 seat for the CEO

For the first election it is proposed that out of the eight Sponsor Member
Seats, the four candidates receiving most votes shall serve for two-year terms
and the remaining four shall serve one-year terms.  Out of the two Co-Sponsor
Member Seats, the candidate receiving more votes shall serve for a two-year
term and the other shall serve a one-year term. In any case of ties, a separate
tie-breaker vote will be conducted.

Successive Board members shall each serve a two-year term of office, but shall
be eligible for re-election.  The members of the Initial Board and the First
Elected Board are also eligible for re-election when they relinquish office
respectively.

Each Sponsor Member may nominate one individual who shall then be eligible to
stand for election to the Board of Directors in the Sponsor Member Seats open
for election.  Each Co-Sponsor Member may nominate one individual who shall be
eligible to stand for election to the Board of Directors in the Co-Sponsor
Member Seats open for election.

Board members shall serve on the Board of Directors in their personal capacity
and shall act in the best interests of the DotAsia Organisation and not the
Member organisation to which that individual belongs.  Except for the CEO seat,
which must be relinquished upon the termination of office of the CEO, Board
members shall continue to serve on the Board of Directors until their term
expires or if a special resolution to remove the Board member is passed.

In the event of a resignation or a special resolution to remove a Board member,
a re-election for the vacant seat shall be conducted within 90 days of the
effective vacancy.

Every Sponsor Member shall be entitled to cast one vote for each Sponsor Member
Seat open for election.  In the event where there is more than one seat open,
each Sponsor Member may not cast more than one vote for one candidate.  Every
Co-Sponsor Member shall be entitled to cast one unique vote for each Co-Sponsor
Member Seat open for election.  In the event where there is more than one seat
open, each Co-Sponsor Member may not cast more than one vote for one candidate.
 In case of ties, a separate tie-breaker vote will be conducted.

Except where stated otherwise in the notice of meeting, voting on issues to be
determined at meetings may be cast by electronic mail ("e-mail") or other
verifiable electronic means.

Decisions of the Board of Directors shall be made by a majority vote of the
members of the Board of Directors or their proxy present (in person or through
an accepted electronic medium such as the telephone) at a meeting and forming a
quorum, except those decisions to remove the CEO, removal of Board members or
the review or amendment of any decision of the Board of Directors, which shall
require a major-majority vote of all members of the Board of Directors forming
a quorum.

Each Board member shall be responsible to disclose to the DotAsia Organisation
any relationship or other factor that could reasonably be considered to cause
the Director to be considered to be in a conflict-of-interest, and recuse
him/herself from a Board decision to that matter.  In the event where a quorum
of the Board of Directors cannot be formed due to conflict-of-interest recusals
from multiple parties, all conflict-of-interest declarations will be noted but
excused, and the Board members will be able to cast their vote as in normal
circumstances.

The Advisory Council will be an assembly of representatives nominated by the
Co-Sponsor Members.  Each Co-Sponsor Member shall appoint one individual to the
Advisory council.  Advisory Council members shall serve on the Advisory Council
in their personal capacity and shall act in the best interests of the DotAsia
Organisation and not the Member organisation to which that individual belongs. 
Advisory Council members may be nominated by the Board of Directors should the
Advisory Council membership be less than the minimum required; such nominee(s)
shall also not be a member of the Board of Directors and not be in Conflict of
Interest with the interests of the nominating Board member(s).

Board and Advisory Council members will serve as volunteers. Board Members will
not be remunerated for their participation in the DotAsia Organisation’s Board.
 The DotAsia Organisation does not expect to reimburse Board members for travel
and related expenses for attending Board meetings.

The CEO will be selected and appointed by the Board of Directors with
consultation from the Advisory Council.  All other operation staff will be
hired and managed by the CEO and the rest of the management team. Auditors will
be appointed by the Board.

Meetings and Communication 
The DotAsia Organisation intends to conduct its Board of Director, Advisory
Council and Annual General Member meetings in conjunction with regional or
relevant international meetings to allow for easier access and participation
from members and the community at large.

I. Board of Directors Meetings

Three regular open meetings of the Board of Directors are currently proposed
for each year:

- One meeting in conjunction with the APRICOT meetings
- The other two meetings in conjunction with ICANN meetings

The annual meeting schedule for the following year will be proposed by the CEO
and confirmed by the Board of Directors at the last meeting of the year.

Board members may participate in person or via an available electronic medium
(such as the telephone).  Extraordinary meetings may be called by any Board
member and announced by the CEO with a notice of at least 21 days before the
meeting is to be convened.

Agenda items for each meeting should be circulated 14 days before the meeting
for comments from Board members.  Minutes and notes should be published and
publicly available within 15 days after the meeting is adjourned.

Board Members will not be remunerated for their participation in the DotAsia
Organisation’s Board.  The DotAsia Organisation does not expect to reimburse
Board members for travel and related expenses for attending Board meetings.

II. Advisory Council Meetings

Two regular meetings of the Advisory Council will be arranged for each year:
- One meeting in conjunction with the APRICOT meetings
- Another meeting in conjunction with the APNIC meetings or other major Asia
Pacific Internet meetings (not at APRICOT)

An annual meeting schedule will be proposed by the CEO Chair of the Advisory
Council and confirmed by the Advisory Council membership.  Advisory Council
members may participate in person or via an available electronic medium (such
as the telephone).  Extraordinary meetings such as requirement for consultation
from the Advisory Council may be solicited by the Board of Directors with a
notice of at least 7 days before the meeting is to be convened.

The Advisory Council will be self-funding.  Advisory Council members will not
be remunerated for their participation in the DotAsia Organisation’s Advisory
Council.  The DotAsia Organisation does not expect to reimburse Advisory
Council members for travel and related expenses for attending Council meetings.

III. Annual General Members (AGM) Meeting

An Annual General Members (AGM) Meeting will be held in conjunction with the
APRICOT meetings.  Agenda items for each meeting should be circulated 14 days
before the meeting for comments from Board members.  Minutes and notes should
be published and publicly available within 15 days after the meeting is
adjourned.

Fiscal Information 
The DotAsia Organisation is a newly formed membership-based not-for-profit
organisation. General financial information or history is therefore not
available. The DotAsia Organisation is currently operated by volunteers and
consultants.  Upon ICANN’s commissioning of the DotAsia proposal, the DotAsia
Organisation intends to retain full-time staff to operate the registry.

Please refer to Part C and Part D for more information on the intended
financial makeup and projections specific to the DotAsia Organisation.

Furthermore, the DotAsia Organisation is partnering with Afilias, who has
offered financial assistance in conjunction with its role as the outsourced
registry services provider for the DotAsia registry.  Afilias is already
providing registry services in support of the .INFO and .ORG domains in
compliance with ICANN’s requirements. Afilias successfully provides the
registry services for both .ORG (2.8 million domains) and .INFO (1.2 million
domains).

Indemnification from Liability 
The DotAsia Organisation is committed to make best efforts to mitigate the
liabilities of its members, directors, officers and staff.

I. Liability of Organisation

The DotAsia Organisation is setup to be a limited liabilities corporation and
will complete the requirements to become a not-for-profit organisation. 
Members of the organisation will only be liable to a maximum nominal amount of
HK$1 in the event that the organisation is to be dissolved.

In the course of dissolution, the assets of the organisation are to be applied
to settle all outstanding wages and salaries of staff in priority to all other
debts. 

II. Liability of Directors

In the event of dissolution of the DotAsia Organisation, a director is not
liable to make any contribution unless s/he is to be held personally liable for
the debts of the organisation or it appears that he has misapplied, retained or
become accountable for money or property of the organisation or breach of duty
which is actionable by the organisation. 
 
The duties of a director are to act for the benefit of the organisation, to
exercise their powers for their proper purpose and not to allow any conflict
between their duties as directors and their personal interests. Hence, if a
director is in breach of his duties, any profits made by the director may be
recovered by the organisation unless such a contract is authorised by the
organisation's articles or the conflict is disclosed to the members and the
resulting contract is sanctioned by them.

Since the exercise of care and skill expected from directors has been raised
over the years, the DotAsia Organisation intends to seek to provide, for each
elected director, insurance against directors' liability, where applicable.

III. Liability of Officers, Secretary and Senior Staff

In the event of the dissolution of the DotAsia Organisation, the officers,
secretary or senior staff is not liable to make any contribution unless he has
undertaken to be personally liable for the debts of the organisation.  

Depending on the powers of the officers, secretary and senior staff, if s/he
has authority to enter into contracts for the organisation, the DotAsia
Organisation may, on a case-by-case basis, where applicable, seek to insure
her/him against liability as officers of the organisation.

Proposed Extent of Policy-Making Authority 
As a sponsored TLD, the DotAsia registry intends to comply with ICANN
recommendations and ICANN Consensus Policies as they become established.  For
example the DotAsia registry will be implementing the domain expiration and
redemption grace period (RGP) policies as well as other current ICANN
recommendations, such as the GAC recommendation for country names reserved list
and the anticipated WHOIS policies.

The DotAsia registry will also adopt and adhere to the Charter Eligibility
Dispute Resolution Policy (CEDRP) to ensure charter qualified registrations and
the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) to curb abusive registrations. 
The DotAsia registry intends to explore adopting or augmenting the UDRP with
local Dispute Resolution Policies that are maintained, developed and used by
participating ccTLDs (as Sponsor Members).  See the section: “Policy-Making
Process” for the possible policy formulation process for the augmentation of
localised Dispute Resolution Policies.

For registration and registrar policies, the DotAsia registry intends to comply
with ICANN policies as well as best practices in the industry and in the
sponsored community.

Organisational governance policies will be formulated and maintained by the
DotAsia Organisation.  These would include for example:

- Membership Policies
- Election Policies
- Governance Structure Policies
- Surplus Proceeds Allocation Policies

Membership Policies would include items such as:

- Classes of Membership
- Membership Requirements
- Member Rights and Obligations

Election Policies would include items such as:

- Nomination Procedures
- Candidate Requirements
- Voting Procedures

Governance Structure Policies would include items such as:

- Board Structure and Makeup
- Board Decision Making Process
- Advisory Council Structure

Surplus Proceeds Allocation Policies would include items such as:

- Process for the Solicitation of Proceeds Allocation / Grants
- Areas for which surplus proceeds should be directed towards
- Frequency of Surplus Proceeds Allocation events

Under normal circumstances, for the adoption of policies and policy changes,
consultation of the Advisory Council will be sought, followed by a resolution
of the Board of Directors. Broader consultation may be sought on material
changes to membership, election and governance policies, as well as for the
allocation of any surplus proceeds.

The structure of the Board of Directors and Advisory Council, provides a sound
platform for ensuring that the organisation will administer its policies in the
interest of the Asian Internet community and that adequate opportunity of
members and the community at large to participate and voice concerns will be
provided.  With the involvement from technically sophisticated representatives
both from ccTLDs as well as from Asia Pacific Internet groups, the organisation
is also well positioned to take into consideration the interest of the Internet
at large.

Moreover, although the DotAsia Organisation is a newly formed group, the makeup
of its Board of Directors and Advisory Council will allow it to leverage the
talent pool of ccTLD managers as well as Asia Pacific Internet and IT groups. 
These groups share a deep knowledge, expertise and experience in public policy
making, consensus building and administration of domains in the interest of the
Internet and the public community at large.  For example, most ccTLDs operate
in a relatively open and transparent manner and are experienced with public
policy making processes for TLD registries.  Asia Pacific groups (such as
APNIC) could augment that expertise with broad geographical regional
considerations and the perspective of the Internet at large.

Policy-Making Process 
As mentioned in the “Proposed Extent of Policy-Making Authority” section above,
the DotAsia Organisation intends to follow and comply with TLD registry best
practices and recommended domain oriented ICANN Consensus Policies.

There are four main organisational governance policies:

- Membership Policies
- Election Policies
- Governance Structure Policies
- Surplus Proceeds Allocation Policies

For the formation of these policies, three main types of policy-making
processes are proposed:

- Normal policy creation and amendments
- Extraordinary policy creation and amendments
- Reconsideration and policy review

Generally, material changes to membership, election and governance policies as
well as surplus proceeds allocations may require the Extraordinary policy
creation and amendments process.  Other extraordinary items may be determined
based on a consensus by the Board of Directors.

I. Normal policy creation and amendments

The proposed Normal policy creation and amendments process has the following
features:

A. Introduction and Identification of policy creation and amendment
requirements by a member of the organisation.  These include: any Board member;
any Advisory Council member; any Sponsor Member; any Co-Sponsor Member.

B. Preparation and Presentation by the CEO to the Board of Directors, followed
by the consensus of the Board of Directors to pursue further consultation from
the Advisory Council.

C. Obtaining of consensus or a majority vote result from the Advisory Council,
followed by a resolution by the Board of Directors.

It should be noted that because of the makeup of the Advisory Council, of which
members are nominated by Asia Pacific Internet and IT groups, this process
incorporates the elements for broad involvement and participation from the
community.

II. Extraordinary policy creation and amendments process

The proposed Extraordinary policy creation and amendments process explicitly
includes an even broader level of community participation as well as the
incorporation of the creation of a special committee to study implications and
impact of a proposed policy or policy change.  The general process proposed is
as follows:

A. Similar to the Normal policy creation and amendments process, a policy
should be introduced and identified by a member of the organisation: any Board
member; any Advisory Council member; any Sponsor Member; any Co-Sponsor Member.


B. Upon Board consensus that the policy is an Extraordinary item, the Board
will further determine a scope and charter for the creation of a special task
force or committee to study the policy matter at hand.  The special committee
may then, based on the scope and requirements of its charter, consult other
authorities or groups.

C. The result of the study by the special committee will then be presented to
the Board by the CEO or by the committee chair.  Upon which, the Board will
further build consensus to solicit broader consultation.  Such activities may
include surveys to members, solicitation of public comments or other activities
allowing public input.  Subsequently, the Board would also solicit consultation
from the Advisory Council.

D. Board resolution on the policy matter will be passed after receiving and
evaluating the result from the broad consultation of members and/or other
constituency groups, as well as from the Advisory Council.

III. Reconsideration and policy review process

A clear process that allows for reconsideration and policy review is essential
to the overall well being of a policy system.  This process however must be
balanced with adequate filtering to ensure a stable and predictable
organisation.  A proposed set of features in the DotAsia registry
reconsideration and policy review process is as follows:

- Any member or the CEO must make the introduction and identification of the
need to reconsider or review a policy.  Beyond this, the motion for the
reconsideration should be seconded by a Board member who is not from the same
organisation seeking the reconsideration.
- If a special committee was formed in the original policy-making process, the
committee may be re-chartered or re-constituted, to further study the matter
with the new information obtained.
- Finally, upon the due processes for consultation from the Advisory Council
and/or broader activities, a major-majority of the Board is required to pass a
resolution to reverse any previous decisions made that was based on an
established process.

While the framework of the Advisory Council readily provides a foundation for
broad cross-section participation and solicitation of public input, the
policy-making processes of the DotAsia registry will serve to further ensure a
community-based bottom-up approach.  Not only are members from a diversified
base invited to raise issues of concern and matters of policy creation and
amendments relevant to the DotAsia registry, the community at large will be
part of the policy-making process.

Even though the DotAsia registry may be a newly formed organisation, it will
leverage the profound collective knowledge and experience from its members and
their respective representatives, such as ccTLD managers.  This will be further
augmented by the expertise various representatives from Asia Pacific groups in
broad consensus building and policy-making.  Together, they will ensure that
the DotAsia Organisation will be able to deliver on its promise to be an open,
transparent organisation, which operates in the interest of the community it
intends to serve and the Internet at large.

A. Add new value to the Internet name space 
“Asia” is a highly recognisable phrase that is short, easy to remember,
versatile but specific and focused on the Asia identity.  It captures the
essence of the community served and is a sustainable phrase that will not
easily become obsolete.  “Asia” traverses a broad region yet elicits a clear
concept and coherence of the community, providing registrants tremendous value
in establishing an Internet presence with global recognition and regional
significance.  The name value for “.Asia” is especially remarkable for the
thriving SME (small medium enterprises) makeup of the Asia economies.  This is
amplified even more as these SMEs continue to expand beyond their local market
to the regional marketplace leveraging the Internet as a platform for growth.

The “.Asia” domain can also be naturally used by individuals, businesses,
organisations as well as community groups, without constraining to a particular
silo within the community, promoting a diverse and dynamic community within the
“.Asia” namespace.  This matches well and is consistent with the multicultural
and vibrant community in Asia.  While current gTLDs tend to focus on a vertical
group (e.g. commercial entities, network providers, organisations, museums,
cooperatives, etc.) within the global Internet, “.Asia” will embrace a
horizontal perspective with a clear brand to reach and enrich the broad global
community.  Unlike ccTLDs also, which provides for a local audience, “.Asia”
will allow the user to express a regional relevance.

As explained earlier in section: “Appropriateness of Sponsored TLD Community”,
there is a recognisable latent demand in Asia for a TLD with regional
significance and versatility.  The “.Asia” TLD will address this gap in the
domain namespace.  Furthermore, many of the less technically conscious SMEs in
the region have “lost out” on the rush for a presence in the now well-occupied
namespaces.  The “.Asia” domain will provide an opportunity for these entities
to establish a representative yet adaptable online identity.  Not only will
commercial entities benefit from the opening of the “.Asia” domain as a
regional presence on the Internet, individuals and public or private
initiatives, such as regional community organisations and events, will also be
able to establish their presence with an Internet address that is meaningful. 
Altogether, these elements will work to enhance both the geographic as well as
the demographic diversity of the Internet namespace.

The DotAsia registry intends to coordinate with the appropriate technical
standards bodies, ccTLDs and ICANN to help establish a proof-of-concept
multilingual TLD registry for ".Asia".  This effort will be conducted in a
deliberate and phased manner to ensure the continued stability of the DNS
system, with continued adherence to applicable technical standards.  Not only
will this allow the full appreciation and the realisation of the promise of
internationalised domain names (IDN) in the global Internet namespace, it is
particularly significant and relevant to the Asia community served by the
DotAsia registry.  The advent of a multilingual TLD will help promote the
adoption of the emerging IDN standards, which ultimately contributes to the
vision of the Internet to evolve into a truly internationalised and global
medium that is boundless in culture and language, and will also provide a much
improved and complete Internet navigation experience for users in their own
language.

The languages for each phase will be chosen based on a balance between the
demonstrated market for these languages and the knowledge from the industry and
ccTLDs who have already gained operational experience in the provision of
second level registrations for these languages.  Relevant language and variant
tables should have been developed for the languages, consistent with the IDN
registry implementation guidelines published by ICANN.

As consistent with the ICANN IDN guidelines, each phase will be introduced with
a controlled and conservative approach as the relevant policies become
established, and after we have obtained experience from earlier phases.

B. Protect the rights of others 
The DotAsia Organisation is committed to create policies and practices that
minimize abusive registration activities and other activities that affect the
legal rights of others.

The DotAsia registry will adopt a protective Sunrise process that allows
legitimate trademark and intellectual service mark owners within the Pan-Asia
and Asia Pacific region to first establish their registration within the
registry.  In particular, a Sunrise Period will be facilitated before general
first-come-first-serve registrations are allowed.  During the Sunrise Period,
only verifiable trademark and service mark owners may apply for domain names
that match their respective intellectual property rights. Sunrise registrations
are expected to be for a minimum term of 2 years. More details are provided in
section C: “Assurance of charter-compliant registrations and avoidance of
abusive registration practices”.

An extensive reserved domains list will be compiled for the DotAsia registry,
taking into consideration both the reservation of country names according to
the ISO-3166-1 list as well as ICANN requirements for the reservation of
country codes and other second level domains similar to those reserved in the
current Appendix K of ICANN’s agreement with new TLD registries.  In addition,
the DotAsia registry will consider a reserved domain lists from participating
ccTLDs (Sponsor Members).  The reserved lists submitted by the local ccTLDs
will serve to ensure best relevance of these names to protect the rights of
others within the community. The DotAsia registry is also committed to
continually review and update these lists to best reflect and protect the
rights of the entities in the community.

The DotAsia registry will also adopt and adhere to both the UDRP (Uniform
Dispute Resolution Policy) and the CEDRP (Charter Eligibility Dispute
Resolution Policy) to help resolve disputes that may arise regarding names
registered during the Sunrise Period or in general registration.  Furthermore,
the DotAsia registry will also explore the usefulness of incorporating the
choice of local DRP forums for complainants and respondents, to provide
additional protection for entities within the community.

While the proposed TLD “.Asia” is versatile, it also provides a clear
association and identity for the domain, unlike entirely generic suffixes such
as “.com” or “.net”.  Registrants will be required to declare their
proof-of-presence eligibility and be subjected to the CEDRP, which will serve
to further curb abusive registrations.

As a concrete example of the DotAsia registry’s commitment to create policies
that protect the rights of others, the registry intends to explore, through a
formal policy-making process, the feasibility, value and applicability of
augmenting the UDRP with local DRPs from participating ccTLDs (Sponsor
Members).  The local DRPs in general are based on the UDRP; however they may be
more sensitised to local cultures and environments.  More importantly, for the
implementation of multilingual domain names (IDN), the local DRP may serve to
provide even better protection for trademark and intellectual property owners
as they will be better versed with the native language of the mark in question.
A Special Committee may be formed by the Board to further explore this concept.

The involvement of ccTLDs (as Sponsor Members and in the Board of Directors) in
the governance of the DotAsia organisation ensures deep knowledge of issues and
concerns within the local communities regarding the protection of the rights of
others, as well as the implications of policies in that regard.  This is
augmented by the knowledge brought along from participation of Asia Pacific
groups (as Co-Sponsor Members and in the Advisory Council) in operating in the
interests of the broad based Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific community.  This
combined with Afilias’ expertise in the implementation of both policies and
technical requirements to run a Sunrise Period, the DotAsia Organisation has a
solid foundation to demonstrate its commitment to continually address and take
into consideration the rights of others in its policies and practices.

C. Assurance of charter-compliant registrations and avoidance of abusive registration practices 
To assure charter-compliant registrations and avoid abusive registration
practices, the DotAsia registry will implement a number of preventive and
remedial measures and policies in the following four main areas of concerns:

- Start-up Considerations
- Reserved Domain List
- Proof-of-Presence Requirements
- Domain Dispute Resolution Policy

I. Start-up Considerations

To allow legitimate trademark and service mark owners to protect their marks
and to avoid abusive registrations against rightful owners of established
names, the DotAsia registry intends to conduct a Sunrise registration period
prior to opening the registry for general first-come-first-serve registrations.

During this Sunrise period only individuals and organisations with
charter-compliant proof as well as verifiable trademark or service mark rights
to names may apply for a domain.  Verifiable rights shall mean registered
trademarks or service marks of national effect (or regional effect in the case
of marks issued by a regional trademark office, which office must represent at
least one entire soverign nation) applied for prior to 16 March 2004. A rights
validation surcharge will be introduced to the application for domain names
within this period.  This surcharge will be determined on a cost-required basis
for the validation to be done by a third party provider.  The price (expected
to be US$300-500) will be fixed by the registry. 

Multiple applications to the same name string will be allowed during this
Sunrise Period.  The first-come-first-serve rule will apply to these
applications as well.  In the case where an application is rejected due to the
acceptance of a registration earlier in the queue, the registration fee along
with the rights validation surcharge will be refunded to the sponsoring
registrar.

The Sunrise Period, which will require proof of a valid trademark, is expected
to run for 60 days.  After which, there will be a Quiet Period of 30 days.
During the Quiet Period, WHOIS data for the applications will be available.
Each Sunrise registration will be unlocked and will resolve once trademark
verification has been completed. 

Upon the conclusion of the Quiet Period, names that are registered and have
passed the verification will be published to the DNS. General
first-come-first-serve registrations will also commence.

All sunrise registrations are expected to have an initial term of 2 years.

II. Reserved Domain List

The DotAsia registry will adopt the ICANN resolution and recommendations on
maintaining a reserved domain list, such as reserving the list of country names
and country codes.  The DotAsia registry will also continue to adhere to the
ICANN recommendations for reserved domains coming from ICANN resolution and/or
consensus policies.

Furthermore, the DotAsia registry will invite all Sponsor Members
(participating ccTLDs) to submit additions to the list of names to be reserved.
 These supplemental names will serve to provide extra protection to preserve
names of value within the community that may be particularly ripe for abusive
registrations.

The list of reserved names may also from time-to-time be updated to reflect the
development and changes in the relevant community.

III. Proof-of-Presence Requirements

To ensure that only charter-compliant persons or entities may register domains
in the DotAsia registry, registrants will be required to declare a
“proof-of-presence” stating that they are a legal entity within the Pan-Asia
and Asia Pacific region and therefore establishing a nexus within this region. 
The “.Asia” region is defined by areas included in the ICANN Asia / Australia /
Pacific region.

Upon registration of a domain name, a registrant must declare from where the
proof-of-presence can be established, and what form of proof it is. A suggested
list includes, but is not limited to: citizenship, nationality / passport,
business registration, charity organisation, government, etc.  The registry
does not plan to validate the registrant’s proof-of-presence during the
start-up period, but rather will rely on the envisioned dispute resolution
mechanisms (e.g.: the CEDRP) to adequately allow interested users to dispute
the accuracy of this information.

All registrars must also agree to be bound by the CEDRP, as an extension of the
effect to bind the Registrant.  Registrars, as the sponsor for a registration,
must act accordingly upon receipt of the result from a CEDRP arbitrator.

IV. Domain Dispute Resolution Policy

To discourage registration of abusive domain names, the DotAsia registry will
conform to the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).  All DotAsia
registrars and registrants must also agree to be bound by the UDRP for DotAsia
registrations. Furthermore, as previously stated, the DotAsia Organisation will
explore the feasibility and value of augmenting the UDRP with local DRPs.

D. Assurance of adequate dispute-resolution mechanisms 
The DotAsia registry will conform to the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy
(UDRP) as well as the Charter Eligibility Dispute Resolution Policy (CEDRP) as
indicated previously in Section C “Assurance of charter-compliant registrations
and avoidance of abusive registration practices” and elsewhere.  All DotAsia
registrars and registrants must agree to be bound by these to ensure that an
adequate dispute-resolution mechanism is available.

Also, as stated previously, the DotAsia registry will evaluate the feasibility,
value and applicability of supplementing the UDRP with local DRPs and to
include regionalised policies or procedures if indicated.

E. Provision of ICANN-policy compliant WHOIS service 
The DotAsia registry will conform to existing and future ICANN policies
regarding the implementation of a registry-level publicly accessible WHOIS
system that requires registrants to provide accurate information regarding the
legitimate registration of a DotAsia domain name. 

The DotAsia registry intends to implement a “thick” WHOIS system similar to
that of the .info and .biz registries, and that centralizes all contact
information for the domain at the registry level. In addition, the thick WHOIS
system will maintain the additional information associated with the eligibility
criteria to obtain a DotAsia domain including, the economy and
proof-of-presence information as described above in Part B, Section C
“Assurance of charter-compliant registrations and avoidance of abusive
registration practices”.

The DotAsia WHOIS is envisioned to contain the following information:

- The name of the domain name registered 
- The IP addresses of the primary Name Server and secondary Name Server(s) of
the domain name registered 
- The corresponding names of those Name Servers 
- The identity of the registrar 
- The original creation date 
- Date of last modification 
- Contact information consistent with ICANN guidelines 
- Proof-of-presence information including the economy and the type of legal
entity of the registrant 
- As applicable, trademark information corresponding to the Sunrise Period 

The DotAsia registry will enable registrars to have access to the WHOIS system
both through Port 43 and via a Web-based interface. Registrars who sell DotAsia
domains will be required to incorporate DotAsia’s WHOIS system into any
cross-registry WHOIS systems they maintain for use by their customers and the
public. 

Registrars will also be required to comply with policies set forth by the
Registry and ICANN regarding the accuracy of WHOIS information and the
eligibility of the registrant to register a name in the DotAsia TLD. 

Please see Part E – Section I “Publicly Available WHOIS service” for additional
information on the intended WHOIS system and technical specifications.

© 2004 The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers