New sTLD RFP Application .post Part B. Application Form

Name and Address fields

Company/Organization Information

Company Name	Universal Postal Union (UPU)
Company Address 1	Weltpoststrasse 4
Company Address 2	n/a
Company City	Bern 15
Company State/Province	n/a
Company Postal Code	CH-3000
Company Website Address	http://www.upu.int
Company Country	Switzerland

Sponsoring Organization Information

Sponsoring Organization Name	Universal Postal Union (UPU)
Sponsoring Organization Address 1	Weltpoststrasse 4
Sponsoring Organization Address 2	n/a
Sponsoring Organization City	Bern 15
Sponsoring State/Province	n/a
Sponsoring Organization Postal Code	CH-3000
Sponsoring Organization Country	Switzerland
Sponsoring Organization Website Address	http://www.upu.int

Namestrings and Conventions

First sTLD choice:	.post
Naming Conventions:
The .post sponsored Top Level Domain (sTLD) will be a trusted, stable, secure, innovative standard identifier of the postal community in cyberspace. The new sTLD will be administered in a structured and credible not-for-profit environment and will be managed by a highly trusted and reliable Registry Operator. The proposed naming convention will apply to each of the three proposed name strings. In order to ensure that postal systems integrate fully with the Internet, .post will enable registration of second (2LD) and third Level Domain (3LD) names. All domain levels will be allocated in accordance with postal industry standards. The issuance of domains and sub-domains will be governed by strict policies and processes to guarantee that the entity/company is eligible to register .post domains and has clear guidelines on how to use them. The .post sTLD will be structured into 2 major logical sections, namely: 1 a sub-domain structure reflecting each country's officially designated Post Operator (DPO) so that each sovereign entity will be able to manage the allocation of domains within their territory, to register postal offices, post codes, national services and physical address, etc.; 2 A complementary sub-domain structure reflecting global commercial organizations, brands, trademarks etc. To preserve the integrity of addressing information, the ISO 3166 (country 3-letter-code) or any national equivalent in the 2LD will be exclusively pre-allocated to each country's respective DPO, e.g. fra.post, mex.post, usa.post. This proposal adopts the ISO 3166 country 3-letter-code table for 2LDs; the UPU and its 190 members would like to discuss with ICANN the possibility of using the ISO 3166 country 2-letter-codes as currently used in many postcode schemes, e.g. DE-53227 – is the international postcode for Bonn, Germany; FI-00231 – is the international postcode for Helsinki, Finland. It should be pointed out that DPOs are currently identified by standard location names which represent approximately 650,000 potential .post domain names (see Naming Convention point 2 below – Post Offices and other DPO locations). .post Naming Convention 1. Function: DPOs Membership: entity officially designated by the national authorities of each member country as responsible for fulfilling the obligations arising from accesion to the Universal Postal Convention and its associated Agreements within its national territory, corresponding to the national authorities; one per country Convention: .post Examples: fra.post (France), can.post (Canada), usa.post (United States), nga.post (Nigeria), irn.post (Iran) 2. Function: Post Offices and other DPO locations Membership: these will be registered by the national DPO or its licensed franchisees Convention: -<3-letter-code>.post Examples: ottawacentral-can.post, marnelavallee-fra.post, washingtonsouth-usa.post, jakartacentral-ind.post, pharmaprixquebec-can.post, apcmorillon-fra.post 3. Function: other Post Operators Membership: private companies which are not DPOs and which provide postal services Convention: -<3-letter-code>.post Examples: citymail-swe.post, hayes-gbr.post 4. Function: organizations and regional associations (referred to as Restricted Unions within the UPU) Membership: postal-related international organizations and Restricted Unions of DPOs Convention: .post Examples: upu.post, post-europ.post, appu.post 5. Function: communities Membership: communities, associations, foundations and unions that are related to postal services Convention: -<3-letter-code>.post, .post Examples: philately-can.post (Canadian Philately association), philately.post (Philatelia), media-arg.post, (Argentinean Media Association), media.post (Media) 6. Function: registered partners Membership: suppliers to the postal industry worldwide Convention: .partner.post. Examples: pitneybowes.partner.post, siemens.partner.post, microsoft.partner.post, fedex.partner.post, ipc.partner.post 7. Function: trademarks and brand names Membership: trademarks and brand names of UPU and members (international and national). Convention: .post, .<3-letter-code>.post Examples: postecs.post, postecs.fra.post, royalmail.post, correos.chl.post, usps.usa.post 8. Function: UPU-regulated services Membership: regulated services provided by the UPU and registered on a country-by-country basis Convention: .post Examples: epm.post, ifs.post (International Financial System), ips.post (International Postal System), 9. Function: country-regulated services Membership: regulated services provided on a country-by-country basis Convention: .<3-letter-country>.post Examples: epm.chn.post, ifs.mex.post, ips.deu.post 10. Function: international generic functions Membership: generic functions and postal services Convention: .post Examples: letter.post, parcel.post, information.post, lostletter.post, moneytransfer.post, track.post, cashtransfer.post 11. Function: national generic functions Membership: generic functions and postal services on a country-by-country basis Convention: -<3 letter-code>.post Examples: letter-fra.post, parcel-deu.post, info-can.post, lostletter-gbr.post, parcel-deu.post, colis-fra.post, track-can.post, cashtransfer-usa.post

Second sTLD choice:	.postal
Naming Conventions:
The naming convention specified in .post will apply to the .postal name string.

Third sTLD choice:	.poste
Naming Conventions:
The naming convention specified in .post will apply to the .poste name string.

Sponsoring Organization Structure

Established in 1874, the UPU, with its headquarters in Berne, Switzerland, is the world's second oldest international organization. The UPU became a specialized agency of the United Nations on 1 July 1948, giving all United Nations members the right to accede to the UPU. With 190 member countries, the UPU represents an industry with over 6,200,000 employees and more than 650,000 postal outlets, responsible for distributing over 450 billion letters and parcels annually. It is the primary forum for cooperation between DPOs and helps promote a global network of collaboration, as well as providing up-to-date solutions to ensure universality of service. The UPU also defines the rules for international mail exchanges and makes recommendations to stimulate growth in mail volumes and improve quality of service for customers. However, as a UN specialized agency it does not interfere in matters that fall within the domestic domain of national postal services. Thus, for example, DPOs set their own postage rates and decide how many postage stamps to issue and how to manage their postal operations and staff. In addition, by virtue of its mission to develop social, cultural and commercial communication between peoples through the efficient operation of the postal service, the UPU is called upon to play an important leadership role in promoting the continued revitalization of postal services. The financing of UPU activities is independent of the wider UN system. All budget expenses are financed jointly by the member countries, through a contribution class system. The UPU has a well-defined administrative structure to meet the political and operational needs of a global UN agency representing the entire postal community. It is experienced in supporting worldwide activities in the areas of physical mail and logistics and cross-border postal financial transactions, and has developed postal electronic services competency. Two bodies exist to oversee the regulatory environment of the UPU: the Council of Administration (CA), and the Postal Operations Council (POC). These bodies enable community representation in the general policy, administration and regulations of the UPU. The POC will be responsible for formulating and overseeing the policy of the .post sTLD. The POC is a permanent body of the UPU which is responsible for operational, technical and economic cooperation issues affecting the DPOs of all member countries. It consists of 40 member countries that are elected by the UPU Congress on the basis of qualified geographical distribution, with 24 seats reserved for developing countries and 16 for developed countries. To ensure that the UPU is able to react quickly to changes in the postal environment, the POC has a mechanism to deal with urgent questions raised between sessions. The POC promotes the introduction of new postal products by collecting, analyzing and publicizing the results of initiatives and research undertaken by DPOs. It also makes recommendations to member countries concerning standards for technological, operational or other processes within its competence where uniformity of practice is essential. In addition, it sets up contact committees, industry groups and joint working parties with the participation of other international organizations to deal with problems of mutual interest. The POC's programme of work aims above all at helping postal services to modernize and upgrade their postal products. The POC will delegate to the IB the task of planning, developing and implementing the .post sTLD. The International Bureau (IB) has a permanent staff of 150 and 60 project staff. The IB fulfills an advisory, mediating and liaison role, and renders technical assistance where needed. As such, it is the operational arm of the POC, and plays a leading role in designing, developing, implementing, supporting and promoting the application of postal technology for the UPU members. The IB will be responsible for implementing .post policies, marketing strategies on the uptake of .post domains, technical issues that relate to the registry operator and registrars, as well as other matters involving the stable operation of .post. Through the IB, the UPU has established a number of Regional Support Centres (RSC) in different parts of the world to promote its information technology activities. These centres manage the deployment and support of UPU technology applications, products and services within their respective regions. The RSCs are as follows: Africa (East and South) -Dar-Es-Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania Asia/Pacific -Singapore, Singapore Caribbean -San Juan, Puerto Rico Latin America -Montevideo, Uruguay The UPU will introduce its worldwide domain name registration services to the postal community with a number of registrars. Some ICANN accredited registrars and possibly a number of DPOs will act as "specialized community registrars". The latter will cover the different geographical areas of the globe to ensure that Post Offices around the world are able to register domains from day one of the launch of .post, to ensure universal services. The UPU will approve registrars wanting to offer .post registration services. Potential registrars will have to prove that they are ICANN accredited or DPOs that have the technical and financial capacities to perform such activities. Accreditation will follow a rigorous selection process to be established by the POC and operated by the IB. In particular, candidate registrars will be required to: demonstrate appropriate geographical coverage; offer superior features and service levels; and commit to fully comply with the required eligibility criteria set forth by the .post Charter and policies. SWITCH (Swiss Academic and Research Network) has been selected by the UPU to perform all of the technical registry operation functions, under the supervision of the IB. In this framework, the IB's role is to facilitate the DPOs' provision of universal postal exchanges and payment products and services worldwide, in line with customer needs. The IB meets these needs by defining, developing and delivering modern IT systems and applications to enhance and support postal capabilities and competitiveness. With its global expertise, the IB can help DPOs to become more competitive by ensuring that customer needs are met through the use of new technologies. The IB's major functions include: - providing secure, trusted, "always available" and accessible global communication networks; - providing high-added-value solutions for management, quality control and the continuous improvement of mail and financial services; - operating as a centre of excellence through the provision of information, support, project management and strategic advice for the development of postal services; - facilitating collaboration between DPOs and technology partners to deliver significant business benefits; and - providing a full range of support and technical services to DPOs and other stakeholders. The UPU also develops applications on behalf of the community it serves and provides support and guidance, as well as acting as a facilitator for a worldwide cooperation network. It is also a member of the community it supports. In the same way, the postal community has always required consistent standards and common delivery platforms in order to operate effectively and meet the needs of its customers worldwide; such consistency must now be extended to the Internet in order to ensure future growth. The Internet will increase the capabilities of the platform from which standardized information is accessed, thus offering consistency, stability, and security. In this regard, the .post sTLD will provide the postal industry with the basis from which to work cooperatively, as it has done in the past, to develop new innovative systems for the community at large. The UPU will use its existing governance structure to manage and administer .post on behalf of the community. This will ensure that the interests of stakeholders and the community are represented, as all decisions will be taken by the POC within the UPU framework. The POC is an elected industry representative body which will be responsible for the formulation of policy for the .post sTLD. Consequently, members of the global postal industry will be involved in the policy formulation through their involvement in the POC. The creation of an online Postal community will benefit citizens at large thanks to the introduction of online universal postal standards that will be accessible to all. Initially, the introduction of DPO local post office websites will provide a platform for electronic deployment of existing postal services for the general community. Later, new universal services such as online cross-border registered mail, online parcel tracking or global hybrid mail will be introduced. It is expected that .post will greatly facilitate and enhance global communications between members of the postal communities in developed and less developed countries alike, as well as improving the logistics of goods and document transportation. Moreover, it will increase the level of expertise both in technical and legal matters with regard to domain names, as well as promoting the enforcement of registration restrictions. It is expected that .post will broaden business horizons by promoting comprehensive e-business solutions. Initially, the UPU will grant registration for .post domain names to all the world's DPOs and Regional Unions without exception. Subsequently, the postal community at large will be able to register domains. The UPU will offer a GDP-based cost model on the basis of each country's ability to pay. The UPU will operate on a not-for-profit basis and will diligently monitor costs in order to best protect the interests of the stakeholders and the community it serves.

Appropriateness of Sponsored TLD Community

Definition of the community The .post sTLD intends to facilitate global e-business transactions for the benefit of all citizens by serving the needs of the worldwide postal community, which includes public and private operators, organizations and government agencies that provide and support universal, trusted and secure postal services. The .post sTLD intends to serve the needs of the worldwide postal community – referred to here as the .post "Charter" – which includes the following draft membership categories: – the Universal Postal Union; – the DPOs of the 190 UPU members; – Restricted Postal Unions of the UPU, insofar as they are regional groupings of DPOs (e.g. Asian–Pacific Postal Union); – Postal Operators other than DPOs (e.g. Hayes, Citymail); – Postal partners representing a vast array of commercial organizations that support the provision of postal services. Partners include: ** communications partners providing value to the postal value chain, such as hybrid mail vendors offering mail design, printing and preparation services, direct marketing vendors that support the creation of direct mail campaigns, and others; ** logistics partners providing mail and parcel logistics and support services for the postal industry (e.g. DHL, UPS); ** suppliers, i.e. vendors specializing in the provision of equipment and services required for the smooth operation of Posts (e.g. Siemens, Pitney Bowes); ** payment partners, i.e. vendors providing financial services in support of the community (e.g. Western Union, SWIFT); ** technology partners, i.e. vendors providing technological services in support of the community (e.g. Microsoft, Authentidate, Geotrust); ** postal communities, i.e. representative bodies and associations that represent specialized groups of interest in the postal community (e.g. Philatelia, post media, direct marketing associations); ** Educational institutions with postal service functions, which may be any organisation that provides training and education to members of the post community (e.g. Berne University of Post and Telecoms); Motivation The UPU has examined the opportunity to work with the present TLD environment to determine if global universal postal services could be implemented within these structures. Our conclusion is that the only secure and stable way to create a universal electronic postal service, that would fulfill the expectations of the world’s citizens and governments, could only be achieved under a sponsored TLD. This universal postal environment is not just the operating environment and regulations of the postal community, managed and regulated under UPU guidelines, it is also the Universal Service Obligation and mandate from the United Nations to ensure that all people have affordable, secure and reliable access to postal services, physical or electronic. With less than 5% of the citizens of the world connected to the internet, there is a genuine threat that many people will have their social right to communication services diminished, as businesses and governments migrate to electronic methods of communication. Posts are working to “bridge the digital divide” by combining traditional physical mail services with new electronic services in order to provide a framework of multi-channel communications within a trusted environment. One of the lasting accomplishments of the UPU is creating a “single postal territory” for the exchange of international mail. Using a sponsored TLD, the UPU wishes to extend this territory by extending its services onto a global electronic postal network – establishing up to 650,000 Post Offices on the Internet which will enable users in all parts of the world to access their local postal outlets via the DNS, for services related to local postal functions. The UPU has an established standards group, with industry alliances bodies such as CEN, which has defined standards for technical and operational postal standards. As an example, there is a standard for all postal addresses – “ s42 – International Postal Address Components and templates”, which now includes an XML definition of postal addresses – the legal address. The UPU will adopt established postal standards in the sTLD. For instance, the use of the physical infrastructure for legal addresses thus creating a consistent presence across both channels and facilitating the integration of information systems, whilst still ensuring postal trust and global policies. The traditional "trading cycle" of Information, Distribution and Payments all trusted and secure services by the Posts, used a billions times a day, will be supported and improved in cost, speed, efficiency by the Posts internet sTLD. A UPU sponsored TLD with its societal acknowledged services, will make more people, make more use of the internet in their everyday lives, regardless of race, culture, geography, language and for the benefit of local, domestic and global growth. In conclusion, the compelling motivation for the .post sTLD is the need to migrate universal postal services from the physical world, to the internet world, whilst safeguarding the general open principles of the internet.

Representation

Representing 190 member countries worldwide, the UPU is truly representative of the world's postal community. Moreover, it has developed an extensive and documented set of procedures for ensuring the representation of its members' interests and of their communication systems. While the postal community itself is defined by the .post Charter, the global range of stakeholders is so wide, diverse and complex that it is impossible to define it with precision. As sovereign entities in their respective countries, the UPU members will have the opportunity to further represent all the categories of stakeholders they may define as legitimate within their jurisdiction, allowing for ultimate flexibility. The structure of the UPU, as previously described, with the POC and IB, ensures accountability. Representation of the 190 member countries will be provided by the POC and under the POC, providing a forum for community contribution. In addition to the member country input described above, the Chairman of the POC may invite international organizations, associations, companies or qualified persons, as well as DPOs not belonging to the POC that represent the postal and Internet communities, to attend the meetings of the Council and of its bodies. The POC will set up an industry group and/or a joint working party with the participation of other international organizations (in this case ICANN and other bodies) to deal with issues of mutual interest to the .post and Internet communities.

Openness and Tansparency

The following information provides an overview of the various ways in which the UPU communicates with its members and stakeholders. Official UPU publications Information concerning UPU activities is available from the following publications: – The annual Summary Record of the CA which contains, inter alia, summaries of relevant CA documents and of the discussions held, CA decisions and resolutions, and a list of participants; – The Annual Summary Record of the POC which contains, inter alia, summaries of relevant POC documents and of the discussions held, POC decisions and resolutions, and a list of participants; – The Financial Operating Report; – The Programme and Budget relating to the biannual budget cycle. International forum The IB organizes and hosts a number of meetings and council sessions each year as part of its role to provide an international forum for all parties with a stake in the worldwide postal industry. These include the annual sessions of the POC and the CA and the regular meetings of the Advisory Group (which represents the interests of the wider international postal sector, and provides an institutional framework for effective dialogue between stakeholders). The Director General, Deputy Director General and Directors participate in many international conferences and other important meetings relating to postal services. The annual UPU Customer Day and POC Forum, where postal and external partners share their views on developments in the postal market, are further proof of the UPU's commitment to stakeholder participation. Through its association with POST-EXPO, the annual international postal technology conference and exhibition, the UPU has created yet another platform for executives from DPOs and related industries to openly discuss future challenges. www.upu.int The UPU website offers visitors easy access to information about the UPU and its DPOs. Apart from general facts about the UPU, including its history and structure, useful information is available on activities in the fields of postal reform, technical cooperation, quality of service, direct mail, parcels, standards and many other subjects. In addition to promoting a positive and transparent image of the organization, the accessibility of information is also saving the IB time and resources in responding to external inquiries for information, particularly in the area of postal statistics, postal codes, meeting documents and publications. The UPU website already has an average of 21,000 visitors per month. As part of the .post services proposed by the UPU, a specific .post web site such as http://www.register-now.post and a mailing list will be created. This will be the portal for .post registration and will contain access to all registrars selected by the UPU, policies and WHOIS services, registrant best practices, and so on. It will also contain matters of interest to the public and postal communities, policies, statutes, FAQs, proceedings of official meetings, the status of applicants' requests, and so on. Union Postale magazine The UPU's flagship magazine, Union Postale, provides extensive coverage of the activities of the different UPU bodies, while also publishing in-depth articles on issues of interest to the broader postal industry. Some 3,800 issues of the magazine are published on a quarterly basis, for distribution to all member countries and other stakeholders. Circulars Circulars are used to communicate important operational and administrative information from individual countries to all other members of the UPU. Circulars are prepared by the IB with the help of the requesting member and are subsequently sent out to all members. In 2003, 450 circulars were distributed. Emergency Information System (EmIS) The UPU IB uses the Emergency Information System (EmIS) to communicate urgently with its member countries about operational issues that could affect their own services, such as domestic industrial action, cases of bio-terrorism and the termination or resumption of mail exchanges in a particular country. This system contains the emergency e-mails and fax numbers of all UPU member countries.

Initial Directors, Officers, and Other Staff

Director General of the UPU IB: Mr. Thomas E. Leavey, (USA) Qualifications: Mr. Leavey has held this post since January 1995. He graduated with a Ph.D. from Princeton University. He is responsible for providing leadership in responding to the significant challenges the UPU and its 190 member countries face, including the increasing liberalization of postal services, new advances in technology and the need to adopt more customer-oriented commercial strategies. Mr. Leavey also gives priority to ensuring the full integration of developing countries into the universal postal network. Deputy Director General: Mr. Moussibahou Mazou (Congo) Director of the DG's Office, Strategic Planning and Communication (CPSC): Mr. Gunderson (USA) Director, Operations and Technology Directorate (DOT): Mr. Msofe, (Tanzania (United Rep.)) Acting Director, Economic and Regulatory Affairs Directorate (DER): Mr. Raman (India) Director, Markets Directorate (DMS): Mr. McKeown (Australia) Director, Finance Directorate (DFI): Mr van der Weg (Netherlands) Director, Logistics Directorate (DL): Mr. Karvonen (Finland) Director, Human Resources Directorate (DRH): Mr. Mauer (Germany) Director, Development Cooperation Directorate (DCDEV): Mr. Pinheiro (Brazil) Head of Postal Technology Centre (PTC): Mr. Gassmann (Switzerland) Core staff of the IB: approximately 150 employees from 40 different countries. Project staff of the IB: approximately 60 employees.

Selection of Directors, Officers, Members, Staff

The Director General and the Deputy Director General are elected by the UPU Congress for the period between two successive Congresses. The IB members of staff are international civil servants. As a UN specialized agency, the UPU is bound by the UN common system (same principles and compensations for staff). The Staff Regulations are based on those of the UN common system and are adopted by the CA, while the Staff Rules contain detailed regulations and are adopted by the Director General. Copies of the Regulations and Rules can be provided on request. In brief terms, the main rules are the following: - The paramount consideration in the recruitment of staff and the determination of their conditions of service is the necessity of securing for the Union the highest standard of efficiency and integrity. Special attention is paid to the importance of recruiting staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible, without distinction as to race, sex or religion; - Appointments and promotions are decided by the Director General. An Appointment and Promotion Committee, established by the Director General, advises him with regard to all appointments and promotions to vacant core positions. This Committee is a joint Committee of two staff representatives and two members directly designated by the Director General and chaired by the Deputy Director General. The appointment of non-core staff is not subject to this procedure; - Core staff positions are subject to renewable, fixed-term appointments. The terms of other staff member contracts depend mainly on the nature of the activity, the amount of funding and the actual project; - The UN General Assembly takes decisions regarding compensation scales and other benefits; - The Director General may terminate the appointment of a staff member for determined reasons. A staff member may also be dismissed by disciplinary decision; - Strict rules apply to staff concerning matters of loyalty, conduct, outside activities and interests, confidentiality, gifts, political activities, privileges and immunities, and oaths or declarations. They must also avoid conflicts of interest; - The Director General may fill any vacant post by transfer or promotion of IB staff members. He must also notify the DPOs of the member countries by circular letter of vacancies for professional and higher positions which are not filled from within the IB.

Meetings and Communication

Two levels of communication are required in order to adequately support .post. At the executive level, for policy formulation and regulation, the POC will meet twice yearly for a period of two weeks to review the progress of .post. The POC will call ad hoc meetings as necessary to resolve urgent issues. At the planning, implementation and operations level, the IB will arrange meetings as needed. It will organize monthly teleconferences and quarterly face-to-face meetings with appropriate stakeholders particularly during the planning, developing and implementation phases. The POC will set up the necessary body to discuss user-related operational issues and will meet at least twice a year. This frequency of meetings will be maintained for the initial phase of .post implementation, after which a revised schedule will be instituted to reflect the expected stabilization of the .post environment. Meeting minutes will be published and made available on a specific area of the UPU website (http://www.register-now.post). A secure website, necessary in the context of privacy protection and security protocol development, is available for the planning and development teams.

Fiscal Information

The UPU has a core staff of about 150 employees from around 40 different countries. In addition, it employs around 60 staff recruited for specific projects. The ceiling of the UPU's ordinary budget is fixed by Congress in the General Regulations. For the 2001 to 2004 period, annual expenditure relating to the activities of the bodies of the Union may not exceed 37 million Swiss francs. Member countries contribute to the ordinary budget according to a system of contribution classes. Other activities may also be pursued on a voluntary basis. The .post project is presently financed by voluntary contributions from DPOs of UPU members and is subject to a specific budget. The UPU and its staff members benefit from privileges and immunities according to various agreements, which can be provided on request. The UPU, its assets, income and other property are exempted from all direct and indirect taxes, including VAT. According to the UPU Financial Regulations, adopted by the CA, the accountability of the Union must be verified by an external Auditor appointed by the Swiss Government, whose reports are then submitted to the CA for approval. Activities associated with the operations of the .post sTLD will be identified in the extrabudgetary accounts of the UPU. Such activities under the extrabudgetary accounts will be self-financed by the .post community.

Indemnification from Liability

Provider of Policy: Allianz Suisse Sulgeneckstrasse 19 P.O. Box 3000 Bern 14 Amount of Insurance Policy: CHF 3,000,000.00 in aggregate per loss occurrence for bodily injury, property damage as well as loss prevention costs

Proposed Extent of Policy-Making Authority

For the postal industry to take full advantage of the Internet, it must be confident that it is operating within a trusted environment associated with industry standards, data protection and integrity, in compliance with security and privacy norms. The .post sTLD will set a new standard for quality and will create an essential component for innovative online services. The UPU has a proven record as a trusted authority for the formulation and administration of policies governing postal businesses and standards since 1874. The UPU therefore seeks the authority to register 2LD and 3LD names for the .post sTLD and for the formulation of related policies. As the policy formulating authority of the .post sTLD, the POC intends to formulate the new sTLD policies. The authority sought is to limit the .post sTLD to genuine members of the postal community as defined in the .post Charter. The UPU recognizes that it is also important that organizations introducing new technological solutions do not exclude the requirements of developing countries. UPU members and their DPOs are currently working to bridge the digital divide by combining traditional physical mail services with new electronic services in order to provide a framework of hybrid communications within a trusted environment. Through the UPU Regulations, they are obliged to offer universal services, as well as trusted and secure communications. The UPU will use the .post sTLD to support this philosophy in Internet postal services as well. As a UN specialized agency, the UPU is a neutral organization that will ensure diversity and universal access to channels, thereby creating a stable community for .post in the interest of the Internet at large. The UPU requests that ICANN delegate the following areas of responsibility for the deployment of consistent policies for the .post sTLD provided the scope of the Charter is not exceeded: a establishment and implementation of policies, including the naming convention; b restrictions on what types of entities or individuals may register domain names; c restrictions on how registered names may be used; d the eligibility and name selection process to be performed by the sponsoring organization, the UPU; e mechanisms for the enforcement of policies, including procedures for the cancellation of registrations; f mechanisms for the resolution of disputes between registrants in litigation (trademarks and brands ; g performance specifications for, and pricing of, registry services; h selection of the registry operator for the .post sTLD and its operation; i selection of specialized DPOs and ICANN-accredited registrars to act as registrars for .post and ensure registration performance; j the drawing up of contracts between sponsor, registry operator and registrants. For example: sponsor: • ICANN-sponsoring registry agreement: main contract that establishes the basis for the delegation of .post to the sponsoring organization, UPU, by ICANN; • sponsor and registry operator: contract between sponsor and the appointed registry operator to run the sTLD; • sponsor and registrant; contract between domain name holders of registered domains and the sponsor, allowing the use of domains in accordance with the sponsor's conditions. • specific registrar accreditation agreement (UPU responsible for accrediting .post registrars) • sponsoring-registry agreement.

Policy-Making Process

Proposed policy-making methodology The UPU, as the sponsoring organization, has ultimate responsibility for all policy formulation. As mentioned previously, the POC, within the UPU, will be responsible for the formulation of policy for the .post sTLD. As it is an elected industry representation body, members of the postal industry will be involved in the policy formulation through their involvement in the POC. The IB will ensure that the registry operator and registrars implement the policies according to POC instructions. After the signature of the contract between ICANN and the UPU, the POC will establish an industry group and/or joint working party of the Council with representatives of its bodies, international organizations, associations, companies or qualified persons, as well as DPOs not belonging to the POC that would represent the postal and Internet communities. The POC will formulate all the policies and processes that are required to ensure a high quality registry operation. The policy formulation process will be as follows: 1. the POC mandates the joint working group with the formulation of a policy to be submitted to the POC for approval; 2. following approval by the POC, the IB is responsible for implementation and policy management, and will give the go-ahead for the registry operator, SWITCH and .post accredited registrars to operate the registration service according to the defined .post policy. Registration services will be performed during the start-up period by .post accredited registrars and possibly some DPOs; 3. policy modifications can be formally requested by the postal community via the IB. These will be considered by the Joint Working Group and recommended to the POC for approval. With the exception of policy changes necessitating only cosmetic changes, an escalation process to bring the matter to the attention of the POC during one of its regular meetings will be put in place to obtain final approval before proceeding with a policy change. In order to ensure that only genuine members of the postal community may become .post registrants, the UPU will create a validation process (eligibility process) to limit registrants to those identified in the Charter. The UPU, via the IB, will accelerate the adoption of new and unique .post sTLD that will benefit the postal community, the Internet community, developing nations and society at large.

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A. Add new value to the Internet name space

With a worldwide postal workforce of over 6,000,000 people, a multi-billion dollar service and support industry and 450 billion letters and parcels delivered each year to all destinations of the world, the "post" name has clear practical and emotional value to all people of the planet, including the billions who still have no access to the modern benefits of the Internet. In addition to supporting developing countries through the provision of communication services, DPOs are obliged to offer universal services in accordance with the UPU's Regulations. This universal service obligation ensures that trusted and secure communication services are available to all. These services support electronic and paper, and online and offline processes, as well as hybrid processes that combine electronic and paper as part of a single transaction. As businesses and governments move towards electronic communication methods, with less than 5% of the world's citizens connected to the internet, there is a genuine danger that many people will see their social right to communication services diminishing. Posts are working to bridge the digital divide by combining traditional physical mail services with new electronic services in order to provide a framework of multi-channel communications within a trusted environment. One of the lasting accomplishments of the UPU has been the creation of a "single postal territory" for the exchange of international mail. Using the .post sTLD, the UPU now wishes to extend this territory by creating a global electronic postal network – establishing an Internet presence for up to 650,000 post offices to enable users in all parts of the world to access their local postal outlets via the DNS, for services related to local postal functions, e.g. Taiyuan-chn.post (China), zinaire-bfa.post (Burkina Faso), lince-per.post (Peru). In addition, it wishes to use the DNS to operate and support postal applications on a global scale. Examples of applications for the general community include the Global Electronic PostMark and International Hybrid Mail. The Global Electronic PostMark (EPM) service is planned for launch as a Beta Programme this year. The EPM is a trusted non repudiation service for the secure exchange of signed and unsigned documents. For it to work efficiently on a global scale, the application needs to map securely to the appropriate sovereign jurisdictions at the highest level of trust. To support this level of trust, a DNS hierarchy model is needed where the EPM providers could register their URLs consistently, while at the same time protecting their national sovereignty: • epm.post (trusted regulated service, entrusted to UPU) • epm.usa.post, epm.fra.post, etc (trusted sovereign services) Consequently, a universal EPM service can be created without hard-coding data on client desktops. This benefits the postal industry, the vendor industry and the global user industry. A similar infrastructure requirement would be possible for an international hybrid mail (electronic mail-to-physical or physical-to-electronic mail) service, where a DNS structure would provide for the global distribution of hybrid mail. Universal Address Management DPOs are entrusted with a key piece of identity information that has legal ramifications in many countries of the world – the legal address. This is the physical address that is recognized to be the address for all legal correspondence. The UPU has recently defined an official UPU XML standard for the legal address. Using this UPU XML standard, the .post sTLD promises to bring the Posts' expertise in legal address management to the electronic world. With .post sTLD underpinning legal address data, the opportunity to deliver electronic communications to a restricted geographic area can be opened up. Leading DPOs are already investigating different methods for supporting communications in this manner. In all cases, locally relevant information will be sent to residents of a particular geographical area – for instance a local council or utility company message to notify residents of a problem such as a burst water main. While these services are being researched independently, DPOs realize the need for universal consistency across all countries. Universal Internet deployment of the legal addressing standard can only be achieved through the policy regulation capabilities provided by a sTLD. Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) Domain names have contributed significantly to the acceleration of Internet development in English speaking countries over the last decade. The development of the Internet in non-English speaking countries has been slow due to the lack of Internet domains in their own language (or scripts). Non-English speaking countries, and particularly non-ASCII character set domains, are in need of such a boost today. Regardless of language, gender, age and race everyone should be able to use the Internet easily. This will truly help to develop a global Internet as well as closing the digital and economic divide. The IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) is used widely by Internet users to locate resources on the Internet in a format that is easy to remember and understand. These domains are, however, not required by the network software, but are used for human mnemonic convenience. Initially, domains will be ASCII character-set. However, in order to better support its global community, the .post sTLD will be enhanced to support registration of names in international character sets (Internationalized Domain Names – IDN). For instance, there are approximately 76,000 post offices in China and these will all obviously need their domains written in Chinese character sets. IDN will certainly help Post Post Offices Offices worldwide to develop local web, e-mail and other services for local people in their own language as well as in all other countries with similar characteristics e.g. Arabic, Japanese, etc. New Internet (IPv6) Every computer connected to the Internet is identified by a unique number defined as an "IP address" in the IPv4. IPv4 stands for Internet Protocol version 4 which, after decades of real success, is approaching address space exhaustion and is expected to be replaced by the new Internet protocol (IPv6). In addition to millions of additional IP addresses, the advent of IPv6 will also provide a more secure Internet (IPsec, DNSsec). The Internet model based on IPv6 will enable applications that cannot be supported by IPv4 such as GRID computing, mobility (3G), gaming and file sharing (P2P), voice over IP (VoIP), smart homes and others. Therefore, the UPU expects that, over time, growth in the .post registry will support the industry adoption of IPv6. Differentiation from other TLDs The UPU would not be able to implement the .post registry policies under the ".int" TLD because this is reserved for treaty organizations such as the United Nations, WHO etc. Due to the "first-come-first-served" policy of the .org and .com gTLD's, a number of brand conflicts occur that could well make the implementation of the UPU registry policy difficult, if possible at all. For instance, www.hkpost.com is a photo album and email service and www.fijipost.com is a private news service. Despite the fact that DPOs have established domains on the Internet, there is little or no brand consistency and no naming conventions for the industry. Examples of this include www.hongkongpost.com, www.post.co.ke, www.usps.com. For the effective growth of universal postal services this must be standardized. The .post sTLD will be clearly differentiated from other gTLDs as it is governed and represented by its community – the global postal industry.

B. Protect the rights of others

The UPU, as .post Sponsor, is committed to full compliance with current ICANN UDRP and other policies protecting trademarks, brand names and famous domain names. Strict .post policies and ICANN UDRP will provide protection against trademark infringement and cyber-squatting. Data integrity and privacy, which is a paramount requirement for the .post sTLD, will be reflected in the .post policies. DPOs have legal obligations to protect the privacy and integrity of data as well as the communications that have been entrusted to them, and this will also be reflected in .post policies. Periodic random checks of registered domains will be performed by the IB and any undesirable domains will be revoked if they are not in line with .post policies and registrants' rights. Registrars that do not comply with .post policies risk losing their accreditation should this practice persist. The UPU will publish best practices in privacy, spam, enhanced data protection policies for use of the .post domain, as well as auditing rights in order to ensure continued compliance. A defined list of domain names that legitimately belong to members of the community will be pre-registered before the launch of the service in order to protect against fraudulent registrations. Registration Process I. Applicant authentication ("eligibility") An applicant will submit a formal request via a manual application to be recognized as a member of the postal community as indicated in the .post Charter via .post accredited registrars. This form will be received by the .post Accreditation Service of the IB with the following: - full legal description of the applicant with supporting legal proof; - proof of official designation by the UPU member country of the applicant responsible for fulfilling the obligations arising from accession to the Convention and Agreements on its national territory; - principal location, legal status of the organization, laws under which it is organized, type of organization; - contact point name of the entity/organization concerned. The IB will implement a standard validation process to ensure the legality of the information provided by the potential applicant. The completed application form will be evaluated by the IB and, if the eligibility requirement is fulfilled, the applicant will be allocated its own confidential registration key. For UPU community members, the UPU already has a list of contact names per member so it will be a matter of straightforward validation or refusal in these cases. The formal review, performed by the .post Accreditation Service, will issue a decision in the form: a if eligible, registration key is granted b if not eligible, registration key is refused. In case b, the name of the entity/organization will be included in the .post revocation list for further action. Eligible applicants will be allocated a registration key (the first time) which will be used as identification for subsequent registrations. A registrant must be identified as one of the "registrant types", as indicated in the Charter, in order to be eligible for the requested domain name, e.g. DPOs, partners. Certain organizations and associations can automatically be designated as .post members/partners and be pre-allocated registration keys without going through the application process, e.g. IPC, APPU and others. A random verification of registered domains will be performed periodically in order to revoke domains that do not agree with current .post policies. II. Domain Name Registration Registration of domains within the 2LD and 3LD will be delegated to eligible registrants, such as the UPU member organizations (or DPOs) that will be responsible for asserting the validity of the name and its use. When a registrant applies for a domain name, via a .post accredited registrar, the registrar will check the registration key, which will subsequently allow the registrant to register any domains according to their registrant type status. Registrants holding registration keys will be able to register any domain which they hold by right, according to the type of registrant which will be used as identification for multiple registrations. A number of registrant types will have restricted access to the naming convention framework, e.g. partners. Delegation of 2LD and 3LD registrar authority will be subject to .post policy in order to ensure that DPOs worldwide adhere to the public's expectation of trust and confidentiality in all Internet entities operating under the UPU. Domain names will be activated after the registrar receives payment from the registrant. As the entity officially designated by the UPU may not be permanent, any change in the designation will be communicated to the UPU and could lead to the revocation of the domains and the registration keys of the registrant.

C. Assurance of charter-compliant registrations and avoidance of abusive registration practices

The abuse that occurs in an open environment, with the first-come, first-served registration practice, is not an issue within this closed professional .post community. Because the UPU is subject to public scrutiny and is most often directly accountable to government bodies, this community is one of the most well-established, stable and risk-aware communities in existence. A low to zero number of abuse cases is expected. During phase 1 (first 6 months) of the .post deployment, the following chartered registrant types will be allowed to register 2LDs and 3LDs: • DPOs, Restricted Postal Unions of the UPU. During phase 2 of the .post deployment, the following charter registrant types will be allowed to register 2LDs: • Educational institutions with postal focus, Restricted Postal Unions, other postal operators which are not DPOs. Thus, partners will be allowed to register <.partner.post> sub-domain names, while Postal communities will be allowed to register <.community.post> sub-domain names. The IB will discourage registration of domain names that infringe intellectual property rights by publishing a complete list of reserved UPU marks and trademarks. Prior to phase 1 of deployment, the IB will request, in writing, a complete list of marks and trademarks for each of the DPOs of its member countries and the Restricted Postal Unions. These marks and trademarks will be reserved by the IB for use by the DPOs and Restricted Postal Unions that have submitted them. Subsequently, as new registrants from educational institutions with a postal focus, other postal operators which are not DPOs, partners and postal communities from the DPOs obtain approved registrant status, the IB will invite them, in writing, to submit complete lists of marks and trademarks to be put on reserved lists. The IB will ensure that only Charter-compliant persons or entities are able to register DPO and Restricted Postal Union .post domain names by requesting confirmation of the identity and physical/electronic contact details of the applicants. The IB will check these details against its official list of approved contact points, as part of the validation process. All applicant submissions other than those of DPOs and Restricted Postal Unions will be individually verified by the IB, either directly, or through requests to the DPO of the country of operations inscribed in the submission form. To prevent abusive registrations, the UPU will publish a complete list of inappropriate "black-listed" words, in multiple languages, which will be made unavailable for registration for any .post registrant. These names will be reserved. In addition, the IB will actively monitor the .post database to identify and denounce abusive registrations. The IB will provide protection (i.e. put on reserved lists) against registration for famous names and trademarks, particularly those related to the postal industry such as "letter", "colis", "parcel", "courier" and many others. These domains may only be assigned by the UPU on an exceptional basis to representative organizations, and following recommendations by the POC. The UPU is committed to complying with ICANN policies provided they do not interfere with its own policies. This will ensure a fully acceptable, formal administrative process for the resolution of disputes. Finally, the UPU is seeking to join the GAC (Government Advisory Council) in order to support the worldwide development of the Internet.

D. Assurance of adequate dispute-resolution mechanisms

The UPU will adopt the ICANN Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution (UDRP) policy to resolve disputes over the registration of .post domain names, and is committed to full compliance with current ICANN policies that protect intellectual property rights in sTLDs. The UDRP challenges registered domain names on the basis that a domain is identical or similar to a trademark in which the complainant has rights. .post registrants will be bound by the UDRP. In addition, the UPU will adopt the ICANN Charter Eligibility Dispute Resolution Policy (CEDRP) which allows any third party to challenge a domain name on the grounds that the registrant does not meet the eligibility requirements (set forth in the sTLD Charter) for registration of a domain name in .post sTLD. In a similar vein, the UPU has already approached WIPO and plans to collaborate with both the latter and ICANN in the development and implementation of dispute resolution policies that will apply to the domain names registered in .post. The UPU intends to develop an additional policy specifically for .post which will allow unsuccessful applicants to challenge a decision by the sponsor (the UPU (POC)) concerning their eligibility to register in .post. While the Eligibility Reconsideration Policy (ERP) is not an ICANN policy, the UPU will ask ICANN's permission to develop such a policy. Should these existing processes fail to settle the dispute, the DPOs could apply the internal UPU dispute resolution procedure which is part of the current process of the UPU.

E. Provision of ICANN-policy compliant WHOIS service

WHOIS Compliance Compliance with specifications of the NICNAME/Whois (RFC-954) will be assured by the UPU, as the sponsoring organization. New developments concerning WHOIS and related directory services will be supported. Each registrar will be contractually required to run a "full", independent WHOIS directory service and to provide accurate contact information on registrants. The .post registry runs a "thick registry" model and the WHOIS directory registry services will provide domain name, name servers (primary and secondary), registration and expiry dates, administrative information, billing and technical contact points, and registrar details. In addition, the UPU wishes to add a number of new fields that will help to provide more accurate information about the .post community on the WHOIS database, namely: a who is responsible for registration: country 3-letter-code; b type of registrant: DPO or others; c IDN: IDN or non-IDN; d Special service: barcode /standards. System security Technical and physical capabilities and procedures will be assured to prevent system hacks, break-ins, data tampering and other disruptions to operations. Physical security of the registry operator server(s) (main database) carrying sensible data will be assured. The WHOIS system (servers) will have software firewalls. DPOs currently have secure access and data privacy procedures in place to protect commercially confidential and private data, and these rules will continue to apply. Moreover, the UPU will undertake to adopt industry best practices to ensure that all confidential data are protected.

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© 2004 The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers