Form 1023 (Appendix 23)

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Appendix 23

ICANN is currently charging application fees to companies applying to be accredited to registrar domain names in the .com, .org, and .net domains. This accreditation process has been developed to meet the substantive and timing requirements of the opening of the .com, .org and .net registries to competitive registration services, as set forth in Amendment 11 to the Cooperative Agreement between Network Solutions, Inc., and the U.S. Government. See http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/proposals/docnsi100698.htm (Appendix 10 [sic, 12]); see also http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/icannnewco.htm (letter confirming designation of ICANN as "NewCo," the accrediting entity identified in Amendment 11) (Appendix 21).

The regular accreditation fee is US $1000.00. To be considered for accreditation and selection as a participant in the special early testbed program, the fee was US $2500.00. These fees are based on the estimated cost of processing the applications (data entry, verification of applicant information, follow-up communication with applicants, application evaluation, etc.).

The current contract between ICANN and accredited registrars (see Appendix 22) includes a provision requiring the payment of a fixed annual fee of US $ 5,000.00, with a variable payment based on the number of SLD registrations inserted or renewed by each registrar not to exceed US $ 1.00 per registration year. The variable portion of this fee has been suspended pending the report of a task force established by the Board on permanent funding mechanisms consisting of representatives from the various name and address registry and registrar communities.