Historical Resolution Tracking Feature » 2012-06-23 - COM Renewal
Important note: The explanatory text provided through this database (including the summary, implementation actions, identification of related resolutions, and additional information) is an interpretation or an explanation that has no official authority and does not represent the purpose behind the Board actions, nor does any explanations or interpretations modify or override the Resolutions themselves. Resolutions can only be modified through further act of the ICANN Board.
2012-06-23 - COM Renewal
Approval of renewal of the .COM Registry Agreement.
- Take actions as appropriate to implement agreement
- Responsible entity: President and CEO and General Counsel
- Due date: None stated
- Completion date: 1 December 2012
Whereas, the current .COM Registry Agreement is due to expire on 30 November 2012.
Whereas, Section 4.2 of the current .COM Registry Agreement provides that the Agreement shall be renewed upon the expiration of the initial term so long as certain requirements are met, and that upon renewal, in the event that certain terms of this Agreement are not similar to the terms generally in effect in the Registry Agreements of the five largest gTLDs (determined by the number of domain name registrations under management at the time of renewal), renewal shall be upon terms reasonably necessary to render the terms of this Agreement similar to such terms in the Registry Agreements for those other gTLDs.
Whereas, the proposed .com renewal Registry Agreement includes modified provisions to bring the .com Registry Agreement into line with other comparable agreements (e.g., .BIZ, .INFO, .NET, .ORG), including modifications to terms such as functional and performance specifications, Whois, indemnification, and broad audit provisions.
Whereas, ICANN commenced a public comment period on the proposed .com renewal Registry Agreement on 27 March 2012 (see, <http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/com-renewal-27mar12-en.htm>) that was closed on 17 May 2012.
Whereas, ICANN received 40 comments from 34 different commenters addressing subjects such as rights protection mechanisms, thick Whois, Whois protocol replacement, application of subsequent policies ratified by ICANN, equivalent registry contracts, chief compliance officer, single-character registrations, presumptive renewal and pricing provisions, competitive contract bidding and a summary and analysis of those comments was prepared and provided to the Board.
Whereas, no revisions to the proposed .COM renewal Registry Agreement are necessitated after taking into account the thoughtful and carefully considered comments received.
Whereas, the proposed .COM renewal Registry Agreement includes significant improvements in security and stability as compared to the current .COM Registry Agreement.
Resolved (2012.06.23.20), the proposed renewal .COM Registry Agreement is approved, and the President and CEO and the General Counsel are authorized to take such actions as appropriate to implement the agreement.
Why the Board is addressing the issue now?
The .com Registry Agreement is due to expire on 30 November 2012.
What is the proposal being considered?
In accordance with the renewal provisions of the current .com Registry Agreement, the proposed .com renewal Registry Agreement includes modified provisions to bring .com into line with other comparable agreements (e.g. .biz, .info, .net, and .org), including modifications to terms such as functional and performance specifications, Whois, indemnification, and broad audit provisions. In addition to the changes to bring .com into conformance with other agreements, Verisign has requested a change to give more flexibility for the registry to take action to prevent the registration of particular domain names when necessary in order to protect the security and stability of the DNS and the Internet – such as the actions that were taken by Verisign and other registries in coordination with ICANN in order to mitigate the threat from the Conficker virus.
Which stakeholders or others were consulted?
ICANN conducted a public comment period on the proposed .com renewal Registry Agreement from 27 March 2012 through 17 May 2012, following which time the comments were summarized and analyzed for Board review.
What concerns or issues were raised by the community?
Various members of the community raised the concerns summarized in the aforementioned analysis, including concerns with respect to rights protection mechanisms, thick Whois, Whois protocol replacement, application of subsequent policies ratified by ICANN, equivalent registry contracts, chief compliance officer, single-character registrations, presumptive renewal and pricing provisions, competitive contract bidding.
What significant materials did the Board review?
The Board reviewed the proposed .com Renewal Registry Agreement and its Appendices, as well as the summary of public comments and Staff's response to those comments.
What factors the Board found to be significant?
The Board carefully considered the public comments and the Staff recommendation with respect to those comments. The Board considered ICANN's contractual obligations with respect to the current .com Registry Agreement in reaching this decision, specifically that the agreement must be renewed absent certain uncured breaches by the registry operator and that certain terms of the renewal are required to conform to existing comparable gTLD registry agreements.
Are there positive or negative community impacts?
As part of the renewal process, ICANN conducted a review of Verisign's recent performance under the current .com Registry Agreement. The compliance review covered areas including:DNS availability; equal Registrar access to the SRS; bulk zone file access; payment of required fees; and submission of monthly reports. Verisign was found to have met its contractual requirements (see http://www.icann.org/en/resources/compliance/reports/operator-verisign-com-27mar12-en.pdf [PDF, 239 KB]). Evidence indicates that the community can expect that good performance to continue.
Are there fiscal impacts or ramifications on ICANN (strategic plan, operating plan, budget); the community; and/or the public?
There is no fiscal impact expected if ICANN approves the proposed .com renewal Registry Agreement. The provisions regarding registry-level fees and pricing constraints are consistent with the new gTLD base agreement and the current major gTLDs.
Are there any security, stability or resiliency issues relating to the DNS?
There are no expected security, stability, or resiliency issues related to the DNS if ICANN approves the proposed .com renewal Registry Agreement. The proposed agreement in fact includes terms intended to allow for swifter action in the event of certain threats to the security or stability of the DNS.
- The .COM Registry Agreement is available at http://www.icann.org/en/about/agreements/registries/com
- Public comment on the proposed .COM Registry Agreement is available at http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-27mar12-en.htm
- The resolution does not address funding for the items identified therein.