2012-10-13 - Approval of Proposed .Name Renewal Registry Agreement

Why the Board is addressing the issue now?

The prior .name Registry Agreement expired on 15 August 2012. Verisign is continuing to operate under the terms of the prior agreement during ICANN's consideration of the proposed new form of agreement. The proposed renewal agreement was posted for public comment on 3 July 2012. The comment period closed on 23 August 2012.

What is the proposal being considered?

The changes to the .name Agreement and the Appendices fall within several broad categories: (i) changes to promote consistency across registries; (ii) changes to update the agreement to reflect changes that have occurred since the current .name Registry Agreement was signed (including updating references, technical changes and other updates); and (iii) changes to allow Verisign to better serve the internet community (including to allow Verisign to more quickly address certain imminent threats to the security and stability of the TLD or the Internet).

Which stakeholders or others were consulted?

ICANN conducted a public comment period on the proposed .name renewal Registry Agreement from 3 July 2012 through 23 August 2012, following which time the comments were summarized and analyzed.

What concerns or issues were raised by the community?

Three members of the community participated in the public comment, however, only one comment substantively addressed the proposed Agreement. That comment addressed competitive contract bidding.

What significant materials did the Board review?

The Board reviewed the proposed .name renewal Registry Agreement and its Appendices, as well as the public comment summary and analysis.

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 .name Registry Agreement currently in operation 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 currently operated .name Registry Agreement. The contractual compliance review covered areas including: (i) SRS Outage Restrictions; (ii) equal Registrar access to the SRS; (iii) bulk zone file access; (iv) payment of required fees; and (v) submission of monthly reports. Verisign was found to have met its contractual requirements (see http://www.icann.org/en/resources/compliance/reports/operator-verisign-name-06apr12-en.pdf [PDF, 104 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 significant fiscal impact expected if ICANN approves the proposed .name renewal Registry Agreement. The provisions regarding registry-level fees and pricing constraints are for the most part 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 ICANNapproves the proposed .name 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.

This is an ICANN Organizational Administrative Function requiring public comment.