Extension of Initial Protections of IGO Names and Acronyms

Why the NGPC is addressing the issue?

Article XI, Section 2.1 of the ICANN Bylaws http://www.icann.org/en/about/governance/bylaws#XI permits the GAC to "put issues to the Board directly, either by way of comment or prior advice, or by way of specifically recommending action or new policy development or revision to existing policies." The GAC issued advice to the Board on the New gTLD Program through its Beijing Communiqué dated 11 April 2013. The ICANN Bylaws require the Board to take into account the GAC's advice on public policy matters in the formulation and adoption of the polices. If the Board decides to take an action that is not consistent with the GAC advice, it must inform the GAC and state the reasons why it decided not to follow the advice. The Board and the GAC will then try in good faith to find a mutually acceptable solution. If no solution can be found, the Board will state in its final decision why the GAC advice was not followed.

What is the proposal being considered?

In the Beijing Communiqué, the GAC reiterated previous advice that "appropriate preventative initial protection for the IGO names and acronyms on the provided list be in place before any new gTLDs would launch ("IGO GAC Advice")." The NGPC is being asked to consider accepting this advice, while being mindful of the outstanding implementation issues. This IGO GAC Advice is identified in the GAC Register of Advice as 2013-04-11-IGO.

The New gTLD Registry Agreement includes protections for IGOs but does not yet specify the names and acronyms to be protected.

To address the GAC advice regarding IGO names and acronyms, on 2 July 2013, the NGPC directed that temporary protections for the IGO names and acronyms previously identified by the GAC on its "IGO List dated 22/03/2013," which was attached as Annex 1 [PDF, 541 KB] the 2 July 2013 resolutions, so that the GAC and the NGPC would have time to work out outstanding implementation issues, as noted in the Beijing Communiqué. We think it is important that those temporary protections remain in place until the first meeting of the NGPC following the ICANN Meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, unless the NGPC and the GAC are able to resolve the issues and the NGPC passes a resolution on the IGO GAC Advice earlier than the ICANN Meeting in Buenos Aires. If the NGPC and the GAC do not reach agreement on the issues, and subject to any matters that arise during the discussions, the NGPC would require registry operators only to protect the names, but not the acronyms, identified on the GAC's IGO List posted as Annex 1 [PDF, 541 KB] to Resolutions 2013.07.02NG03-2013.07.02.NG06. This Resolution provides temporary protections for IGOs while respecting the ongoing implementation work.

Which stakeholders or others were consulted?

On 29 April 2013, ICANN initiated a public comment forum to solicit input on the proposed final draft of the New gTLD Registry Agreement . The public comment forum closed on 11 June 2013. The NGPC has considered the community comments on the New gTLD Registry Agreement in formulating its response to the IGO GAC Advice as it relates to the New gTLD Registry Agreement .

Additionally, on 14 June 2013, the GNSO Policy Development Process Working Group tasked with addressing the issue of protecting the identifiers of certain IGOs and International Non-Governmental Organizations ("INGOs") in all gTLDs published its Initial Report for public comment. The public comment period is scheduled to close 7 August 2013. The Issue Report was initiated as a result of a recommendation by the GNSO Drafting Team formed to provide a GNSO Council response to the Board and GAC on the protection of IOC and RCRC names in new gTLDs. After community review, the scope of the Final GNSO Issue Report included an evaluation of whether to protect the names of both IGOs and non-government organizations at the top level and second level in all gTLDs.

What concerns or issues were raised by the community?

ICANN received several responses from the community during the course of the public comment forum on the proposed final draft of the New gTLD Registry Agreement; however, none of the responses specifically relates to the provisions in the New gTLD Registry Agreement to provide protections for IGO identifiers.

What significant materials did the NGPC review?

As part of its deliberations, the NGPC reviewed the following significant materials and documents:

GAC Beijing Communiqué: http://www.icann.org/en/news/correspondence/gac-to-board-18apr13-en.pdf [PDF, 156 KB]
Public comments in response to the New gTLD Registry Agreement: http://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-base-agreement-29apr13/
GNSO PDP Working Group Initial Report on Protection of IGO and INGO Identifiers in all gTLDs: [PDF, 609 KB]
What factors did the Board find to be significant?

The Beijing Communiqué generated significant interest from the community and stimulated many comments. The NGPC considered the community comments, the GAC's advice transmitted in the Beijing Communiqué, the ongoing work of the GNSO PDP Working Group on the Protection of IGO and INGO Identifiers in all gTLDs and further discussion with the GAC on this topic.

Are there positive or negative community impacts?

The response to the GAC advice as provided in the NGPC's Resolution will assist with resolving the GAC advice in manner that permits the greatest number of new gTLD applications to continue to move forward as soon as possible, while being mindful of the ongoing efforts to work through the outstanding implementation issues.

Are there fiscal impacts or ramifications on ICANN (strategic plan, operating plan, budget); the community; and/or the public?

There are no foreseen fiscal impacts associated with the adoption of this resolution.

Are there any security, stability or resiliency issues relating to the DNS?

Approval of the proposed resolution will not impact security, stability or resiliency issues relating to the DNS.

Is this either a defined policy process within ICANN's Supporting Organizations or ICANN's Organizational Administrative Function decision requiring public comment or not requiring public comment?

On 29 April 2013, ICANN initiated a public comment forum to solicit input on the proposed final draft of the New gTLD Registry Agreement. The public comment forum closed on 11 June 2013.

On 14 June 2013, the GNSO Policy Development Process Working Group tasked with addressing the issue of protecting the identifiers of certain IGOs and INGOs in all gTLDs published its Initial Report for public comment. The public comment period is scheduled to close 7 August 2013.