Ombudsman Report Regarding Complaint by Hu Yi Global Information Resources (applicant for .招聘 ("recruitment" in Chinese))

The ICANN Ombudsman reports directly to the ICANN Board. The Ombudsman is an important Accountability Mechanism found in ICANN's Bylaws. The purpose of the Ombudsman is to help evaluate whether members of the ICANN community have been treated fairly. The Ombudsman acts as a neutral in attempting to resolve complaints using alternative dispute resolution (ADR) techniques. Where, in the course of an investigation of a complaint, the Ombudsman forms an opinion that there has been an issue of administrative fairness, the Ombudsman may notify the Board of the circumstances.

The Ombudsman has issued a report to the Board regarding the closing out of Hu Yi Global Information Resources Company's (Hu Yi's) application for the new gTLD .招聘 (meaning "recruitment" in Chinese) (Application) as a result of the default determination issued on the String Confusion Objection. The Ombudsman has recommended that the Board "revive" (or cause to be revived) the Application and permit it to proceed through the remainder of the new gTLD application process. Hu Yi is the only applicant for the new gTLD .招聘 ("recruitment" in Chinese); and Employ Media LLC is the only entity that filed an objection to the Application. Since its initial filing of the objection, Employ Media has explicitly indicated to ICANN and to the Ombudsman that it no longer objects to the Application. Thus, the Ombudsman determined that permitting the Application to proceed would have no impact on any other applicant and would have no impact on any objector (because there is none). In addition, the Board understands that there are no further evaluation or objection proceedings to which the Application would need to be subjected. The next step in the application process is the contracting phase.

In light of the unique set of circumstances presented here (namely, the fact that the objection was sustained only on procedural grounds, and that the objector later explicitly rescinded the objection and in fact supported the Application), and after a review of the Ombudsman Report, the Board has determined to follow the Ombudsman's recommendation, and direct the President, Global Domains Division or his designee(s) to proceed with processing Hu Yi's Application for the gTLD .招聘 through the remainder of the new gTLD application process. Taking this action will have a positive impact on ICANN's accountability to the community, as it is appropriate to review all applicable circumstances and recommendations resulting from one of ICANN's long-standing Accountability Mechanisms when taking decisions that have significant impact on applicants.

This decision has no direct financial impact on ICANN and will not impact the security, stability and resiliency of the domain name system.

This decision is an Organizational Administrative Function that does not require public comment.