ICANN Announces Implementation of the Process for Review of New gTLD Registry Services

July 26, 2006

Today ICANN announces the implementation of the process for review of new gTLD Registry Services and adoption of the Registry Services Evaluation Process. The effective date of the Policy is 15 August 2006. The implementation of this process includes an online tool through which gTLD registry operators and registry sponsoring organizations will be able to submit their requests for new registry services to ICANN.

The Process and its implementation have been developed in particular to:

• support a timely, efficient, and open process for the evaluation of new registry services,
• a technical panel that may review the effect of a proposed registry service on security and stability,
• a process by which competition issues can be verified
• encourage transparency and communication between registry operators or registry sponsoring organizations and ICANN staff before requests for new registry services and contractual changes are submitted as formal proposals to ICANN.

On 30 June 2005, the GNSO Council approved the process as a consensus policy for adoption by the ICANN Board. On 8 November 2005, the ICANN Board adopted the proposed procedure as a consensus policy and directed implementation of the policy stating that "the implementation in contractual terms shall be guided by the provisions in the .NET Registry Agreement, in particular concerning definitions of registry services covered and confidentiality clauses".

As requested, the Process has been developed in accordance with the GNSO recommendation and the 8 November 2005 ICANN Board resolution by taking into consideration Article III, Section 3.1(d)(iii)-(iv) of the .NET Registry Agreement and similar provisions in other gTLD Agreements. Currently the last steps in formation of the technical panel that will consider stability and security issues will be completed in time to meet the effective date of this Policy, 15 August 2006.

The Process applies to all gTLD registries and registry sponsoring organizations under contract with ICANN.