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(Updated 3 November 2009 to include new email and public comment forum addresses)

ICANN is today posting the .POST Sponsorship Agreement for public comment. ICANN and the Universal Postal Union (UPU) reached an agreement in principle following a challenging yet fruitful negotiation process. The Agreement represents a significant accomplishment for ICANN, the UPU, and the global Internet community, as it is the first gTLD Registry Agreement between ICANN and an Intergovernmental Organization (IGO). "Reaching this agreement provides additional validation of the ICANN model for fostering expansion and competition in the domain name space," said ICANN CEO and President, Rod Beckstrom. "The UPU has also helped mark out a path for other IGOs to sponsor their own top-level domains."

The UPU status as an intergovernmental organization and specialized agency of the United Nations presented a number of challenges when considering several typical gTLD registry contractual provisions. The negotiation for .POST concluded with an agreement that enables both organizations to recognize one another's traditional autonomy, mission and core values.

The .POST Sponsorship Agreement can be viewed at http://www.icann.org/en/tlds/agreements/post/post-agreement-02nov09-en.pdf [PDF, 128K], its appendices at http://www.icann.org/en/tlds/agreements/post/post-appendices-02nov09-en.pdf [PDF, 244K] and a summary of contractual provisions at http://www.icann.org/en/tlds/agreements/post/post-summary-of-provisions-02nov09-en.pdf [PDF, 36K].

Comments on the proposed agreement can be submitted to post-agreement-2009@icann.org through 1 December 2009 and viewed at http://forum.icann.org/lists/post-agreement-2009/.