ICANN | Public Comment: Dot-pro Fee Amendment

On 17 June 2009, ICANN received the attached communication from Catherine Sigmar, General Manager at Registry Services Corporation (dba RegistryPro) (see, http://www.icann.org/correspondence/sigmar-to-pritz-17jun09-en.pdf) requesting an amendment to the .PRO Registry Agreement (see, http://www.icann.org/en/tlds/agreements/pro/).

RegistryPro has paid fees of US$121,900/year for the last several years which are significantly higher than other comparably sized TLDs. RegistryPro has stated the reduction in fees would enable them to invest in growth strategies that might make .PRO names more accessible to the community. The amendment would result in a fixed annual fee plus a transactional fee once the registry exceeds 50,000 domain registrations. If approved by the ICANN Board, the amendment would change the amount of fees paid by RegistryPro to ICANN.

The current .PRO Registry Agreement is due to expire on 27 May 2010. This amendment would bring .PRO’s fees in line with other TLDs during the remaining term of its agreement. ICANN and RegistryPro expect the renewal agreement will provide during its term fees that will come into line with those in the current draft base agreement for new gTLDs.

Comments on the proposed amendment can be posted to pro-tld-amendment@icann.org no later than 5:00 PM UTC, 17 July 2009, and be viewed at http://forum.icann.org/lists/pro-tld-amendment.