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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.

This announcement consists of the following documents:

1. The Policy

2. Implementation Notes

3. Background Documents

• 30 June 2005 - GNSOFinal Report (Procedure for use by ICANN in considering requests for consent and related contractual amendments to allow changes in the architecture or operation of a gTLD registry)
• 8 Nov 2005 - ICANN Board Resolution approving process for new registry services
• 26 Jan 2006 - Nomination of Lyman Chapin as Chair of the Technical Panel on New Registry Services
• 31 Mar 2006 - ICANN Board Resolution approving nomination of Lyman Chapin
• ICANN Resources for gTLD Registries (This section provides information and important links for gTLD registries and sponsoring organizations).

About ICANN

ICANN is an internationally organised, public benefit non-profit responsible for coordinating Internet Protocol (IP) address space allocation, protocol identifier assignment, generic (gTLD) and country code (ccTLD) Top-Level Domain name system management, and root server system management functions. For more information please visit: http://icann.org.

Media Contacts

International
Andrew Robertson, Edelman (London)
Ph: +44 7921 588 770
E: andrew.robertson@edelman.com

Tanzanica King, ICANN (USA)
Ph: +1 310 301 5804
E: tanzanica.king@icann.org