CORE Association and COREhub, respectively Registry Operator & RSP, and Registrar, support the renewal of .xxx Agreement and its adaptation tothe 2013 RA Base Agreement, but not the removal of its sponsored nature.

The .xxx was approved in a special round for Sponsored/Community tLDs based on a) the existence of a community they were addressed to, b) a sponsoring organisation that represented that community and gruanteed the use for that community and c) certain restrictions to ensure registrants belonged tothat community. INexchnage of these commitments, in addition tothe specific for each TLD applciation, several TLDs were approved much earlier than the hundreds of tLD inthe 2012 round, and also paying a much lower fee.

Cicumstance may change, but the unilateral declaration of the Registry that sponsorship makes no sense anymore, simply because a( there are otehr TLDs with similar goals whicah are not restricted and b) the difficuties/inabilities/unwillingess to suflfill the sponshorship obligations should not be enough to erase all representationsm, cmmitments and contractual olbiations.

We believe that before dong any such change, ICANN should consider evaluating the possiblity to find an alternative sponsoring organisation. This may certainlyfail, as most likely the community never existed as such. But then ICANN shoul also very carefully evaluate the consequences of approving applciations in specially adventaggeous conditins based on representations, commitments and agreemnts that can then be discarded by the simple will of the Registry when they do not provide any such advantage. This would have a very negative impact in any future round of TLDs. Speciallywhen the prosposed voluntary PICs would be subject to the same unilateral will, and when ICANN org doubts of its very ability toenforce them

For these reasons we consider premature allwoing sucha change, while advising a shorter term adaptatin to the 2013 RA Base Agreement + carrying over of sponsors