During ICANN82, the ICANN Board passed a resolution recognizing the Universal Acceptance Steering Group's (UASG's) 10 years of work and directing ICANN org to evaluate and evolve strategies to support Universal Acceptance (UA) adoption work by ICANN org and the community moving forward. This assessment will enable ICANN to better align its UA resources with our Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2026-2030.
The evaluation has been conducted by ICANN org. It included an assessment of the UA-related work already completed, the current UA landscape with the need to focus on UA adoption requiring implementation and operational work, as well as the increasing community efforts that are enabling progress toward a UA-ready world.
Much of the progress that has been made is due to the hard work of the Universal Acceptance Steering Group, which was formed at the community's request in 2015 to promote UA. I'd like to thank everyone who has contributed their time and talent to this decade-long effort and, more recently, through broader community initiatives.
Notably, many software developers, email service providers, businesses, and governments are now aware of UA and aiming to become UA-ready. Concurrently, ICANN has increased its staff to support technical work for this evolving dynamic.
It is now time to align our focus and resources with this evolution, effectively engage with the community, and align with ICANN's strategic objective to facilitate digital inclusion.
Community contributions remain essential to support the transition to a more UA-ready world; however, a new approach is needed to address the operational aspects of this journey. As such, ICANN plans to implement several changes at the start of ICANN's 2026 fiscal year, which begins on 1 July 2025.
New UA Expert Working Group
ICANN will establish an Expert Working Group to provide guidance for ICANN's work on UA adoption. This group will include invited members and nominated representatives from Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees. Additional information will be shared within the next few weeks.
UASG Support
With the focus changing to implementation work, ICANN will no longer provide funding or staff support to the UASG after June 2025. We will work closely with the UASG on this transition, including ensuring the document library and other valuable resources remain readily available.
The UASG was formed by the community in 2015, to "drive action over the course of the next 10 years," as governed by its charter, with the coordination and support of ICANN. And per their request, ICANN org has supported the UASG with these resources for 10 years.
We plan to continue to support the UA Local Initiatives and are also looking at how the UA Ambassador program may be supported by ICANN org for technical UA training.
The UASG's many accomplishments will be celebrated during ICANN83, which will be held in Prague, 9–12 June 2025. A report highlighting the UASG work will also be published.
UA Day
ICANN will continue to support UA Day, in collaboration with UNESCO, and with support from the ICANN community. UA Day events are held globally to celebrate progress and help further UA adoption. Information, including this year's schedule of events, is available at the UA Day webpage. The main UA Day 2025 event will be held on 8 May in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Ongoing Community Involvement
ICANN also will continue to work with community groups that have IDN- and UA-related initiatives, including the At-Large Advisory Committee, Country Code Names Supporting Organization, Generic Names Supporting Organization, Governmental Advisory Committee, and the Security and Stability Advisory Committee.
In closing, UA is more than a technical necessity to ensure all valid domain names and related email addresses work seamlessly on the Internet, regardless of length, language, or script. It is essential to achieving a more multilingual Internet.
The ICANN Board and org are committed to driving progress in UA and fostering greater digital inclusivity on the Internet, and I look forward to working with the community to achieve this goal.
