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Charter Eligibility Dispute Resolution Policy

  1. This policy has been adopted by all accredited domain-name registrars for domain names ending in .aero, .coop, and .museum.
  2. The policy is between the registrar and its customer (the domain-name holder or registrant). Thus, the policy uses "we" and "our" to refer to the registrar and it uses "you" and "your" to refer to the domain-name holder.

This Policy is to be incorporated in all agreements with registrants concerning domain-name registrations in the Sponsored TLD (the "Registration Agreement"). "You" and "your" refer to the registrant. "Us" "our" and "we" refer to [either Sponsor or the applicable registrar (see Subsection 3.7)].

  1. Purpose. This Charter Eligibility Dispute Resolution Policy (the "Policy") is incorporated by reference into your Registration Agreement, and sets forth the terms and conditions in connection with disputes over the registration and use of an Internet domain name, registered by you in the Sponsored TLD. The proceedings under Paragraph 4 of this Policy will be conducted according to the Rules for Charter Eligibility Dispute Resolution Policy (the "CEDRP Rules"), which are available at , and the selected administrative dispute resolution service provider's supplemental rules. For the purposes of this Policy, the term "Registered Name" means a domain name registration in the Sponsored TLD.
  2. Your Representations. By applying to register a domain name within the Sponsored TLD (a "Registered Name"), or by asking us to maintain or renew a Registered Name, you hereby represent and warrant to us that, to your knowledge, the registration of your Registered Name conforms to the eligibility requirements set forth in the Sponsored TLD Charter (the "Eligibility Requirements").
  3. Cancellations. We will cancel Registered Names upon our receipt of a decision of a CEDRP Provider requiring such action in any administrative proceeding to which you were a party and which was conducted under this Policy or a later version of this Policy. (See Paragraph 5(e) below.) We may also cancel a Registered Name registration in accordance with the terms of your Registration Agreement or other legal requirements.
  4. Mandatory Administrative Proceeding. This paragraph sets forth the types of disputes for which you are required to submit to a mandatory administrative proceeding under this Policy. These proceedings will be conducted before a CEDRP Provider that has been approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN"). A list of CEDRP Providers is available at http://www.icann.org/udrp/cedrp-providers.html.
    1. Applicable Disputes. You are required to submit to a mandatory administrative proceeding in the event that a third party (a "Complainant") asserts to the applicable CEDRP Provider, in compliance with the CEDRP Rules that your Registered Name does not meet the Eligibility Requirements; in the administrative proceeding, the Complainant must prove this element.
    2. Registered Name Disputes: Evidence of Registration in Violation of the Eligibility Requirements. For the purposes of Paragraph 4(a), if the Panel of the CEDRP Provider finds that your Registered Name does not meet the Eligibility Requirements, then such finding shall be evidence that your Registered Name violated the Eligibility Requirements. If the Panel finds that your Registered Name violated the Eligibility Requirements, the Panel shall exercise the remedy set forth in Section 5(e).
    3. Registered Name Disputes: How to Demonstrate Your Rights to and Legitimate Interests in the Registered Name in Responding to a Complaint. For the purposes of Paragraph 4(a), when you receive a complaint, you should refer to the CEDRP Rules in determining how your response should be prepared.
  5. Procedure.
    1. Selection of CEDRP Provider. The Complainant shall select the CEDRP Provider from those on the list of CEDRP Providers by submitting the complaint to that CEDRP Provider. The selected CEDRP Provider will administer the proceeding.
    2. Initiation of Proceeding and Process and Appointment of the Panel. The CEDRP Rules state the process for initiating and conducting a proceeding and for appointing the panel that will decide the dispute (the "Panel").
    3. Fees. All fees charged by a CEDRP Provider in connection with any dispute before a Panel shall be paid in accordance with the CEDRP Rules.
    4. Our Involvement in Administrative Proceedings. We do not, and will not, participate in the administration or conduct of any proceeding before a Panel. In addition, we will not be liable as a result of any decisions rendered by the Panel.
    5. Remedy. The remedy available to a Complainant pursuant to any proceeding before a Panel shall be limited to the cancellation of your Registered Name.
    6. Notification and Publication. The CEDRP Provider shall notify us and ICANN of any decision made by a Panel with respect to a Registered Name. All decisions under this Policy will be published in full over the Internet, except when a Panel determines in an exceptional case to redact portions of its decision.
  6. All Other Disputes and Litigation. All other disputes between you and any party other than us regarding your Registered Name that are not brought pursuant to the mandatory administrative proceeding provisions of Paragraph 4 shall be resolved between you and such other party through any court, arbitration or other proceeding that may be available.
  7. Our Involvement in Disputes. We will not participate in any way in any dispute between you and any party other than us or the operator of the Sponsored TLD registry regarding the registration and use of your Registered Name. You shall not name us as a party or otherwise include us in any such proceeding. In the event that we are named as a party in any such proceeding, we reserve the right to raise any and all defenses deemed appropriate, and to take any other action necessary to defend ourselves.
  8. Maintaining the Status Quo. We will not cancel, transfer, activate, deactivate, or otherwise change the status of any Registered Name under this Policy except as provided in Paragraph 3 above.
  9. Changing Registrars During a Dispute. You may not transfer your Registered Name to another registrar during a pending administrative proceeding brought pursuant to Paragraph 4 or for a period of fifteen (15) business days (as observed in the location of our principal place of business) after such proceeding is concluded.
  10. Policy Modifications. We reserve the right to modify this Policy at any time with the permission of ICANN. We will post our revised Policy at (insert your Registrar Policy URL here)(*?) at least thirty (30) calendar days before it becomes effective. Unless this Policy has already been invoked by the submission of a complaint to a CEDRP Provider, in which event the version of the Policy in effect at the time it was invoked will apply to you until the dispute is over, all such changes will be binding upon you with respect to any Registered Name dispute, whether the dispute arose before, on or after the effective date of our change. In the event that you object to a change in this Policy, your sole remedy is to cancel your Registered Name, provided that you will not be entitled to a refund of any fees you paid to us. The revised Policy will apply to you until you cancel your Registered Name.
Domain Name System
Internationalized Domain Name ,IDN,"IDNs are domain names that include characters used in the local representation of languages that are not written with the twenty-six letters of the basic Latin alphabet ""a-z"". An IDN can contain Latin letters with diacritical marks, as required by many European languages, or may consist of characters from non-Latin scripts such as Arabic or Chinese. Many languages also use other types of digits than the European ""0-9"". The basic Latin alphabet together with the European-Arabic digits are, for the purpose of domain names, termed ""ASCII characters"" (ASCII = American Standard Code for Information Interchange). These are also included in the broader range of ""Unicode characters"" that provides the basis for IDNs. The ""hostname rule"" requires that all domain names of the type under consideration here are stored in the DNS using only the ASCII characters listed above, with the one further addition of the hyphen ""-"". The Unicode form of an IDN therefore requires special encoding before it is entered into the DNS. The following terminology is used when distinguishing between these forms: A domain name consists of a series of ""labels"" (separated by ""dots""). The ASCII form of an IDN label is termed an ""A-label"". All operations defined in the DNS protocol use A-labels exclusively. The Unicode form, which a user expects to be displayed, is termed a ""U-label"". The difference may be illustrated with the Hindi word for ""test"" — परीका — appearing here as a U-label would (in the Devanagari script). A special form of ""ASCII compatible encoding"" (abbreviated ACE) is applied to this to produce the corresponding A-label: xn--11b5bs1di. A domain name that only includes ASCII letters, digits, and hyphens is termed an ""LDH label"". Although the definitions of A-labels and LDH-labels overlap, a name consisting exclusively of LDH labels, such as""icann.org"" is not an IDN."