closed Draft Evaluation Guide for Community Priority Evaluation (CPE)

Outcome

In total, 12 Public Comments were submitted by stakeholders from across the community on the proposed language for the draft Evaluation Guide for Community Priority Evaluation (CPE) in the 2026 Round.

Commenters were requested to focus on reviewing the Evaluation Guide itself and not on the evaluation criteria and guidelines set forth in the Applicant Guidebook. As such, in cases where commenters re-open issues previously deliberated on and discussed with the IRT or provide recommendations for changes not grounded in the SubPro Final Report or other related policies, ICANN’s response notes this without further substantive consideration.

Based on the input provided, ICANN org, together with the CPE vendor, will consider whether any changes to the Evaluation Guide are required. The final Evaluation Guide will be posted on the New gTLD Program website.

What We Received Input On

ICANN org is seeking input on the draft evaluation guide for Community Priority Evaluation (CPE) for the New gTLD Program: 2026 Round. As defined in the Applicant Guidebook (Guidebook), CPE is a method to resolve contention in the 2026 Round and is an option only available to Community Applications. 

The evaluation guide will be used by the panel conducting CPE in conjunction with the criteria and guidelines defined in Guidebook Section 5.4. It provides an overview of the CPE process, defines the role of the panel vs. ICANN org, lays out the panel’s activities and timeline for evaluation, and provides guidance by criterion for the panel to consider as it conducts its evaluation.

The criteria and guidelines for CPE are based on policy recommendations from the Final Report on the new gTLD Subsequent Procedures Policy Development Process, which are now enshrined in the Guidebook. The evaluation guide is intended to complement the information contained in the Guidebook, but does not replace or supersede it. This Public Comment proceeding is intended only to obtain input on the evaluation guide itself and not on the criteria and guidelines from the Guidebook.

Background

In its 16 March 2023 Board Resolution, the ICANN Board directed ICANN org to begin the implementation on a subset of outputs from the Final Report on the new gTLD Subsequent Procedures Policy Development Process. Subsequently, an Implementation Review Team (IRT) was formed and assisted ICANN org with implementation of the outputs since its first meeting on 16 May 2023. This work to implement the outputs from the Final Report is contained in the Applicant Guidebook. On 30 October 2025, the ICANN Board adopted the Guidebook, and on 16 December 2025, ICANN org published the final version of the Guidebook. 

CPE is an independent analysis conducted by a third-party expert panel. The panel’s role is to determine whether a self-identified Community Application fulfills the CPE criteria and should receive priority in a contention set. The scoring process examines a set of criteria related to community establishment, the nexus between the identified community and applied-for string, registration policies, and community support. It is designed to identify qualified Community Applications while preventing false positives (awarding priority to unqualified applications) and false negatives (overlooking qualified Community Applications). 

Supporting Information