closed Latin Script Diacritics PDP Initial Report

Outcome

The Latin Script Diacritics Policy Development Process (PDP) Working Group (WG) (hereafter “LD PDP WG”) received a total of sixteen (16) Public Comments from a broad range of stakeholders across the community. All its Preliminary Outputs – fifty-four (54) Preliminary Recommendations and Implementation Guidance in total – attracted feedback, both substantive and nonsubstantive. Among these, twenty-nine (29) Outputs received substantive concerns. Overall, commenters recognized the effort of this PDP in addressing the identified policy gap in a manner which aligned with Domain Name System (DNS) stability, security, and end user trust. They commended the measured approach taken, noting that it appropriately maintained a focused and narrow scope. However, some commenters expressed concerns that the limited set of characters following the Unicode Table definition and the requirement of a base ASCII generic top-level domain (gTLD) could unintentionally exclude certain characters, introduce challenges, and create user confusion. Others noted that the arbitrariness of an ASCII/Latin diacritic gTLD set and/or an ASCII/Latin diacritic domain set could adversely affect predictability, consistency, and transparency for registrants and end users. Nevertheless, the proposal for common management under the same operator, thus adhering to the same entity principle, received support from a majority of commenters.

The comments received will enable the LD PDP WG to reassess any issues they may have missed or not covered during their preliminary deliberations and help improve the language to develop the Final Report. Through the Public Comment Review process, the LD PDP WG will conduct a thorough review of all the comments received and consider whether any revisions need to be made to the Preliminary Outputs.

What We Received Input On

The Latin Script Diacritics Policy Development Process Working Group (hereafter referred to as the “LD PDP WG” or “WG”) is seeking Public Comment on its Initial Report. Diacritics are accents, accent marks, or acute accents that are used to modify sounds, or signify stressed syllables in many languages globally that utilize the Latin alphabet. The Domain Name System (DNS) is limited to the use of the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) characters. However, the DNS does support Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), including the usage of Latin alphabet-based characters with diacritics, with IDNs stored in the DNS as ASCII strings, relying upon Punycode transcription. As such, some users may elect to omit the diacritic marks instead of relying on an IDN. 

During 2021–2024, the GNSO Council developed policy recommendations to define variant domain names at the top and second-level and to establish rules for variant management. However, there remains a gap in principles for cases where a base ASCII generic top-level domain (gTLD) and its corresponding Latin diacritic gTLD(s) are not variants of each other. Accordingly, the LD PDP examines the circumstance where a base ASCII gTLD and the Latin script diacritic version of the gTLD are not variants of each other. It seeks to establish an appropriate mechanism, where currently none exists, that allows a single registry operator to simultaneously operate both gTLDs. 

The LD PDP WG is seeking input on its Initial Report based on its 54 preliminary recommendations and implementation guidance. In order to facilitate Public Comment feedback, the LD PDP WG has enabled a guided submission form. This allows comments to be clearly linked to specific sections of the Initial Report.

Background

On 13 November 2024, the GNSO Council initiated the LD PDP and chartered the LD PDP Working Group. On 19 December 2024, the GNSO Council adopted the LD PDP WG Charter. A call for volunteers was issued on 3 January 2025, with the LD PDP WG holding its kick-off meeting on 8 March 2025 during ICANN82 in Seattle. Subsequently, the WG’s Project Plan was approved by the GNSO Council on 10 April 2025, with the WG remaining focused on maintaining a narrow scope centered on examining a single issue: In circumstances where a base ASCII gTLD and the Latin script diacritic version of the gTLD are not variants of each other, what mechanism is needed in order to allow a single registry operator to simultaneously operate both gTLDs? Since then, the LD PDP WG has progressed through its charter questions and deliberations culminating in its Initial Report. This Initial Report is now open for Public Comment to receive feedback on the proposed recommendations of the WG, through the aid of a guided submission form. 

Supporting Information