closed Fourth Proceeding for Proposed Language for Draft Sections of Next Round AGB

Outcome

In total, 11 Public Comments were submitted by stakeholders from across the community on the proposed language for draft sections of the Next Round Applicant Guidebook (AGB).

Commenters considered whether the proposed language was consistent with the Final Report on the new gTLD Subsequent Procedures (SubPro) Policy Development Process (Final Report) outputs and some provided suggestions for amendments and/or clarification of the language on certain topics. All the Public Comments received will be carefully considered by ICANN org. Any changes required to the proposed language will be reviewed with the SubPro Implementation Review Team (IRT).

ICANN org ensures that requirements of the Next Round are made clear for applicants by 1) soliciting input from the ICANN community on the proposed language of the AGB; and, 2) collaborating with the IRT to make sure it is consistent with SubPro Final Report outputs.

What We Received Input On

This is the fourth in a series of Public Comment proceedings that will seek input from the ICANN community on proposed language for the Applicant Guidebook (AGB) for the New gTLD Program: Next Round. Specifically, ICANN org is looking for input from the community on whether the proposed language is consistent with the relevant outputs from the Final Report on the New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Policy Development Process and the Phase 1 Final Report on the Internationalized Domain Names Expedited Policy Development Process. It should be noted that the proposed language has been developed in collaboration with the Subsequent Procedures Implementation Review Team.

Specifically, ICANN org has published the following draft sections for input:

• Material Impact (related to Topic 2: Predictability)
• Topic 9: Registry Voluntary Commitments / Public Interest Commitments (RVCs/PICs)
• Applicant Journey (related to Topic 5: Application Submission Limits and Topic 16: Application Submission Period)
• Application Questions
• Topic 15: Application Fees
• Topic 18: Terms and Conditions
• Order of Application Processing and the Prioritization Draw (related to Topic 19: Application Queuing)
• Topic 20: Application Change Requests
• Topic 27*: Applicant Reviews: Technical/Operational, Financial and Registry Services
  • Financial and Operational Evaluation
  • Registry Service Provider Selection
• Topic 29: Name Collision
• Topic 34: Community Applications (Community Priority Evaluation)
• Contention Set Resolution (related to Topic 35: Auctions: Mechanisms of Last Resort / Private Resolution of Contention Sets)
• Code of Conduct Exemption Evaluation (Specification 9)
• Brand Eligibility Evaluation (Specification 13)

* This document has been updated due a publishing error with the original document. The updated version (v2) includes the ‘Introduction and Execution of Evaluation’ sections that were missing from the previous version.”

As a reminder, all sections of the AGB are expected to be submitted for a final Public Comment proceeding in May 2025.

Background

On 18 February 2021, the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) approved the Final Report on the new gTLD Subsequent Procedures Policy Development Process and transmitted it to the ICANN Board for consideration as required by the ICANN Bylaws. The Final Report presents final recommendations, implementation guidance, and other outputs relating to the next round of new gTLDs.

In the 16 March 2023 Board Resolution, the ICANN Board directed ICANN org to begin the implementation on a subset of outputs from the Final Report. Subsequently, an Implementation Review Team (IRT) was formed and has been assisting ICANN org with implementation of the outputs since its first meeting on 16 May 2023. The Board has since taken additional action on further subsets of outputs from the Final Report, including on 10 September 2023, 26 October 2023, 8 June 2024, and November 2024.

ICANN org conducted a number of Public Comment proceedings to date, including:

• The first Public Comment proceeding from 1 February - 19 March 2024, which produced a summary report on 2 April 2024. ICANN org also reviewed the comments with the IRT.
• The second Public Comment proceeding from 10 September - 21 October 2024, which produced a summary report on 6 November 2024.
• The third Public Comment proceeding from 19 December 2024 - 07 February 2025. The summary report for this proceeding is expected to be published on 21 February 2025.

Supporting Information