Public Comment

Public Comment is a vital part of our multistakeholder model. It provides a mechanism for stakeholders to have their opinions and recommendations formally and publicly documented. It is an opportunity for the ICANN community to effect change and improve policies and operations.

Initial Report on Universal Acceptance of IDN TLDs

Comment/Reply Periods (*) Important Information Links
Comment Open: 6 January 2012
Comment Close: 7 February 2012 Extended to 23 March 2012
Close Time (UTC): 23:59 UTC Public Comment Announcement
Reply Open: 24 March 2012 To Submit Your Comments (Forum Closed)
Reply Close: 13 April 2012 View Comments Submitted
Close Time (UTC): 23:59 UTC Report of Public Comments
Brief Overview
Originating Organization:

Joint ccNSO and GNSO IDN Working Group (JIG WG)

Categories/Tags:
  • Top-Level Domains
  • Policy Processes
Purpose (Brief):

The Initial Report reflects the preliminary stocktaking by the WG members of policy and other considerations relating to the Universal Acceptance of IDN TLDs.

Current Status:

Seeking public comment on its Initial Report is part of the process to report on identified issues to the respective Councils and propose a methodology to address the issues.

Next Steps:

The WG will closely review all submitted comments to revise and assess its prelimanary stocktaking.

Staff Contact: Bart Boswinkel Email: bart.boswinkel@icann.org
Detailed Information
Section I: Description, Explanation, and Purpose

The joint ccNSO – GNSO IDN working group (JIG) is seeking public comment on its Initial Report on Universal Acceptance of IDN TLDs. This report is intended to solicit input from the community on the preliminary stocktaking of policy and other considerations as well as possible actions to taken by ICANN and the ICANN community to address the issue of Universal Acceptance of IDN TLDs in support of the introduction of IDN cc and gTLDs.

The following are policy and coordination considerations identified:

  1. Are there policy aspects to be considered and/or policies to be implemented at ICANN?
    1. Budgeting policies?
    2. Registry policies for IDN ccTLDs and IDN gTLDs?
  2. Which organizations should ICANN work with on the issue and how should ICANN identify such organizations?
    1. Industry, regional and related organizations
    2. Emerging de facto industry standards, such as:
  3. Which areas should ICANN focus its efforts and exert its influence on?
    1. Browsers and DNS Lookup tools and components
    2. Network infrastructure, hosting and email providers
    3. Network management and security tools
    4. Applications and databases
    5. Registries, Registrars and RIR systems
  4. On what types of work should ICANN and the ICANN community focus its efforts and priorities?
    1. Participation in, support and/or oversight of emerging industry standards
    2. Development and promotion of tools and educational materials
    3. Document and maintain a set of "checklist" or guidelines for new IDN TLDs
    4. Organizing and supporting relevant events (along with speaking engagements)
    5. Support for IDN TLDs in relevant local initiatives

To be most helpful input and feed-back from the community is sought with respect to the following questions:

  1. Is the approach used by the JIG satisfactory?
  2. Are the identified areas of policy and coordination comprehensive?

Has the JIG captured the major issues associated with Universal Acceptance of IDN TLDs? If not, what is missing?

Section II: Background

The purpose of the Joint ccNSO/GNSO IDN Working Group is to deal with issues related to the introduction of IDN ccTLDs under the IDN ccTLD Fast Track implementation process and IDN gTLDs under the new gTLD implementation process, which are of common interest to both the GNSO and ccNSO.

The following topic area's have been identified of mutual interest:

  1. Policy aspects relating to the introduction of Single Character IDN TLDs
  2. Universal Acceptance of IDN TLDs
  3. Policy aspects pertaining to variant management of IDN TLDs

Both the ccNSO and GNSO Council adopted the charter of the JIG.

Section III: Document and Resource Links

The Initial Report can be found at: http://ccnso.icann.org/workinggroups/jig-idn-tld-acceptance-initial-report-06jan12-en.pdf [PDF, 160 KB]

Additional Resources

Further information on the work of the joint ccNSO – GNSO IDN WG is available at: http://ccnso.icann.org/workinggroups/jiwg.htm

Section IV: Additional Information
None

(*) Comments submitted after the posted Close Date/Time are not guaranteed to be considered in any final summary, analysis, reporting, or decision-making that takes place once this period lapses.