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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.

Launch of Supplementary Registration Proxy Service for gTLDs Operated by XYZ.COM LLC

Open Date

10 December 2015 23:59 UTC

Close Date

22 January 2016 23:59 UTC

Staff Report Due

19 February 2016 23:59 UTC

Comments Closed

Report of Public Comments

View Comments

Brief Overview

Purpose: This public comment period is to gather community input on the proposed amendments to .XYZ, .COLLEGE, .RENT, .THEATRE, .PROTECTION, and .SECURITY Registry Agreements to allow XYZ.COM LLC, the Registry Operator of these six TLDs, to offer a new registry service, which is a proxy service that will provide secondary gateway access to SRS/EPP, RDDS (via Whois – port 43 –, web-based Directory Service, RDAP, or any combination of the three), or both for the purposes of operating these TLDs in local domain name markets.

These Registry Agreement amendments are intended to implement the proposed new registry service for XYZ, .COLLEGE, .RENT, .THEATRE, .PROTECTION, and .SECURITY TLDs, which was submitted and evaluated through the Registry Services Evaluation Policy (RSEP) process.

Current Status: As required by the Registry Services Evaluation Policy (RSEP), ICANN has undertaken a preliminary determination on whether this RSEP proposal might raise significant competition, security or stability issues. ICANN's preliminary review (based on the information provided) did not identify any such issues.

ICANN is seeking public comments on the proposed Registry Agreement amendments that will allow XYZ.COM LLC to implement a Supplementary Registration Proxy service for .XYZ, .COLLEGE, .RENT, .THEATRE, .PROTECTION, and .SECURITY TLDs.

Next Steps: ICANN will prepare a public comment summary and analysis report at the conclusion of the public comment period. ICANN will consider these public comments as it considers approval of the proposed registry agreement amendments.

Section I: Description and Explanation

On 2 December 2015, XYZ.COM LLC submitted a Registry Services Evaluation Policy (RSEP) request to offer a new registry service for .XYZ, .COLLEGE, .RENT, .THEATRE, .PROTECTION, and .SECURITY TLDs. The registry service is a supplementary proxy service that will provide gateway for access to SRS/EPP, RDDS (via Whois – port 43 –, web-based Directory Service, RDAP, or any combination of the three), or both for the purposes of operating these TLDs in local domain name markets.

The Registry Agreement amendments to implement the supplementary registration proxy service include certain restrictions on the Registry Operator's ability to implement the service. Notably, any Registry Services offered by the Registry Operator through a supplementary registration proxy are required to be consistent and coherent with the primary Registry Services. In particular, a Registry Service offered through a supplementary registration proxy must provide the same registration data; offer the same functionality; and be subject to the same specifications, service-level requirements, and emergency transition thresholds (as specified in Specification 10 of the Registry Agreement) as the corresponding primary Registry Services offered by the Registry Operator. Additionally, to provide transparency the Registry Operator must submit additional Registry Functions Activity Reports for each supplementary registration proxy instance to ICANN. Please refer the proposed amendment for additional terms and conditions.

The RSEP request was posted for public information on the Registry Service Evaluation Process webpage, available at https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/rsep-2014-02-19-en.

As provided by the Registry Services Evaluation Policy, ICANN has undertaken a preliminary determination on whether this proposal might raise significant competition, security or stability issues as defined in the Policy. ICANN's preliminary review (based on the information provided) did not identify any such issues for these requests.

Following ICANN's preliminary determination that the proposal does not raise significant competition, security or stability issues, it was further determined that the change would require a material change to the respective Registry Agreements and that an amendment to allow XYZ.COM LLC to offer a new supplementary registration proxy service, is needed in order to effect the change.

ICANN is seeking public comments on these amendments that would allow XYZ.COM LLC to offer this new supplementary registration proxy service.

Section II: Background

On 5 December 2013, ICANN and XYZ.COM LLC entered into a Registry Agreement under which XYZ.COM LLC operates the .XYZ top-level domain. The .XYZ Registry Agreement is available for review here: https://www.icann.org/resources/agreement/xyz-2013-12-05-en

On 16 January 2014, ICANN and XYZ.COM LLC entered into a Registry Agreement under which XYZ.COM LLC operates the .COLLEGE top-level domain. The .COLLEGE Registry Agreement is available for review here: https://www.icann.org/resources/agreement/college-2014-01-16-en

On 4 December 2014, ICANN and DERRent, LLC entered into a Registry Agreement under which DERRent, LLC operated the .RENT top-level domain. Effective 10 March 2015, the Registry Agreement was assigned by DERRent, LLC to XYZ.COM LLC, which now operates the .RENT top-level domain. The .RENT Registry Agreement is available for review here: https://www.icann.org/resources/agreement/rent-2014-12-04-en.

On 23 April 2015, ICANN and Symantec Corporation entered into a Registry Agreement under which Symantec Corporation operated the .PROTECTION top-level domain. Effective 2 June 2015, the Registry Agreement was assigned by Symantec Corporation to XYZ.COM LLC, which now operates the .PROTECTION top-level domain. The .PROTECTION Registry Agreement is available for review here: https://www.icann.org/resources/agreement/protection-2015-04-23-en.

On 7 May 2015, ICANN and KBE gTLD Holding Inc entered into a Registry Agreement under which KBE gTLD Holding Inc operated the .THEATRE top-level domain. Effective 5 June 2015, the Registry Agreement was assigned by KBE gTLD Holding Inc to XYZ.COM LLC, which now operates the .THEATRE top-level domain. The .THEATRE Registry Agreement is available for review here: https://www.icann.org/resources/agreement/theatre-2015-05-07-en.

On 14 May 2015, ICANN and Symantec Corporation entered into a Registry Agreement under which Symantec Corporation operated the .SECURITY top-level domain. Effective 11 June 2015, the Registry Agreement was assigned by Symantec Corporation to XYZ.COM LLC, which now operates the .SECURITY top-level domain. The .SECURITY Registry Agreement is available for review here: https://www.icann.org/resources/agreement/security-2015-05-14-en.

XYZ.COM LLC submitted an RSEP request to offer a similar service initially on 26 August 2015 and then on 9 October 2015, respectively, however the Registry Operator withdrew these requests to clarify the description of the service.

Section III: Relevant Resources

Section IV: Additional Information

Section V: Reports