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.

.name Registry Agreement Renewal

Comment/Reply Periods (*) Important Information Links
Comment Open: 3 July 2012
Comment Close: 2 August 2012
Close Time (UTC): 23:59 UTC Public Comment Announcement
Reply Open: 3 August 2012 To Submit Your Comments (Forum)
Reply Close: 23 August 2012 View Comments Submitted
Close Time (UTC): 23:59 UTC Report of Public Comments
Brief Overview
Originating Organization: ICANN
Categories/Tags: Contracted Party Agreements
Purpose (Brief): ICANN is posting today for public comment Verisign's proposed agreement for renewal of the 2007 .name Registry Agreement. This proposal is a result of discussions between ICANN and VeriSign, and will be considered by the ICANN Board after public comment. The current agreement will expire on 15 August 2012.
Current Status: The .name agreement will expire on 15 August 2012.
Next Steps: Once the public comments are reviewed, the ICANN Board will consider the proposal for renewal.
Staff Contact: Kurt Pritz Email: kurt.pritz@icann.org
Detailed Information
Section I: Description, Explanation, and Purpose

ICANN is posting today for public comment Verisign's proposed agreement for renewal of the 2007 .name Registry Agreement. This proposal is a result of discussions between ICANN and Verisign, and will be considered by the ICANN Board after public comment. The current agreement will expire on 15 August 2012. The public comment period will extend beyond that date. The current agreement prescribes that the current terms of the agreement will be renewed pending a new agreement being executed. This will allow the public comment period and Board consideration to proceed in with normal review periods.

Attached are a summary and explanation of the changes, and both clean and "redline" versions of the agreement and modified appendices.

Under the terms of the current .name agreement, and Verisign having met those terms, Verisign is entitled to renewal.  Verisign, as other registries, has to conform to Consensus policies that are developed and passed in GNSO and approved by the ICANN Board.

There are 5 documents posted for public comment:

Note: On 20 March 2012, Verisign submitted three new proposed services through the Registry Service Evaluation Process (RSEP) <http://www.icann.org/registries/rsep/rsep.html>. The services requested were: (1) Redemption Grace Period; (2) DNSSEC implementation; and (3) Bulk Transfer after Partial Portfolio Acquisition ("BTAPPA") for .name. The provisions reflecting these three modifications are incorporated in the proposed agreement renewal.

Contractual compliance Review

As part of the renewal process, ICANN conducted a review of Verisign's recent performance under its registry agreement. The compliance review covered areas including: SRS Outage Restrictions; Equal Registrar Access to the SRS; Bulk Zone File Requirements; Submission of Monthly Reports; and Payment of Required Fees. Verisign was found to have met its contractual requirements. The assessment can be found at: http://www.icann.org/en/resources/compliance/reports/operator-verisign-name-06apr12-en.pdf [PDF, 104 KB]

Section II: Background

ICANN and Global Name Registry, entered into an Unsponsored Registry Agreement on 15 August 2007. Later on 28 February 2009, Verisign, Inc. signed an Assignment and Assumption agreement under which Verisign operates the .name top-level domain. The current .name agreement and its appendices may be viewed at: http://www.icann.org/en/about/agreements/registries/name

VeriSign, Inc. manages the .com, .net, and .name generic top-level domains. As of March 2012, Verisign reports 232,408 .name domain names under management.

Section III: Document and Resource Links
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.