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Third Version of Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone (RZ-LGR-3) Released

10 July 2019

LOS ANGELES – 10 July 2019 – Today, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced the release of the third version of Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone (RZ-LGR-3). These rules define a set of criteria for determining valid Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) labels for the Root Zone of the Domain Name System (DNS) and their variant labels.

A total of 16 scripts, out of the 28 scripts identified in the Maximal Starting Repertoire, are now integrated in the Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone (RZ-LGR). The first version (RZ-LGR-1), released in March 2016, integrated the Arabic script. The second version (RZ-LGR-2), released in August 2017, integrated five more scripts, including Ethiopic, Georgian, Khmer, Lao and Thai. RZ-LGR-3 integrates 10 additional scripts: Devanagari, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Hebrew, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Sinhala, Telugu, and Tamil. Armenian and Cyrillic script proposals have also been completed but have been deferred from integration until related script proposals are also finalized. The remaining scripts will be included in the future releases of RZ-LGR, as relevant proposals become available.

These label generation rules have been defined by the respective community-based Generation Panels and evaluated and integrated by the Integration Panel after the public comment period, following the Procedure to Develop and Maintain the Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone in Respect of IDNA Labels [PDF, 1.4 MB].

About ICANN

ICANN's mission is to help ensure a stable, secure, and unified global Internet. To reach another person on the Internet, you have to type an address into your computer - a name or a number. That address has to be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN helps coordinate and support these unique identifiers across the world. ICANN was formed in 1998 as a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation and a community with participants from all over the world. ICANN and its community help keep the Internet secure, stable and interoperable. It also promotes competition and develops policy for the top-level of the Internet's naming system and facilitates the use of other unique Internet identifiers. For more information please visit: www.icann.org.