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ICANN Nominating Committee | Job Descriptions and Open Leadership Positions 2022

Candidates for all the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) leadership positions referenced below should be individuals with a high level of qualifications and experience with an international outlook including some familiarity with the Internet.

ICANN's Nominating Committee (NomCom) selects candidates to fill various leadership positions that will make a valuable public service contribution towards ensuring the stable and secure operation of the Internet's unique identifier systems. Those candidates will work with accomplished colleagues from around the globe, address the Internet's intriguing technical coordination issues and related policy development matters within diverse functional, cultural, and geographic dimensions, and gain valuable insights and experience from working across boundaries of knowledge, responsibility, and perspective.

The NomCom invites candidates to apply for the following positions:

Position: ICANN Board of Directors

Number of Seats: Three

Start of Term: After conclusion of Annual Meeting 2022

End of Term: Conclusion of Annual Meeting 2025

The ICANN Board of Directors supports ICANN's mission, core values and commitments through the oversight and establishment of strategic policies in alignment with ICANN's Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws. Board members have the duty to act in what they reasonably believe are the best interests of the organization and the public interest. NomCom is seeking Board members who reflect the global diversity of the Internet community and the wide range of technical, commercial, and public interests that are impacted by the Domain Name System (DNS).

Read more about the current ICANN Board of Directors.

Job Description: The NomCom is seeking people of integrity with the expertise, knowledge, and experience to make a meaningful contribution to the ICANN Board of Director's work and enhance the Board's effectiveness as they act in the best interests of the global Internet community.

Responsibilities

  • Review, consider and approve as appropriate, annual budgets, all strategic plans, all operating and financial plans, recommendations from specific and organizational reviews as well as from other parts of the ICANN community, and make material business decisions not otherwise delegated to ICANN org to meet legal and fiduciary responsibilities.
  • Prepare for and attend Board meetings, informational calls, workshops and other Board conferences or discussions as required.
  • Prepare for and attend relevant meetings including committees, working groups, caucuses or as liaisons to community group activities as required.
  • Serve as advisor and resource to the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as he or she develops and implements ICANN's strategic plan in support of the Board's strategic vision and implements the operating plans.
  • Represent ICANN to stakeholders at Public Meetings, government, and industry events.
  • Ensure that ICANN's Mission, Core Values and Commitments are properly followed.
  • Review outcomes and metrics measuring performance.

Qualifications

The criteria set forth in Article 7, section 7.3 of the ICANN Bylaws for the nomination of Directors are:

  1. Accomplished persons of integrity, objectivity, and intelligence, with reputations for sound judgment and open minds, and a demonstrated capacity for thoughtful group decision-making;
  2. Persons with an understanding of ICANN's Mission and the potential impact of ICANN decisions on the global Internet community, and committed to the success of ICANN;
  3. Persons who will produce the broadest cultural and geographic diversity on the Board consistent with meeting the other criteria set forth in this Section 7.3;
  4. Persons who, in the aggregate, have personal familiarity with the operation of gTLD registries and registrars; with ccTLD registries; with IP address registries; with Internet technical standards and protocols; with policy-development procedures, legal traditions, and the public interest; and with the broad range of business, individual, academic, and non-commercial users of the Internet; and
  5. Persons who are able to work and communicate in written and spoken English.

Additional Qualifications

  • Management Experience: ICANN organization has around 400 employees, operates globally, and has a budget well in excess of US$100M a year. Experience with and an understanding of organizations of comparable size is highly desirable.
  • Commitment: Board members must have the ability to focus on the execution of ICANN's mission with an emphasis on transparency, accountability, excellence, efficiency, effectiveness, and empathy.
  • Collegiality: Board members should have the necessary experience and temperament to work closely and comfortably with a diverse set of people within the Board, organization, and community. They should be committed to cooperation and consensus building, able to remain poised in the face of criticism and other stressful situations.
  • Knowledge: Board members must understand the role and function of the ICANN Board as distinct from ICANN management, the role of the ICANN community as distinct from the Board, and a commitment to the limit of ICANN's remit as outlined in the Bylaws. It is preferable that they possess a basic technical understanding of the Internet architecture and protocols, including the IANA functions.

Participation and Terms

  • Compensation: Board members (except the Governmental Advisory Committee Liaison to the Board) are entitled, but not required, to receive compensation for their services. Presently, eligible Board members have the option to receive fixed compensation currently equivalent to US$45,000. The Board Chair is eligible for the equivalent of US$75,000. The Board is also eligible for the reimbursement of actual, documented, and necessary reasonable expenses incurred by Board members performing their duties. You can read more details about compensation here.
  • Time Commitment: Applicants must be able to devote a significant amount of time to the basic responsibilities, which in some cases, including immersive Board workshops and ICANN Public meetings, could average over time up to or more than 20 hours per week. In addition, there is a constant flow of information requiring regular attention on almost a daily basis. Additional time is required to prepare for and participate in Board committees, working groups, caucuses or liaison roles to community groups.

Eligibility

  • Regional Requirement: The Bylaws require the Board to be composed of Directors who, in the aggregate, display diversity in geography, culture, skills, experience, and perspective. The Board must include at least one Director from each ICANN Geographic Region. The total number of Directors (not including the President and CEO) from countries in any one ICANN Geographic Region cannot exceed five. Read more specifics about regional eligibility here.
  • Exclusions: The ICANN Bylaws do not allow applicants for the Board if they meet certain criteria.
    • No official of a national government or a multinational entity established by treaty or other agreement between national governments may serve as a Director. Read more detail here.
    • No person who serves in any capacity (including as a liaison) on any Supporting Organization Council shall simultaneously serve as a Director or Liaison to the Board. Read more detail here.
    • No Director may serve more than three consecutive terms. For these purposes, a person designated to fill a vacancy in a term shall not be deemed to have served that term. Read the relevant section of the Bylaws here.
    • No person who serves on the Nominating Committee in any capacity shall be eligible for nomination by any means to any position on the Board or any other ICANN body having one or more membership positions that the Nominating Committee is responsible for filling, until the conclusion of an ICANN annual meeting that coincides with, or is after, the conclusion of that person's service on the Nominating Committee. Read the relevant section of the Bylaws here.

You can find more information about the ICANN Board Member application process here.

Position: PTI Board of Directors

Number of Seats: One

Start of Term: After conclusion of Annual Meeting 2022

End of Term: Conclusion of Annual Meeting 2025

Public Technical Identifiers (PTI) is ICANN's closely-held affiliate that was created to handle, under contract with ICANN, the performance of the IANA functions, which are key operational aspects of coordinating the Internet's unique identifiers.  PTI is responsible for maintaining the trust of the community to provide these services in an unbiased, responsible, and effective manner. The PTI Board of Directors is responsible for the strategic oversight of PTI in meeting its mission and serving the contracts with ICANN in alignment with PTI's Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws.

Read more about the current PTI Board of Directors.

Job Description: The NomCom is seeking people of integrity with the expertise, knowledge, and experience to make a meaningful contribution to the PTI Board of Directors and enhance the Board's effectiveness as they act in the best interests of the global Internet community.

Responsibilities

  • Approve annual budget, strategic plans, operating plans, audit reports, and material business decisions to meet legal and fiduciary responsibilities.
  • Review outcomes and metrics measuring performance.
  • Attend Board meetings (in person or virtual, depending on format) and teleconferences.

Qualifications

The criteria outlined in the PTI Bylaws for the nomination of Directors are:

  1. Accomplished persons of integrity, objectivity, and intelligence, with reputations for sound judgment and open minds, and a demonstrated capacity for thoughtful group decision-making;
  2. Persons with an understanding of the Corporation's purposes and the potential impact of the Corporation's decisions on the global Internet community, and committed to the success of the Corporation;
  3. Persons who, collectively, have executive management, operational, technical, financial, and corporate governance experience;
  4. Persons who, in the aggregate, have personal familiarity with the operation of gTLD registries and registrars; with ccTLD registries; with IP address registries; with Internet technical standards and protocols; with policy-implementation procedures; and
  5. Persons who are able to work and communicate in written and spoken English.

Participation and Terms

  • Compensation: Pursuant to the current Bylaws, PTI Directors will not be compensated for services rendered to PTI. The Board may also authorize the reimbursement of actual, documented, and necessary reasonable expenses incurred by any Board members performing their duties. You can read more details about compensation here.
  • Time Commitment: Applicants must be able to devote a significant amount of time to the basic responsibilities, which could be up ten percent of a work week. In addition, there is a flow of information requiring regular attention on a weekly basis.

Eligibility

  • Regional Requirement: The Bylaws require the Board to be composed of Directors who, in the aggregate, display diversity in geography, culture, skills, experience, and perspective.
  • Conflicts: The PTI Bylaws restrict applicants who meet certain criteria.
    • No official of a national government or a multinational entity established by treaty or other agreement between national governments may serve as a Director. Read more detail here.
    • No person who serves in any capacity (including as a liaison) on any Supporting Organization Council or Advisory Committee shall simultaneously serve as a Director or Liaison to the Board.
    • No person who serves on the Nominating Committee in any capacity shall be eligible for nomination by any means to any position on the Board.
    • No person who serves on the Empowered Community (EC) Administration while serving in that capacity shall be considered for nomination or election to the Board, nor serve simultaneously on the EC Administration and as a Director.
    • Nominating Committee Directors must not be, and for at least the previous one year, must not have been a person compensated by the Corporation for services or family of such a person. Read more detail here.
    • Nominating Committee Directors must not be, and for at least the previous three years must not have been and employee of ICANN or PTI, a director of ICANN, or an external consultant or advisor retained by ICANN.
    • No Nominating Committee Director may serve more than two consecutive terms.

You can find more information about the PTI Board Member application process here.

Position: ICANN At-Large Advisory Committee

Number of Seats: Two total, one each from the following regions: *

  • Europe
  • North America

*Details on ICANN's Geographic Regions can be found here.

Start of Term: After conclusion of Annual Meeting 2022

End of Term: Conclusion of Annual Meeting 2024

The At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) is the ICANN body responsible for representing and championing the voice of the end user in policy and operational discussions. The ALAC must act as a balance to those whose interests lie with those who provide Internet and domain name registrations and services, domain name registrants and content, and service providers. ALAC consists of two members selected by each of the Regional At-Large Organizations (RALOs) and five members selected by the Nominating Committee (NomCom). The five members selected by the NomCom include one citizen of a country within each of the five Geographic Regions.

Read more about the work of the ALAC and the At-Large user community.

Job Description: The NomCom is seeking accomplished persons of integrity, objectivity, and intelligence who have an abiding desire to ensure that individual end users' needs are addressed as ICANN carries out its role of coordinating in the global Internet's systems of unique identifiers. ALAC members should have a very clear understanding of non-technical, non-industry individual users and reflect the global diversity of the Internet community as well as the wide range of technical, commercial, and civil society activities that are impacted by the Domain Name System (DNS).

Responsibilities

  • Consider and provide advice on ICANN activities as they relate to the interests of individual Internet users. This includes policies developed by Supporting Organizations, ICANN organization operations, and other issues for which community input and advice is appropriate.
  • Attend ALAC meetings (in person or virtual, depending on format), three ICANN Public Meetings a year, and teleconferences.
  • Coordinate and participate in outreach to and engagement of individual Internet users.
  • Contribute to selection process of Board Director chosen by At-Large.
  • Represent the ALAC to various ICANN-related bodies, reviews, or working groups.
  • Contribute to certification and review processes for organizations meeting the criteria and standards for At-Large Structure accreditation.
  • Support mechanisms and processes that enable two-way communication between members of At-Large Structures and those involved in ICANN decision-making.

Qualifications

  • Commitment to ICANN's mission and an understanding of the potential impact of ICANN decisions on the global Internet community.
  • Strong advocate for the needs and interest of individual Internet users from the region of origin and globally.
  • Understanding of the DNS and the impact of ICANN policy on end users.
  • An interest in and the time to become active in ICANN policy discussions and in enabling communications with individual Internet users and their representatives.
  • Demonstrated capacity for thoughtful group decision-making and sound judgment.
  • Ability to chair or provide leadership and support for a multistakeholder group working to reach consensus.
  • Interest in bottom-up, consensus policymaking in a multicultural environment.
  • Ability to work and communicate effectively in English. 

Additional Qualifications

  • Consumer protection and or consumer advocacy experience, particularly in communications or telecommunications sectors.
  • Specific experience in Internet or DNS policy development and knowledge of Internet governance issues. This could include generic or country code top-level domain activities or issues related to Internationalized Domain Names.
  • Represent perspectives not otherwise reflected in the existing ALAC membership.
  • Strong local networks that will enhance ALAC and regional project planning as they support the ICANN Strategic Plan and the ALAC Improvement implementation.

Participation and Terms

  • Compensation: ALAC members, like members of other ICANN Advisory Committees, receive no compensation for their services as Committee members. The Board may authorize the reimbursement of documented and necessary expenses incurred by Advisory Committee members while performing their duties. ICANN has traditionally reimbursed documented expenses incurred by ALAC members for attending ICANN meetings.
  • Time Commitment: The basic responsibilities of an ALAC member requires a minimum of 25-30 hours per month.
    • This includes participation in monthly ALAC telephone conferences, commenting on or contributing to documents and proposed actions drafted, ongoing online discussions, and meeting and making presentations to relevant local and regional organizations.
    • Additional time is required to serve as liaisons to other Supporting Organizations, on the ALAC Leadership team, or on working groups.
    • In-person attendance at three ICANN meetings per year requires additional time. Virtual ICANN meetings may require a lesser but still significant amount of time. Committee members will be expected to attend three face-to-face meetings each year held during the ICANN Public Meetings, which generally run about seven days with potentially extensive responsibilities on most days for ALAC members.
    • There may occasionally be additional face-to-face interim meetings or regional meetings.
  • Many ALAC and ICANN meetings are conducted via teleconference. Due to ICANN's global representation, calls will inevitably occur during working, early morning, or evening hours. Although attempts are made to share the time zone burden, ALAC members should be reasonably flexible regarding scheduling of conference calls given reasonable advance notice.

Eligibility

  • Regional Requirement: The Bylaws require the ALAC to be composed of members who, in the aggregate, display diversity in geography, culture, skills, experience, and perspective. The five members of the ALAC selected by the NomCom shall include one citizen of a country within each of the five Geographic Regions (Africa; Asia/Australia/Pacific Islands; Europe; Latin America/Caribbean Islands; and North America). Only citizens Europe and North America regions as defined in ICANN's definition of Geographic Regions are eligible for ALAC vacancies in 2022.
  • Conflicts: The ICANN Bylaws restrict applicants meeting certain criteria.
    • No person who serves on the NomCom in any capacity is eligible for selection by any means to any position on the ALAC (the Board or any other ICANN body having one or more membership positions that the NomCom is responsible for filling) until the conclusion of an ICANN Annual Meeting that coincides with, or is after, the conclusion of that person's service on the NomCom.
    • The Bylaws do not state a limit on the number of terms ALAC members may serve.

You can find more information about the ICANN ALAC application process here.

Position: Generic Names Supporting Organization Council

Number of Seats: One non-voting member of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Council

Start of Term: After conclusion of Annual Meeting 2022

End of Term: Conclusion of Annual Meeting 2024

The Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) is a body responsible for developing and recommending substantive policies relating to generic top-level domains to the ICANN Board. The GNSO Council is responsible for managing the policy development process in the GNSO.

Read more about the work of the GNSO Council.

Job Description: The NomCom is seeking accomplished persons of integrity, objectivity, and intelligence with a working knowledge of the multistakeholder policymaking process and the work of the GNSO. While GNSO Council members should have a deep understanding of the GNSO structure, existing ICANN consensus policies, and contracts between ICANN and registries and registrars, preference will be given to candidates with a demonstrable ability to manage the policy development process towards the best interests of the entire GNSO community rather than solely for a specific GNSO Stakeholder Group or Constituency. NomCom appointed members are expected to act with integrity and independently. Voting NomCom appointed members are encouraged to engage with the Council representatives of their appointed House and all NomCom appointed member are encouraged to engage with the GNSO and global Internet community more broadly, to understand their concerns and views, so that the NomCom appointee may have a balanced understanding of varying interests and be an informed and effective councilor.

NomCom appointed members who are affiliated with an ICANN community group at the time of application are not meant to represent their current or previously affiliated group and are expected to observe the principles and intent of the ICANN's Conflicts of Interest Policy.

Responsibilities

  • Attend monthly GNSO Council meetings in person and remotely.
  • Attend face-to-face or virtual GNSO Council meetings at ICANN's three Public Meetings, and all other associated GNSO Council meetings.
  • Attend the GNSO Council's strategic planning sessions in person or remotely.
  • Review preparatory materials in a timely manner and engage in discussion where applicable, both on the email list and during meetings.
  • Where applicable, consult with the Council representatives of their appointed house, as the appointee deems appropriate.

The NomCom appointee can participate in GNSO and Council activities including, but not limited to:

  • GNSO working groups.
  • Support GNSO Council efforts, including drafting, scoping, and other ad hoc small team efforts.
  • Serving as a GNSO Council liaison to GNSO efforts.
  • Serve in any GNSO leadership position, including chair.

Qualifications

  • Good understanding of, and ideally experience in, the GNSO policy development process.
  • Good understanding of the ICANN environment, including the different Supporting Organizations (SO) and Advisory Committees (AC), interactions between them, and knowledge about the multistakeholder model and its processes.
  • Good understanding of the GNSO structure, existing ICANN consensus policies, and contracts between ICANN and registries and registrars.
  • Committed to ICANN's mission and understand the potential impact of ICANN decisions on the global Internet community.
  • Understand the Domain Name System (DNS) and the industry structure of the domain name market.
  • Willingness, ability, and commitment to travel to and actively participate in ICANN's three Public Meetings per year (or participate virtually if applicable), as well as attend all monthly Council meetings (including remote), and serve as a volunteer on the Council throughout the term.
  • Good understanding of the possible impacts, including costs, benefits, and practical implications, of new policies relating to gTLDs on stakeholders such as commercial and non-commercial users, Internet infrastructure providers, and ICANN contracted parties.
  • Ability to work and communicate in written and spoken English (although there is no requirement that English be the candidate's first language).

Additional Qualifications

  • A demonstrated capacity for thoughtful group decision-making and sound judgment.
  • Meeting the criteria and possessing the skillset above are of more importance than where the candidate is from (e.g., within versus outside the ICANN community, from a particular Supporting Organization or Advisory Committee, etc.). However, in filling this position, the NomCom will be seeking to select a Council member who reflects the diversity of the global Internet community and the wide range of policy, technical, commercial, and non-commercial activities that are impacted by the DNS.

Participation and Terms

  • Compensation: GNSO Council members, like members of other ICANN Supporting Organizations, receive no compensation for their services as members. The Board may authorize the reimbursement of documented and necessary expenses incurred by Supporting Organization members while performing their duties. ICANN has traditionally reimbursed documented expenses incurred by GNSO Council members for attending ICANN meetings.
  • Time Commitment: The successful candidate(s) will be appointed to the GNSO Council at the end of the ICANN Annual General Meeting (AGM) for a term of 2 years.
    • Council members spend on average between two to ten hours per week on Council work. This increases around each of ICANN's three annual Public Meetings.
    • Council members are expected to prepare in advance for any motions to be considered at a Council meeting by reading the reports submitted by working groups and consulting with constituent house, as appropriate.
    • Members work, on average, an additional two to four hours per week for each GNSO working group they choose to join.
    • GNSO Council liaisons and GNSO leadership positions may require significant additional hours.

Eligibility

  • Applicants must be able to commit the requisite time and attention to serving as an effective GNSO councilor.
  • Applicants, when serving in their role as a NomCom appointed Councilor, must commit to act independently and not act as a representative of, nor lobby or advance the interest of any ICANN community group, client, employer, organization, group, or committee.
  • No person who serves on the NomCom in any capacity is eligible for selection for any position on the GNSO Council until the conclusion of an ICANN Annual Meeting that coincides with, or is after, the conclusion of that person's service on the NomCom.
  • The Bylaws do not state a limit on the number of terms GNSO Council members may serve.

You can find more information about the ICANN GNSO Council application process here.

Position: Country Code Name Supporting Organization Council

Number of Seats: One

Start of Term: After conclusion of Annual Meeting 2022

End of Term: Conclusion of Annual Meeting 2025

The Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) is the ICANN body responsible for developing and recommending to the Board global policies for a limited set of issues relating to country code top-level domains (ccTLDs), nurturing consensus across the ccNSO's community, and coordinating with other ICANN Supporting Organizations, Advisory Committees, and constituencies on matters of common interest.

The ccNSO is made up members and the Council. The ccNSO Members are ccTLD managers who volunteered to become member. The ccNSO Council is the body of the ccNSO that administers and coordinates the affairs of the ccNSO and manages the development of policy recommendations. They also undertake other roles in consultation with the members. The ccNSO Council is made up of 18 councilors, 3 of which are appointed by the Nominating Committee (NomCom).

Read more about the work of the ccNSO.

Job Description: The NomCom is seeking accomplished persons of integrity, objectivity, and intelligence with an interest in the multistakeholder policymaking process and knowledge of ccTLDs. Members of the ccNSO Council help steer the policy development process, contribute to the ccNSO's role as a Decisional Participant within ICANN, and lead outreach and engagement.

Responsibilities

  • Attend regular ccNSO Council meetings.
  • Attend face-to-face or virtual ccNSO Council meetings at ICANN's three Public Meetings.
  • Attend the ccNSO Council's strategic planning sessions in person or remotely.
  • Review preparatory materials in a timely manner and engage in discussion where applicable, both on the email list and during meetings.

The NomCom appointee can participate in ccNSO and Council activities including, but not limited to:

  • ccNSO working groups.
  • Support ccNSO Council efforts, including drafting, scoping, and other ad hoc small team efforts.
  • Serve in any ccNSO leadership position, including chair.
  • Participate in outreach efforts to the ccTLD community.

Qualifications:

  • Commitment to ICANN's mission and an understanding of the potential impact of ICANN decisions on the global Internet community.
  • Understanding of the ccTLD issues.
  • Willingness, ability, and commitment to travel to and actively participate in ICANN's three Public Meetings per year, or participate virtually, if applicable.
  • Ability to work and communicate in written and spoken English (although there is no requirement that English be the candidate's first language).
  • Previous experience with nonprofit or membership organizations and policy work.

Additional Qualifications:

  • A demonstrated capacity for thoughtful group decision-making and sound judgment.
  • Experience evaluating staff and candidates for various functions.
  • The NomCom will be seeking to select a Council member who reflects the diversity of the global Internet community.
  • Experience in Internet governance would be an asset.

Participation and Terms

  • Compensation: ccNSO Council members, like members of other ICANN Supporting Organizations, receive no compensation for their services as members. The Board may authorize the reimbursement of documented and necessary expenses incurred by Supporting Organization members while performing their duties. ICANN has traditionally reimbursed documented expenses incurred by ccNSO councilors attending ICANN meetings.
  • Time Commitment: The successful candidate(s) will be appointed to the ccNSO Council at the end of the ICANN Annual General Meeting (AGM) for a term of three years.
    • Council members spend on average 12 hours per month on Council work. This increases around each of ICANN's three annual Public Meetings.
    • Council members are expected to prepare in advance for any motions to be considered at a Council meeting by reading the reports submitted by working groups and consulting with constituent house, as appropriate.
    • Chairing working groups or task forces requires at least 30 hours a month. The commitment involves a minimum of six hours per month: an average of two-hour teleconferences (or physical meetings) per month plus about two hours of preparation for each meeting, and consulting with the community.
    • ccNSO Council liaisons and ccNSO leadership positions may require significant additional hours.

Eligibility

  • NomCom appointees to the ccNSO Council are intended to provide a different perspective from that of a ccTLD manager. The applicant must not be directly or indirectly associated with a ccTLD manager or be a Board member or employee of a ccTLD regional organization.
  • The applicant must be able to commit the requisite time and attention to serving as an effective ccNSO councilor.
  • The member must commit to act independently and in the larger public interest, and not act as a representative of, nor lobby or advance the interest of any employer, organization, group, or committee.
  • No person who serves on the NomCom in any capacity is eligible for selection for any position on the ccNSO Council until the conclusion of an ICANN Annual Meeting that coincides with, or is after, the conclusion of that person's service on the NomCom.
  • The Bylaws do not state a limit on the number of terms ccNSO Council members may serve.

You can find more information about the ICANN ccNSO Council application process here.

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Domain Name System
Internationalized Domain Name ,IDN,"IDNs are domain names that include characters used in the local representation of languages that are not written with the twenty-six letters of the basic Latin alphabet ""a-z"". An IDN can contain Latin letters with diacritical marks, as required by many European languages, or may consist of characters from non-Latin scripts such as Arabic or Chinese. Many languages also use other types of digits than the European ""0-9"". The basic Latin alphabet together with the European-Arabic digits are, for the purpose of domain names, termed ""ASCII characters"" (ASCII = American Standard Code for Information Interchange). These are also included in the broader range of ""Unicode characters"" that provides the basis for IDNs. The ""hostname rule"" requires that all domain names of the type under consideration here are stored in the DNS using only the ASCII characters listed above, with the one further addition of the hyphen ""-"". The Unicode form of an IDN therefore requires special encoding before it is entered into the DNS. The following terminology is used when distinguishing between these forms: A domain name consists of a series of ""labels"" (separated by ""dots""). The ASCII form of an IDN label is termed an ""A-label"". All operations defined in the DNS protocol use A-labels exclusively. The Unicode form, which a user expects to be displayed, is termed a ""U-label"". The difference may be illustrated with the Hindi word for ""test"" — परीका — appearing here as a U-label would (in the Devanagari script). A special form of ""ASCII compatible encoding"" (abbreviated ACE) is applied to this to produce the corresponding A-label: xn--11b5bs1di. A domain name that only includes ASCII letters, digits, and hyphens is termed an ""LDH label"". Although the definitions of A-labels and LDH-labels overlap, a name consisting exclusively of LDH labels, such as""icann.org"" is not an IDN."