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Information Concerning Approval Process for Dispute-Resolution Service Providers

On 26 August 1999, ICANN's Board adopted a Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) for all registrars serving the .com, .net, and .org domains. The policy began ramp-up implementation on 1 December 1999 and became fully operational on 3 January 2000.

The UDRP provides that most domain name disputes will be resolved by the courts, but it also calls for administrative dispute-resolution proceedings to enable streamlined, economical resolution of disputes arising from alleged "abusive registrations." Each UDRP proceeding is administered by a dispute-resolution service provider approved by the ICANN Organization.

Organizations seeking approval as UDRP service providers should take the following steps:

  1. Become familiar with the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy and the Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy.
  2. Submit an application by email to globalsupport@icann.org and by postal mail:

    Dispute Resolution Service Provider Applications
    Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
    12025 Waterfront Drive, Suite 300
    Los Angeles, CA 90094-2536 USA

Applications should contain:

  1. An overview of the applicant's capabilities and background in providing alternative dispute-resolution (ADR) services, including a description of the applicant's track record of handling the clerical aspects of expedited ADR proceedings.
  2. A list of the names and qualifications of the panelists the applicant proposes to include on its published list and a description of the screening requirements applicant has used in selecting panelists to be included on its list.
  3. A description of training and educational measures the applicant proposes to employ for listed panelists with respect to domain-name disputes, the UDRP Policy, and the UDRP Rules.
  4. A commitment by the applicant not to prevent or discourage any of its listed panelists from serving as panelists for domain-name disputes administered by other approved providers.
  5. A copy of the applicant's proposed supplemental rules (including fee schedule).
  6. Documentation of the applicant's proposed internal operating procedures. If requested, ICANN org will hold this documentation in confidence.
  7. A proposed schedule for the applicant's implementation of its program for administering proceedings under the policy, including a statement of the applicant's administrative capacity in terms of number of proceedings initiated on a monthly basis.
  8. A statement of any requested limitations on the number of proceedings that applicant handles, either during a start-up period or on a permanent basis.
  9. A description of how the applicant proposes to administer proceedings, including its interactions with parties, registrars, ICANN org, and other approved providers.
  10. A description of how the applicant intends to publish decisions of panels in proceedings it administers and a commitment to provide ICANN org with copies of all portions of decisions of panels not published.

In general, ICANN org examines the applications to determine whether the applicant has demonstrated its ability to handle proceedings in an expedited, global, online context in an orderly and fair manner. Attributes that are relevant to this examination include:

  1. The applicant should have a track record in competently handling the clerical aspects of ADR proceedings. ICANN org considers proper review of pleadings for administrative compliance and reliable and well-documented distribution of documents to the parties and panels to be essential capabilities for providers. In the absence of a well-established track record in handling the clerical function, a detailed plan for providing those abilities ordinarily must be submitted.
  2. The applicant should propose a list of highly qualified neutrals who have agreed to serve as panelists. The applicant's list should include at least twenty persons. Applicants are expected thoroughly to train the listed neutrals concerning the policy, the uniform rules, the technology of domain names, and the basic legal principles applicable to domain-name disputes. Accordingly, excessively long lists of neutrals are discouraged. The applicant should either present a list of panelists from multiple countries or, if the applicant initially presents a single-country list, propose a plan to expand its list to become multinational.
  3. The applicant's supplemental rules and internal procedures should demonstrate that applicant understands the workings of the policy and uniform rules.
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."