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Authorization Process for Release of Two-Character ASCII Labels

This is an archive of Version December 2014 of the Authorization Process for Release of Two-Character ASCII Labels webpage. Click here for the current page. Click here to view the archive index of the Authorization Process webpage and see what was updated.

On 16 October 2014 ICANN Board Resolution 2014.10.16.14 passed, with consideration of the GAC Los Angeles Communiqué, directing ICANN staff to "develop and implement an efficient procedure for the release of two-character domains currently required to be reserved in the New gTLD Registry Agreement."

Effective 1 December 2014, ICANN published a general authorization for release of all non-Letter/Letter two-character ASCII labels for all new gTLD Registry Operators. No further actions are required from new gTLD Registry Operators that seek to register and activate these two-character ASCII labels.

The process for new gTLD Registry Operators to request authorization for the release of Letter/Letter two-character ASCII labels, will require the Registry Primary contact to complete the Authorization for Release of Letter/Letter Two-Character Request Form provided below.
Note: In accordance to Section 6 of Specification 5 of the Registry Agreement, a list of reserved names for this section are still subject to the reservation requirements and will not be available for release at this time.

Once the request is received, ICANN will validate the completeness of the request and post it to this page for comments. The comment period for each request is 30 calendar days, and the GAC will be notified of each request posted to this page. Following the comment period, the non-objected Letter/Letter two-character ASCII labels will be released via an Authorization that will be provided by ICANN to the Registry Operator.

All authorizations to release two-character ASCII labels from reservation will continue to be subject to all terms of the Registry Agreement.

Submitting Comments on Letter/Letter Requests
To post a comment to a request, click the "Submit Comments" hyperlink located next to the request in the table below. The comment should include the two-character label reference #, the first name of the commenter, the last name of the commenter, the title/position of the commenter, the commenters respective government (if applicable), and the comments on the request. ICANN may use the email address of the commenter to further communicate with the requestor and/or to substantiate or clarify the request. This may also be provided to the Registry Operator, if requested.

Comments will be reviewed and considered by ICANN in determining whether to authorize the release of requested Letter/Letter Two-Character ASCII Labels.

Resources
Click here to read ICANN's blog on two-character ASCII Label Authorizations
Click here to read ICANN's announcement of the process to request the release of two-character letter/letter ASCII Labels
Click here to view the Authorization for Release of Non-Letter/Letter Two-Character ASCII Labels
Click here to download the Request for Release of Letter/Letter Two-Character Labels
Click here to download the Request for Release of Letter/Letter Two-Character Labels – Appendix A
Click here to submit comments
Click here to view all comments

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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."