Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) Registry Agreements

gTLD Registry Agreements establish the rights, duties, liabilities, and obligations ICANN requires of registry operators to run gTLDs.

TLD Sponsorship Agreement: Attachment 1 (.museum)

ICANN | TLD Sponsorship Agreement: Attachment 1 (.museum)

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TLD Sponsorship Agreement: Attachment 1 (.museum)

Posted: 20 August 2001


.museum Charter

The .museum TLD will be established to serve the needs of the international museum community. It will be managed in accordance with the provisions of this charter ("Charter") and in the interests of that community.

1. The Sponsor will be responsible for establishing registration requirements for the .museum TLD, provided that registrations shall be granted only to entities that are museums (as defined in item 2 below), professional associations of museums, or individuals who are professional museum workers (as defined in item 7 below).

2. For the purposes of this Charter, the basic definition of a "museum" is provided in Article 2, Paragraph 1 of the Statutes of the International Council of Museums ("ICOM"), as quoted below. The Sponsor may extend this definition to cover other entities that acquire, conserve, and communicate or exhibit evidence of people or their environment, if petitioned to do so by a recognized professional organization within the museum community, provided that any such extension is in accordance with community perceptions about the prevailing scope of the field of museum activity.

3. The Sponsor may clarify this definition as may be necessary for the operation of the domain, subject to the limits on extension in item 2 above.

4. The Sponsor may establish stricter requirements for registrants according to the requirements for policy-development set forth in the Sponsorship Agreement.

5. The Sponsor will promptly convey to ICOM all statements of museum community need that may result in the Sponsor amending the definition of "museum" referred to in item 2 above, with the request that ICOM consider, in accordance with its procedures, commensurate modification to its definition of "museum" at the earliest date at which this may be done.

6. The Sponsor will promptly convey to ICANN any modifications that may be made to the definition of "museum" provided in the ICOM Statutes.

7. For the purposes of this Charter, the definition of "professional museum worker" is provided in Article 2, Paragraph 2 of the ICOM Statutes, as quoted below. A professional museum worker shall receive registrations of Registered Names within .museum only (a) under one or more role-descriptive second-level sub-domains within .museum (e.g., john.smith.curator.museum and jane.doe.conservator.museum) established for this purpose or (b) under one or more sub-domains assigned to a museum or museums with which the worker is affiliated.

From Article 2 of the Statutes of the International Council of Museums:

The ICOM Statutes were adopted by the 16th General Assembly of ICOM (The Hague, The Netherlands, 5 September 1989), amended by the 18th General Assembly of ICOM (Stavanger, Norway, 7 July 1995), and amended again by the 20th General Assembly of ICOM (Barcelona, Spain, 6 July 2001).

Article 2 - Definitions

1. A museum is a non-profit making, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, and open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of people and their environment.

(a) The above definition of a museum shall be applied without any limitation arising from the nature of the governing body, the territorial character, the functional structure or the orientation of the collections of the institution concerned.

(b) In addition to institutions designated as "museums" the following qualify as museums for the purposes of this definition:

(i) natural, archaeological and ethnographic monuments and sites and historical monuments and sites of a museum nature that acquire, conserve and communicate material evidence of people and their environment;

(ii) institutions holding collections of and displaying live specimens of plants and animals, such as botanical and zoological gardens, aquaria and vivaria;

(iii) science centres and planetaria;

(iv) non profit art exhibition galleries;

(v) nature reserves;

(vi) international or national or regional or local museum organizations, ministries or departments or public agencies responsible for museums as per the definition given under this article;

(vii) non-profit institutions or organizations undertaking conservation, research, education, training, documentation and other activities relating to museums and museology;

(viii) cultural centres and other entities that facilitate the preservation, continuation and management of tangible or intangible heritage resources (living heritage and digital creative activity); and

(ix) such other institutions as the Executive Council, after seeking the advice of the Advisory Committee, considers as having some or all of the characteristics of a museum, or as supporting museums and professional museum personnel through museological research, education or training.

2. Professional museum workers include all the personnel of museums or institutions qualifying as museums in accordance with the definition in Article 2, para. 1, having received specialized training, or possessing an equivalent practical experience, in any field relevant to the management and operations of a museum, and independent persons respecting the ICOM Code of Professional Ethics and working for museums as defined above, either in a professional or advisory capacity, but not promoting or dealing with any commercial products and equipment required for museums and services.


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