ICM Overview: Enforcement of Registry Agreement Provisions

The Registry Agreement between ICANN and ICM ensures that ICANN has concrete and practical mechanisms to enforce the contract.

1. The Registry Agreement substantially enhances ICANN’s leverage over ICM, and provides robust guarantees that ICM will deliver on the commitments made regarding its operation of the TLD.
2. In addition to ICANN’s standard rights to terminate the agreement for failure to cure serious breaches, and to use binding arbitration to obtain specific performance of registry obligations as well as punitive, exemplary, and other damages for repeated/willful breach, the Agreement:
   • Gives ICANN the right to disapprove any change of control of ICM.
   • Prohibits launch of .xxx until agreements with third parties are in place to monitor registrant compliance with the labeling requirements and prohibition on child pornography;
   • Gives ICANN the right to disapprove ICM’s choice of monitoring service providers, and prohibits launch of .xxx until those agreements are in place; and
   • Requires ICM to provide advance notice of any proposed change in the sponsoring organization, and gives ICANN the right to disapprove any such change.
3. The Agreement also obligates ICM to:
   • Ensure that IFFOR remains independent and free of inappropriate influence by addressing, prior to launch, ICANN’s concerns about the contract between IFFOR and Registry Operator to ICANN.
   • Establish a thirty-day “quick look” opportunity for ICANN to review policies prior to implementation, and resolve any concerns about those policies prior to implementation.
   • Provide quarterly written reports for one year, and as reasonably requested thereafter, detailing and demonstrating reasonable progress towards fulfilling policy commitments .
   • Engage independent associations, acceptable to ICANN, to monitor and oversee compliance with its obligation to prohibit child pornography and require labeling.