Implementation Plan for the GNSO Consensus Policy Relating to the Protection of Certain Red Cross Names

Purpose: This public comment forum is intended to gather community feedback on the proposed policy changes related to the 191 full names of the National Red Cross or Red Crescent Societies, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which are to be placed into Reserved Names List. This new consensus policy and updated list of Red Cross Names is intended to supplement the previously-adopted Protection of International Governmental Organization (IGO) and International Non-Governmental Organization (INGO) Identifiers in All gTLDs Policy by which the specific terms Red Cross, Red Crescent, Red Lion & Sun and Red Crystal were withheld from registration.

Note that these recommendations relate to protection of full names at the second-level only and do not extend to the issue of protecting the acronyms of the International Committee of the Red Cross or of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which will remain reserved pending further deliberations.

Current Status: ICANN organization worked with the community-based Implementation Review Team (IRT) to produce the proposed changes to the Protection of IGO and INGO Identifiers in All gTLDs Policy consensus policy, which was published in January 2018, and to the existing list of International Olympic Committee (IOC), Red Cross, and IGO reserved names for new gTLDs.

Next Steps: ICANN organization will prepare a public comment summary report at the conclusion of the comment period. ICANN organization and the IRT will consider those comments in preparation of the implementation of the updated Protection of IGO and INGO Identifiers in All gTLDs Policy consensus policy and the reservations protection for the additional the Red Cross and Red Crescent names. After the implementation plan has been finalized, ICANN's Contracted Parties will be notified of the implementation/compliance deadlines. The publication of the policy is planned for 1 February 2020 with an effective date of 1 August 2020.

The Protection of IGO and INGO Identifiers in All gTLDs Policy published in January 2018, requires generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) operators to implement certain protections for International Governmental Organizations (IGOs) and International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), including reserving the names from registration by third parties. The updated consensus policy being posted for public comment is intended to supplement the previously-adopted Protection of IGO and INGO Identifiers in All gTLDs Policy by which the specific terms Red Cross, Red Crescent, Red Lion & Sun and Red Crystal were withheld from registration. The policy changes that are being proposed for implementation include:

• A finite list of the full names of the 191 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are to be reserved at the second-level and added to the list that are protected by this new policy.
• The existing exception procedure will be made available for cases where the relevant Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement Organization wishes to register for its protected string(s) at the second level.
• Future error corrections, additions to and deletions of any entries in the list of reserved names and their agreed variants should be made only in accordance with certain criteria developed by the IGO-INGO Working Group.
• Any and all future changes to the finite list should be made only in accordance with the variant criteria as defined by the IGO-INGO Working Group.

We also invite feedback on the following changes that are being proposed for clarity purposes which concern the titles and lists of the three categories of Red Cross and Red Crescent identifiers found on the IOC, Red Cross, and IGO reserved names for new gTLDs page:

• Rename the "Specific Identifiers of Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement" list to "1. Red Cross: Specific Designations protected under the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols" list (note that this is a title change only, not a change to the list).
  • This list includes the designations protected under the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their 3rd Additional Protocol in the 6 UN languages ("Red Cross", "Red Crescent", "Red Lion and Sun" and "Red Crystal").
• Dissolve the "International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement - National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Names" list and create the "2. Red Cross: Acronyms" list.
  • This list includes any acronym (ICRC, CICR, IFRC, FICR) relating to the Movement and IFRC Societies (MKKK, МФКК, SPR, FRK, CVTL, НОКПТ, TGÝMJ, TЧХУ, ОКПУ), which will remain temporarily reserved pending further deliberation.
  • The first four identifiers (Magen David Adom, Red Star of David, Lion et Soleil Rouges and מגן דוד אדום) have been included in the list below.
• Rename "International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement - International Committee of the Red Cross and International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Names" list to "3. Red Cross: The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and its components" list.
  • This list includes the names of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and of its respective components including the exact match names of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation in the six United Nations languages and of the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
  • After the Board resolution approving the implementation of the finite list of names from the PDP WG, the implementation team was informed that the official name of the "Baphalali Swaziland Red Cross Society" was changed to "Baphalali Eswatini Red Cross Society." The Red Cross representative on the IRT brought forth a request to add the new names to the reserved list. The IRT reviewed the request and the supporting documentation and agreed to add the following 16 names: Baphalali Eswatini Red Cross, Baphalali Eswatini Red Cross Society, Eswatini Red Cross, Eswatini Red Cross Society, Red Cross of Baphalali Eswatini, Red Cross Society of Baphalali Eswatini, Red Cross Society of Eswatini, The Baphalali Eswatini Red Cross, The Baphalali Eswatini Red Cross Society, The Eswatini Red Cross, The Eswatini Red Cross Society, The Red Cross of Baphalali Eswatini, The Red Cross of Eswatini, The Red Cross Society of Baphalali Eswatini, The Red Cross Society of Eswatini, Red Cross of Eswatini. The IRT also agreed to maintain the original names for Baphalali Swaziland Red Cross Society as they are still in use by the official organization to support the organization with the transition time to the new names.
  • In addition, the implementation team was informed that the official name of the "Macedonian Red Cross" changed to "Red Cross of the Republic of North Macedonia". The Red Cross representative on the IRT also brought forth a request to add the new names to the reserved list. The IRT reviewed the request and the supporting documentation and agreed to add the following 18 names: The North Macedonian Red Cross, The North Macedonian Red Cross, North Macedonian Red Cross Society, The North Macedonian Red Cross Society, North Macedonia Red Cross, The North Macedonia Red Cross, North Macedonia Red Cross Society, The North Macedonia Red Cross Society, Red Cross of North Macedonia, The Red Cross of North Macedonia, Red Cross Society of North Macedonia, The Red Cross Society of North Macedonia, Red Cross of the Republic of North Macedonia, The Red Cross of the Republic of North Macedonia, Red Cross Society of the Republic of North Macedonia, The Red Cross Society of the Republic of North Macedonia, Црвен крст на Република Северна Македонија, Kruqi i Kuq i Republikës së Maqedonisë së Veriut. The IRT also agreed to maintain the original names for Macedonian Red Cross as they are still in use by the official organization to support the organization with the transition time to the new names.

In November 2013, the GNSO completed a Policy Development Process which resulted in a number of consensus recommendations for protecting the identifiers of International Governmental Organizations and International Non-Governmental Organizations, including the Movement, at the top and second level in all gTLDs.

On 30 April 2014 the Board adopted those of the GNSO's PDP recommendations set forth in Annex A [PDF, 74 KB] of the Board resolution that were consistent with GAC advice on the topic, which in relation to the Movement were only for specific the terms "Red Cross", "Red Crescent", "Red Crystal", and "Red Lion & Sun" (referred to as "Scope 1 Identifiers" by the PDP Working Group) to be reserved at the top and second levels, with an Exception Procedure to be designed for the affected organization. In addition, the Board requested additional time to consider the GNSO Council's remaining unanimous recommendations on the protection of IGO-INGO Identifiers in all gTLDs as set forth in Annex B [PDF, 90 KB] of the Board resolution.

Between June 2014 and January 2015 the Board and the GNSO Council engaged in discussions of the remaining inconsistencies between GAC advice and GNSO policy, which in relation to the Movement concerned the names of the then-189 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and the names and acronyms of the International Committee of the Red Cross and International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (referred to as "Scope 2 Identifiers").

In November 2016 the Board proposed that the GAC and the GNSO engage in a facilitated, good faith discussion to attempt to resolve the remaining inconsistencies between GAC public policy advice and GNSO consensus policy recommendations regarding the "Scope 2 Identifiers" of the Movement. Following the GAC-GNSO discussion, the Board passed a resolution on 16 March 2017 requesting that the GNSO initiate its process for Amendments or Modifications of Approved Policies, to consider amending the GNSO's approved policy concerning the specific names of the Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies and the specific names of the International Committee of the Red Cross and of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

On 3 May 2017, the GNSO Council reconvened a Policy Development Process and tasked the IGO-INGO Working Group with reviewing prior consensus recommendations that were adopted by the Council, but later returned back by the ICANN Board for further consideration as it related to prior GAC advice. Following its analysis, the Working Group then developed variant principles in developing the finite list of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies names to be reserved. The Working Group arrived at a set of final recommendations, with consensus levels being determined. On 27 January 2019, the Board adopted the final recommendation of the reconvened International Governmental Organizations (IGO) & International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGO) PDP Working Group, as passed by a unanimous vote of the GNSO Council on 27 September 2018 and directed the ICANN org to implement the recommendation.

A Consensus Policy Implementation Team was formed to begin work on the implementation plan. An IRT consisting of members of the PDP Working Group and interested community members was also formed to work with the Consensus Policy Implementation Team in line with the Consensus Policy Implementation Framework [PDF, 594 KB] developed by ICANN's Global Domains Division and adopted by the GNSO Council following the work of its Policy & Implementation Working Group. The IRT has been serving as a resource to implementation staff on questions related to the adopted policy and technical implementation issues. The IRT has also served as a resource to ICANN organization on the background and rationale of the policy recommendations as well as assisting the implementation team in the planning for the technical implementation of a policy change.

• Updated reserved names for Red Cross: https://community.icann.org/display/IIPIRT/Red+Cross+Identifier+List+-+Draft+Page+for+IRT+Use+Only
• Protection of IGO and INGO Identifiers Protection for all gTLDs Policy https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/igo-ingo-protection-policy-2018-01-16-en
• Final Report on the Protections for Certain Red Cross and Red Crescent Names in All Generic Top-Level Domains Policy Amendment Process: https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/file/field-file-attach/red-cross-protection-policy-amend-process-final-06aug18-en.pdf
• Board Resolution on the adoption of GNSO Consensus Policy relating to Certain Red Cross & Red Crescent Names at the Second Level of the Domain Name System: https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/resolutions-2019-01-27-en#2.d

• Report