Proposed Renewal of .TRAVEL Sponsored TLD Registry Agreement

ICANN is posting for public comment the proposed agreement for renewal of the 2005 Registry Agreement for .TRAVEL. This proposal is a result of discussions between ICANN and Tralliance Registry Management Company, LLC (formerly Tralliance Corporation).

ICANN is posting for public comment the proposed agreement for renewal of the 2005 Registry Agreement for .TRAVEL, which is set to expire on 21 July 2015. This proposal is a result of discussions between ICANN and Tralliance Registry Management Company, LLC.

The current Registry Agreement for .TRAVEL, like other registry agreements, provides for presumptive renewal so long as certain requirements are met. It also provides that upon renewal, changes may be made to the terms of the Agreement.

With a view to increase the consistency of registry agreements across all gTLDs, ICANN has proposed that the renewal agreement be based on the approved new gTLD Registry Agreement as updated on 9 January 2014. In order to account for the specific nature of the .TRAVEL TLD, a Sponsored TLD, relevant provisions in the 5 May 2005 Sponsored TLD Registry Agreement have been carried over to this renewal agreement.

As a result, the proposed renewal agreement for .TRAVEL is similar to the terms of a Registry Agreement for a new gTLD that elected for community TLD status and that is not operated by an intergovernmental organization of a government entity, except for the following provisions:

• Protection of Legal Rights of Third Parties (section 2.8 and Specification 7): processes and procedures for the launch of the TLD and initial registrations will not apply as the .TRAVEL TLD has been in operation since 2005;
• Continued Operation Instrument (section 2.12 and Specification 8): this requirement will not apply to the .TRAVEL TLD which has been and remained in continuous operations for at least 6 years prior to the anticipated effective date of the renewal agreement;
• Obligations of Registry Operator to TLD Community (section 2.19 and Specification 7): the .TRAVEL TLD will be bound by its Sponsored TLD charter as carried over to Specification 12 of the proposed renewal agreement; it will not be subject to the Registry Restrictions Dispute Resolution Procedure (RRDRP) which was designed specifically for community TLDs under the New gTLD program.
• Pass Through Fees related to the Trademark Clearinghouse (section 6.4): consistently with the above provision on the protection of legal rights, .TRAVEL will not be subject to the payment of the Trademark Clearinghouse related fees;
• Approved Services (Exhibit A): in addition to the common descriptions of the DNS, Anti-Abuse Services, and Whois Contact Lookup, the Approved services for .TRAVEL includes a 9 month Implementation Grace Period, according to which Tralliance Registry Management Company, LLC will complete the transition of the technical operations of .TRAVEL and meet all the requirement of the proposed renewal agreement.
• Schedule of Reserved Names (Specification 5): the proposed renewal registry agreement reflects registry operator's August 2010 authorization to allocate previously reserved single- and two-character labels in the TLD through ICANN-accredited registrars via a Phased Allocation Program. Additionally, consistent with current provisions under the .TRAVEL Sponsored TLD Agreement, the renewal registry agreement does not include the provisions in the New gTLD Registry Agreement pertaining to the protection of International Olympic Committee, International Red Cross, Red Crescent Movement and Intergovernmental Organizations names and acronyms. It should be noted, however, that .TRAVEL will eventually be subject to consensus policy recommendations in the Protection of IGO-INGO Identifiers in All gTLDs Policy Development Process, which implementation plan is currently being developed as directed by ICANN Board Resolution 2014.04.30.05. This consensus policy addresses the protection of IGO and INGO names and acronyms, including the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement and the International Olympic Committee. The renewal agreement also limits the Registry Operator's use of names for the operation and promotion of the TLD to 25 names.
• Registry Interoperability and Continuity (Specification 6): Section 6 of Specification 6 (Name Collision Occurrence Management) will not apply to .TRAVEL TLD since it has been in operation since 2005.
• Misc. Provisions: Various other terms and conditions have been modified, at the request of the registry operator and after extensive negotiation, to align with terms of the previous .Travel Sponsored TLD Agreement or to clarify rights previously afforded to .Travel.

As part of the adaptation needed to carry over the Sponsored TLD Policies of .TRAVEL to the proposed renewal agreement, Specification 12 ("Community Registration Policies") has been renamed "TLD Policies". It incorporates the language of the original Appendix S (applicable under the current .TRAVEL TLD Agreement) with the following two modifications:

• Part III of Appendix S ("Description of the .Travel Community") was not included in the proposed renewal agreement as it is already incorporated to Part I of the Specification 12; and
• Part IV of Appendix S ("Start-Up Plan") was not included in the proposed renewal agreement as it is not relevant for the purpose of this renewal.

Posted for public comment are both clean and "redline" versions of the agreement and modified appendices as follows:

• Proposed Renewal Registry Agreement [PDF, 622 KB]
• Redline showing changes compared to the approved base New gTLD Agreement [PDF, 754 KB]

Contractual Compliance Review: As part of the renewal process, ICANN conducted a review of performance under the .TRAVEL Registry Agreement. Tralliance Registry Management Company, LLC was found to be in substantial compliance with their contractual requirements.

ICANN and Tralliance Corporation (now known as Tralliance Registry Management Company, LLC) entered into a Sponsored TLD Registry Agreement on 5 May 2005 for operation of the .TRAVEL top level domain. As per the Registry Agreement signed on 5 May 2005, the effective date of the agreement is set as the delegation date of the .TRAVEL TLD. .TRAVEL TLD was delegated on 21 July 2005, accordingly, the current .TRAVEL Registry Agreement is set to expire on 21 July 2015. The current agreement for .TRAVEL may be viewed at: https://www.icann.org/en/about/agreements/registries/travel

• Current .TRAVEL Registry Agreement and Appendices: https://www.icann.org/en/about/agreements/registries/travel
• Approved base New gTLD Registry Agreement (as updated on 9 January 2014): http://newgtlds.icann.org/sites/default/files/agreements/agreement-approved-09jan14-en.htm
• Background on Sponsored Top Level Domain: http://archive.icann.org/en/tlds/stld-apps-19mar04/

• Report