Community TLD Applicant Group asks from ICANN a clearer definition of Community TLDs in new gTLD Registry Agreement

The Community TLD Applicant Group (CTAG), an informal group composed of 33 community TLD applicants representing 40 community TLD applications (see list of members below) send a letter to ICANN asking ICANN for a clearer definition of Community TLDs in the new gTLD Registry Agreement.

During the ICANN Regional Registry-Registrar meeting held in Amsterdam on 24-25 January, 2013, several CTAG members raised the following issue: how to best incorporate community applicants’ commitments to the new gTLD Registry Agreement (the Base Agreement). It was agreed that, due to the importance and significance of this issue, the most transparent way to address it was to provide ICANN with a formal communication from the CTAG. It was further agreed that any proposals the CTAG would offer would be published on ICANN’s website to facilitate awareness of the issue to the broadest range of stakeholders.

CTAG members believe that that the incorporation of these commitments to the Base Agreement is of paramount importance and that it should be done in a consistent and predictable manner for all community applicants. Furthermore, there is consensus in the CTAG that the incorporation of these commitments should not be considered as a refusal to accept the Base Agreement, something that would require a negotiation process that would delay executing an agreement for these applicants.

Therefore, the CTAG proposes that the inclusion of ‘Community Commitments’ in the Base Agreement could be achieved with the coherence required, while also avoiding any delays, by adding a reference to a new ‘Community Commitment Specification’ for community TLDs to section 2.18 of the Base Agreement. This Specification would be similar to Appendix S to ICANN’s sponsored TLD Registry Agreements and would include the following elements:
a) Definition of Community
b) Eligibility, Name Selection and Content & Use Provisions
c) Delegated Authority and Selection of Registrars

CTAG thanked ICANN in advance for considering this proposal. They look forward to hearing from ICANN on the most appropriate way to make progress on this issue.

CTAG Membership as of 8 Feb 2013
1. ADAC – Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club e.V. (ADAC)
2. ARCHI, IMMO, SKI – STARTING DOT
3. BANK, INSURANCE – fTLD Registry Services LLC
4. BARCELONA – Municipi de Barcelona
5. BERLIN – dotBERLIN GmbH & Co. KG
6. CORP, INC, LLC, LLP – Dot Registry LLC
7. CPA – American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
8. ECO – Big Room Inc.
9. GAL – Asociacion puntoGAL
10. GAY – dotgay llc
11. GMBH – TLDDOT GmbH
12. GREE – GREE, Inc.
13. HAMBURG – Hamburg Top-Level-Domain GmbH
14. HOTEL – HOTEL Top-Level-Domain S.a.r.l
15. KIDS – DotKids Foundation Limited
16. MED – HEXAP SAS
17. MED – DocCheck AG
18. MUSIC – DotMusic / CGR E-Commerce Ltd
19. MUSIC – Far Further (Music LLC)
20. NGO, ONG – Public Interest Registry
21. OSAKA – Interlink Co., Ltd.
22. QUEBEC – PointQuebec Inc
23. RADIO – European Broadcasting Union (EBU)
24. SCOT – Dot Scot Registry Limited
25. SHOP – Commercial Connect LLC
26. SPORT – SportAccord
27. TATAR – Coordination Center of Regional Domain of Tatarstan Republic LLC
28. TENNIS – TENNIS AUSTRALIA LTD
29. THAI – Better Living Management Company Limited
30. TIROL – Punkt Tirol GmbH
31. VERSICHERUNG – dotversicherung-registry GmbH
32. WIEN – punkt.wien GmbH