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<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>Status Update: IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process
Implementation<BR><A
href="http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-2-09sep09-en.htm">http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-2-09sep09-en.htm</A><BR>9
September 2009<BR><BR>ICANN is pleased to provide the following status report on
the progress of implementation of the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process. Overall, the
implementation is tracking to the project plan and it is planned to be submitted
to the Board during the ICANN meeting in Korea, Seoul, 26-30 October 2009.
Discussion of the implementation plan will continue during the Korea meeting and
the plan can be amended if a change is indicated. Anticipating positive Board
consideration, the process can be launch within a very small timeframe after the
Seoul meeting (in the fourth quarter of 2009). <BR><BR>The proposed Final
Implementation Plan will be posted online for public review at the end of
September 2009, and a new status update of the overall implementation will be
provided prior to the Korea meeting. <BR><BR>Implementation Update: <BR><BR>DNS
Stability Panel: Interisle has been contracted to form the DNS Stability Panel
that conducts the technical string requirement evaluations for requested IDN
ccTLDs. This includes a verification that the delegations of new TLD strings
will not result in user confusion with any existing strings in the DNS.
Interisle is currently in the process of forming the DNS Stability Panel for
Fast Track Process String Evaluation and providing on-boarding material to panel
members. <BR><BR>Online Request System: the online system through which IDN
ccTLD requests will be submitted is in the final stages of development and
testing. The next three weeks will be used: (i) finalize the online content (ii)
perform a legal review (iii) undertake a live test. As part of the live test
ICANN has consulted with representatives of five countries and invited them to
participate in testing of the system. Testing includes: submitting a test
request in the system, processing / qualification by staff, providing feedback
on the test to participants. These tests will run from the end of September
through 9 October after which a new status report of overall Fast Track
implementation will be released. <BR><BR>Online IDN area: the IDN area online
will be revised with an FAQ, factsheets, and a manual reference for use of the
online request system. The new and improved site will be released prior to the
Fast Track Process launch time. <BR><BR>Linguistic Processes: there are a few
aspects of the Fast Track Process that are related to linguists or require the
advice or statements from experts in writing systems. An important piece of this
relates to the requested string(s) as a meaningful representation of a country
or territory name. UNGEGN has agreed to support Fast Track participants as
needed with referrals to such expertise. The referrals will be provided through
an ICANN point of contact and the method for requesting such expertise will be
described in the proposed Final Implementation Plan. ICANN plans to support to
those requiring linguistic assistance. <BR><BR>Outstanding issues: several
topics that has been discussed in public comment on implementation proposals of
the Fast Track Process since the initial draft implementation plan was released
on 23 October 2008. These include: (i) the form of relationship between an IDN
ccTLD manager and ICANN, (ii) cost considerations regarding contribution to
processing and TLD support costs, (iii) management of variant TLDs. Solutions to
these issues have been discussed, and it is believed that current opinions or
positions of each community segment is well understood. <BR><BR>For questions,
please contact Tina Dam, at ICANN, at: <A
href="mailto:tina.dam@icann.org">tina.dam@icann.org</A>.<BR><BR>Glen de Saint
Géry<BR>GNSO Secretariat<BR><A
href="http://gnso.icann.org">http://gnso.icann.org</A><BR><BR><BR><BR></BODY></HTML>