[council] Removing Price Caps on Registry Fees

[Marilyn Cade]

Dear Bret,

 

I had previously noted that policy is being changed via contract, but I had
not noticed  this particular change. However, I recall that actually .net
was one of the $6 registry fees, was it not?  Thus, if that is the case,
this would be a decrease to a much lower fee for the registrars. 

 

Perhaps we have a difference of perspective with the staff/and even the
Board on what constitutes policy, and therefore the role of the Councils,
and even the advisory role of the ALAC.  If so, we need to at least discuss
that difference of perspective and bridge the gap so that there aren't
continued misunderstandings and confusion. 

 

It is very possible that market forces would be sufficient to keep a
registry at a lower registry fee, however, even if that is the case, the
topic should be put before the Council, it seems to me, and include
consultation with the ALAC.  

 

I had thought that the price cap was $6 but that registries were free to
charge less, but we should ask the registrars.  If that price cap remains in
place, then we may have a different level of concern. :-) 

 

 

  _____  

From: owner-council at gnso.icann.org [mailto:owner-council at gnso.icann.org] On
Behalf Of Bret Fausett
Sent: Monday, July 04, 2005 4:36 PM
To: council at gnso.icann.org
Cc: ALAC
Subject: [council] Removing Price Caps on Registry Fees

 

Council Members (with copy to ALAC):

You may recall that in the draft .NET contract posted for comment several
weeks ago, the pricing section was blank, with the following comment: [To be
negotiated consistent with .NET RFP]. See Section 7.3 here:

http://www.icann.org/tlds/dotnet-reassignment/draft-net-agreement-9mar05.pdf

When the final negotiated version was published, I went to that section to
find out what pricing had been negotiated and was surprised to discover that
ICANN will lift the price caps on registry fees effective 1 January 2007.
The language is here:

(a) Prices for Registry Services. 

>From 1 July 2005 through 31 December 2006, the price to ICANN-accredited
registrars for new and renewal domain name registrations and for
transferring a domain name registration from one ICANN accredited registrar
to another, shall not exceed US$4.25 (consisting of a US$3.50 service fee
and a US$0.75 ICANN fee). On 1 January 2007, the controls on Registry
Operator's pricing set forth in this Agreement shall be eliminated, provided
that the same price shall be charged to all registrars with respect to each
annual increment of a new or renewal domain name registration, and for
transferring a domain name registration from one ICANN-accredited registrar
to another (provided that volume discounts and marketing support and
incentive programs may be made if the same opportunities to qualify for
those discounts and marketing support and incentive programs is available to
all ICANN-accredited registrars).

(b) Adjustments to Pricing for Domain Name Registrations. 

Registry Operator shall provide no less than six months prior notice in
advance of any price increase for domain name registrations and shall
continue to offer domain name registrations for periods of up to ten years.

See Scetion 7.3 here:
http://www.icann.org/tlds/agreements/net/net-registry-agreement-01jul05.pdf

This strikes me as a significant departure from past practices, and I do not
recall any discussion of this at either the Council level or within the
ALAC. I wonder whether market forces will be sufficient to prevent Verisign
from raising the .NET registry fees significantly. At a minimum, we should
have had a conversation about this. Have I missed something?

           Bret

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