[council] For information:Proposed .BIZ, .INFO AND .ORG gTLD Registry Agreements

Mon Jul 31 13:09:30 UTC 2006

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http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-2-28jul06.htm
Please note that ICANN has posted for public information:
The Proposed .BIZ, .INFO AND .ORG gTLD Registry Agreements

On 27 June 2006, ICANN posted for public information proposed new 
registry agreements for the operation of each of the .BIZ, .INFO and 
.ORG registries. ICANN staff continued to work with each of the current 
operators of these registries to finalize these proposed agreements and 
appendices. On 18 July 2006, the ICANN Board of Directors approved the 
posting of each of these proposed agreements for public comment. A 
public comment period will remain open until 5:00 PM PDT/California, 28 
August 2006. At that time the comments will be submitted to the Board of 
Directors for the Board to consider at its meeting on 13 September 2006.

.BIZ
Agreement
Appendices
Comments can be posted to: biz-tld-agreement at icann.org
Comments can be viewed at: http://forum.icann.org/lists/biz-tld-agreement
.INFO
Agreement
Appendices
Comments can be posted to: info-tld-agreement at icann.org
Comments can be viewed at: http://forum.icann.org/lists/info-tld-agreement
.ORG
Agreement
Appendices
Comments can be posted to: org-tld-agreement at icann.org
Comments can be viewed at: http://forum.icann.org/lists/org-tld-agreement

Key terms for the proposed agreements, and differences from the 2001 
.BIZ and .INFO registry agreements and 2003 .ORG registry agreement, 
include the following:

Term of New Agreements. The proposed .BIZ, .INFO and .ORG registry 
agreements provide for an initial six year term. Each of the proposed 
.BIZ and .INFO agreements would expire, absent renewal, at the end of 
December 2012, and the proposed .ORG agreement would expire at the end 
of June 2013, absent renewal.

Presumptive Renewal. The proposed new .BIZ, .INFO and .ORG registry 
agreements each provide for presumptive renewal, absent material and 
repeated breach of the agreement by the registry operator. This is 
consistent with each of the 2005 .NET registry agreement, and the 
proposed new .COM registry agreement. With respect to the terms of any 
subsequent agreement negotiated with the registry operators for the 
continued operation of the .BIZ. .INFO and .ORG registries, the proposed 
agreements provide that adaption of renewal terms will be via comparison 
to the five "most reasonably comparable" gTLDs, as compared to the "five 
largest gTLDs" language of the 2005 .NET agreement and the proposed new 
.COM agreement.

Lifting of Price Controls on Registry Services. Following extensive 
consideration and discussion, each of the proposed new .BIZ, .INFO and 
.ORG registry agreements provide for the lifting of price controls 
formerly imposed on the pricing of registry services. However, in order 
to protect incumbent domain name registrants and allow time for planning 
by those in the registry and registrar communities, the form of 
registry-registrar agreement proposed with each of the new registry 
agreements requires six months advance notice by the registry operator 
of any price increase in registry services. This is consistent with the 
notice period required under the registry-registrar agreement 
implemented with the 2005 .NET registry agreement, and the 
registry-registrar agreement included with the proposed new .COM 
registry agreement.

Fees Payable to ICANN. The proposed new .BIZ, .INFO and .ORG registry 
agreements provide for a sliding scale of transactional fees payable to 
ICANN per annual increment of a domain name, starting with $0.15 in 2007 
and 2008, $0.20 in 2009 and 2010, and increasing to $0.25 in 2011 and 
2012* (*the proposed new .ORG registry agreement has a fee schedule 
implementation date of July 2007, and will continue through June 2013). 
The per name transaction fees, however, are subject to adjustment 
depending on the average price of domain name registrations during each 
calendar quarter throughout the term of the agreement. Each of the 
proposed new agreements provide only for a transactional fee component 
payable to ICANN, with no fixed fee. This is a markedly different 
approach from the fixed fee established in the 2001 .BIZ and .INFO 
registry agreements, and 2003 .ORG registry agreement, and is intended 
to appropriately scale the fees payable by each registry to ICANN to the 
success or decline of the registry business.

Consensus Policy Implementation and Limitations. Each of the 2001 .BIZ 
and .INFO registry agreements, and the 2003 .ORG registry agreement, 
required each of the registry operators to comply with and implement 
established consensus and temporary policies, including as pertained to 
a list of enumerated topics. This list was updated for the 2005 .NET 
registry agreement, and the identical list has been incorporated into 
each of the proposed .BIZ, .INFO and .ORG registry agreements. In 
addition, each of the proposed new .BIZ, .INFO and .ORG registry 
agreements contains the same set of limitations on the adoption of 
consensus policies as the proposed new .COM registry agreement. This 
list of limitations is also identical to those limitations provided for 
in the 2005 .NET registry agreement, with the exception of the 
limitation on modification to the procedure for consideration of new 
registry services being limited to two years after the established 
effective date of the proposed .BIZ, .COM, .INFO and .ORG registry 
agreements, which is three years following the effective date of the 
2005 .NET registry agreement.

Process for Approval of New Registry Services. The same set of 
procedures, steps, and requirements for the approval of proposed new 
registry services has been included in the proposed .BIZ, .INFO and .ORG 
registry agreements as previously seen in the 2005 .NET registry 
agreement, and the proposed .COM registry agreement.

Data Escrow Provisions. The security and functionality of the registry 
data escrow has been a significant focus in the new forms of registry 
agreements negotiated by ICANN since 2005. Accordingly, the requirements 
for data escrow by each of the registries, as well as the requirements 
for the relationship between registry operator and data escrow agent, 
have been expanded and clarified in the proposed new registry agreements.

Other Standardized Terms. Consistent with the proposed new .COM registry 
agreement, each of the proposed .BIZ, .INFO and .ORG registry agreements 
contains a Section 3.1(f) on the use for statistical purposes only of 
"traffic data." The 2005 .NET registry agreement did not contain this 
provision, however the inclusion of this provision was negotiated by 
each of the .BIZ, .INFO and .ORG registry operators to provide for 
consistency with the proposed new .COM registry agreement, although this 
does not imply that these registries will implement said provision.

Glen de Saint Géry
GNSO Secretariat - ICANN
gnso.secretariat[at]gnso.icann.org
http://gnso.icann.org