Public Comment
Proposed Amendments to Base New gTLD Registry Agreement
Open Date
31 May 2016 23:59 UTC
Close Date
20 July 2016 23:59 UTC
Staff Report Due
19 August 2016 23:59 UTC
Brief Overview
Purpose: ICANN is posting today for public comment proposed amendments to the base New gTLD Registry Agreement. Section 7.7(a) of the Registry Agreement provides a mechanism enabling ICANN or the Registries Stakeholder Group (RySG) to periodically initiate negotiations to discuss revisions to the Registry Agreement.
Current Status: As required by Section 7.7(b) of the Registry Agreement, ICANN engaged in a "Discussion Period" with the Working Group established by the RySG on the form and substance of mutually acceptable proposed contract amendments. The amendments, posted for comment today, are the result of several months of negotiations between the parties.
Updated Next Steps: According to Section 7.7(c) of the Registry Agreement, the Proposed Revisions shall be submitted for Registry Operator Approval (as defined in Section 7.6) and approval by the ICANN Board of Directors. If such approvals are obtained, the Proposed Revisions shall be deemed an Approved Amendment (as defined in Section 7.6) by the Applicable Registry Operators and ICANN, and shall be effected and deemed an amendment to this Agreement upon sixty (60) calendar days notice from ICANN to Registry Operator.
Section I: Description and Explanation
ICANN is posting today for public comment proposed amendments to the base New gTLD Registry Agreement. Section 7.7(a) of the Registry Agreement provides a mechanism enabling ICANN or the Registries Stakeholder Group (RySG) to periodically initiate negotiations to discuss revisions to the Registry Agreement. These negotiations may be initiated not more than once per year, and the first notice to initiate negotiations could not be submitted by either party prior to 1 July 2014.
On 16 July 2014, the RySG notified ICANN that it wished to negotiate proposed changes to the Registry Agreement.
As required by Section 7.7(b) of the Registry Agreement, ICANN engaged in a "Discussion Period" with the Working Group established by the RySG on the form and substance of proposed contract amendments that were submitted by the Working Group. The amendments, posted for comment today, are the result of several months of negotiations between the parties on mutually agreeable text of the proposed amendments.
Please refer to the global amendment [PDF, 238 KB], redline document [PDF, 563 KB] and the summary of changes [PDF, 242 KB] showing how the proposed amendments will revise the Registry Agreement. Note the final amendment will only contain the amendment provisions and will not restate the entire Registry Agreement. The attached redline is being provided for reference purposes only.
The Registry Agreement requires ICANN to publish the changes for comment for no less than 30 days and provide notice of the proposed revisions to all Applicable Registry Operators. In connection with initiating this public comment period, ICANN is also providing the required notice to all Registry Operators in satisfaction of such obligations. Following the conclusion of the public comment period, ICANN and the Working Group will consider the public comments, and submit the proposed final version of the amendments for Registry Operator approval (according to the process defined in Section 7.6) and approval by the ICANN Board of Directors. If these approvals are obtained, the amendment will become effective upon 60 days notice from ICANN to the Registry Operators.
Section II: Background
The base New gTLD Registry Agreement, which was originally approved and published on 2 July 2013, was updated to its latest version on 9 January 2014.
Section 7.7(a) of the Registry Agreement provides a mechanism enabling ICANN or the Registries Stakeholder Group (RySG) to periodically initiate negotiations to discuss revisions to the Registry Agreement. These negotiations may be initiated not more than once per year, and the first notice to initiate negotiations could not be submitted by either party prior to 1 July 2014.
On 16 July 2014, the RySG notified ICANN that it wished to negotiate proposed changes to the Registry Agreement. As required by Section 7.7(b) of the Registry Agreement, ICANN engaged in a "Discussion Period" with the Working Group established by the RySG on the form and substance of proposed contract amendments that were submitted by the Working Group. The amendments, posted for comment today, are the result of several months of negotiations between the parties on mutually agreeable text of the proposed amendments.
Section III: Relevant Resources
- Approved base New gTLD Registry Agreement (as updated on 9 January 2014)
- Global Amendment to base New gTLD Registry Agreement [PDF, 238 KB]
- Cumulative redlines to base New gTLD Registry Agreement [PDF, 563 KB]
- Clean version of amended base New gTLD Registry Agreement [PDF, 605 KB]
- Summary of changes to base New gTLD Registry Agreement [PDF, 242 KB]
Section IV: Additional Information
Updated as of 22 December 2016
This Staff Report (see Reissued Report below) supplements the Staff Report published on 17 August 2016 to include additional explanatory text in Section I and a revised Section IV to reflect discussions between ICANN and the Working Group in response to the public comments. On 17 August 2016, ICANN published a summary report outlining comments received and committed to later publish an updated Report of Public Comment Proceeding to include analysis of the public comments, once considered with the Working Group as provided for in the Registry Agreement. For convenience, Sections I, II, and III have been reproduced from the 17 August 2016 Staff Report below for reference. As a result of the analysis, a few minor adjustments were made to the originally posted amendment. The updated version is reflected in the clean and redlined documents below:
Comments Closed
Report of Public Comments