ICANN Strengthens Registrar Accreditation Applications

As per their latest announcement, ICANN has recently introduced an enhanced set of terms and conditions for Registrar Accreditation Applications.

The company says that this step is a result of community input that called for the strengthening of the requirements for registrar accreditation, and to address changes that have arisen in the registrar marketplace.

While they haven’t mentioned the specific enhancements, they’ve publicized a partial list of changes. This incudes:

• Stronger terms governing the accuracy of the information provided by the applicant and an ongoing obligation to maintain accurate information during the course of the application process
• Granting ICANN permission and indemnification for conducting additional due diligence checks
• Sets forth in greater detail the application process and obligations

These terms and conditions will be applicable on all applications received on or after October 5, 2011.

UPDATE: 10th October, 2011

We’ve done an analysis of the exact changes and have enlisted them here for everyone’s reference:

1. Individual & Sole proprietorships are ineligible for accreditation

2. The applicant can withdraw a submitted application and the one-time application fee will remain valid for one year. However, if before the application is resubmitted, the one-time application fee is increased, the applicant will have to pay the difference.

3. ICANN reserves the right
a. to use the name and logo of the applicant wrt the application
b. Share the info rmation in the application with relevant third parties for the purpose of due-diligence
c. Disclose / share / publish any info rmation from the application including any personal, technical and financial info rmation

4. ICANN indemnifies itself from any damages / loss caused to the applicant, by way of the review process or if the application is rejected

5. If the applicant wishes to keep any part of the application confidential, he can do so according to a set of guidelines laid out by ICANN

6. ICANN explicitly mentions that it must comply with all U.S. laws, rules, and regulations and the fact that it cannot work with any country/company/individual on which US has imposed sanctions

7. ICANN also mentions that any additional information / documents that it requests, must be provided within 72 hours

Key take-aways:
Make sure your application is complete, accurate, consistent and thorough right from the start. This is even more important than before, and can hardly be stressed upon enough. Ensuring so, will avoid unnecessary delays and iterations. Since there will be third part investigating agencies involved, we expect the delays due to iterations to be longer than usual.

Found this post useful? Need help with ICANN Accreditation? You know who to contact

ICANN Launches Website for new gTLDs

newgTLDs.icann.org is ICANN’s new micro-site dedicated to new gTLDs. According to ICANN, this new website is designed to provide quick and easy access to all aspects of the new gTLD process.

With the new website, ICANN has also released the latest draft of the Applicant Guidebook. You can view this document here. All the changes made since the last version of the Guidebook can be found in this pdf document.

It’s great to see ICANN making the path to new gTLDs even more clear!

ICANN Approves .XXX

Its been over 10 years since the debate of having .XXX as a top level domain (TLD) started and finally, ICANN has approved the ICM Registry’s application to operate .XXX as a TLD. This decision was taken at the 40th ICANN Meeting at San Francisco earlier this year.

This single agenda has definitely generated the highest volumes of community comments than nearly any other issue ever faced within ICANN in the past.

The ICM Registry has been handed over the responsibility of operating the .XXX TLD provided there are improved and new benefits to the TLD.

All said and done, not everyone in the Adult industry has welcomed the .XXX TLD wholeheartedly. The Free Speech Coalition, a group sponsored by the Adult Entertainment Trade Association is against .XXX and the Registry’s rulings.

The Sunrise periods (3) will be starting over the coming months.

Do you see .xxx as the next “big thing” in the domain market?