John Demco
ICANN Meeting in Beijing Completed – The 46th ICANN meeting was held in Beijing last week. One of the main themes was the New gTLD Program, and progress was made on a number of aspects of this initiative, including:
- Agreement was reached in principle on a new Registrar Accreditation Agreement.
- Progress was made on a Registry Agreement for the forthcoming new top-level domain registries, and an agreement in principle may follow within a week.
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The proposed registrar and registry agreements will be the subject of full
public comment periods. - ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) has issued a communique [PDF] including advice concerning the new gTLD applications. (Advice from the GAC to the ICANN Board is handled in a specific way, as described in the ICANN bylaws.) A number of categories of advice were offered covering several hundred new gTLD names, and it will take the community some time to work through this large list.
Also, it was announced [PDF] that the first of a number of ICANN Engagement Centers will be opened in Beijing.
Picks To Click
- “GAC delivers sweeping advice that will delay scores of new gTLDs by months“, by Kevin Murphy on DomainIncite.
- An interview with ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé and ICANN Board Chair Steve Crocker at the close of the ICANN meetings in Beijing.
- InternetNZ has announced that it has granted $NZD 120,000 of community funding.
Timeline
- Mon, Jul 1: .org registry fee increases
- Sun, Jul 14 – Thu, Jul 18: ICANN meetings in Durban, South Africa.
- Sun, Sep 1: .biz, .info registry fees increase