Registrar Stakeholder Group Position on Proposed New gTLD Registry Agreement
Registrar Stakeholder Group Position on Proposed
New gTLD Registry Agreement
BACKGROUND
In October 2009 ICANN published the New gTLD Draft Applicant Guidebook Version
3 ("DAG V3"). The ICANN Registrar Stakeholder Group ("RSG") has reviewed DAG
V3 and this Position Statement captures the overall sentiment expressed by RSG
Members. Due to time constraints, however, no formal vote regarding this
Position Statement was taken.
RSG POSITION
Included in an attachment to Module 5 of DAG V3 is the proposed New gTLD
Registry Agreement ("Registry Agreement"). The RSG is very troubled by and is
strongly opposed to provisions contained in "Article 7" regarding contract
amendments to the Registry Agreement. The RSG believes that this section, as
it is currently drafted, provides ICANN with overbroad power to unilaterally
amend the Registry Agreement without the consent of the registry operator. In
particular, section 7.2(f) allows ICANN to amend the Registry Agreement
regarding a wide range of material terms, including the fees payable by the
registry operator to ICANN, even after a majority of registry operators subject
to the amendment have notified ICANN of their disapproval.
The amendments section of the proposed Registry Agreement renders the entire
Agreement far too uncertain. In the RSG's view, an agreement with so much
uncertainty is likely to result in many unintended consequences that will
ultimately harm the domain name community. These could include difficulty for
registry operators seeking investment capital or business partnerships, or
uncertainty in operational planning that could contribute to instability.
While not a party to the proposed Registry Agreement, the RSG is also decidedly
concerned about the possibility that ICANN may attempt to impose similar
provisions in future versions of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement ("RAA").
The RSG would be vigorously opposed to such an attempt, and objects now to the
precedent that would be set by the proposed Registry Agreement.
CONCLUSION
The opinions expressed by the RSG in this Position Statement should not be
interpreted to reflect the individual opinion of any particular RSG Member.
Attachment:
RSG Position - Draft gTLD Registry Agreement FINAL.pdf |