Asociación Puntogal (.gal) comments

[Manuel Vilas <manuel.vilas@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

*The Asociación Puntogal appreciates ICANN's effort to adhere to the
timeline published during its last public meeting in San Francisco. We take
the opportunity to comment on the recent changes of the AGB, recognizing
that they reflect extensive GAC-Board dialogue.*

*After years of delays, a reliable timeline is the only way to restore the
credibility of the process. The vote scheduled for 20th July is especially
relevant for the viability of linguistic and cultural TLD applicant. They
will foster cultural diversity on the Internet but any further delays in
ICANN would do irreparable harm to their cause.*

*Applications for TLDs of this category are managed by community-based
non-profit organizations with limited resources. The .gal **TLD for Galician
language and culture is one of them. It does not depend any investor or
private corporation. It is backed by thousands of internet users, cultural
organizations, linguistic, local, regional and state administrations who
want to help preserve galician language and culture by giving its own domain
in the Net's root. For instance, more than 12.000 Internet users and 100
cultural organizations have already signed up to support Asociación
Puntogal. This helps demonstrate that there is a real social and economic
need for new GTLDs.*

*Regarding the Board-GAC negotiations to improve the AGB, Puntogal feels
comfortable with all the points that have been already agreed. Puntogal
acknowledges that improvements made in response to GAC advice, such as early
warning and trademark protection measures will help achieve a more robust
process. They are easy to implement by truly community-based cultural and
linguistic TLDs or other solid and non-controversial initiatives. Our
Association therefore urges the Board and the GAC to find an agreement,
where possible, on the remaining points.
*