Supporting the Domain Name Industry in Underserved Regions

[Mahmoud Lattouf <mlattouf@xxxxxxxx>]

Greetings:

Below are my comments regarding the report on supporting the domain name 
industry in underserved regions:


1.    The process of applying for accreditation for new gTLDs is cumbersome. 
Each registrar has to sign a separate agreement/ contract with each gTLD 
provider. For many, this is time and resource consuming. It would be easier for 
everyone if there is one agreement/ contract template for all registries to 
minimize time taken to entroll.

2.    The required insurance as one of the requirements to become an ICANN 
accredited registrar might act as a burden for some small businesses interested 
in this industry. This topic is addressed in the report, but wanted to stress 
the fact that this issue might act as a huge burden for new entrants.

3.    There is a significant lack of awareness regarding domain name issues in 
some regions. ICANN has done great work to raise awareness, however, and 
similar to other awareness campaigns, it might need some time to see the 
results. ICANN along with the Internet community in these regions should 
maintain these efforts.

4.    Lack of participation in the policy-making process from the business 
sector. Most businesses are either not aware or not interested to participate, 
but lack of participation is undermining the business sector in these regions. 
ICANN should engage with chambers of commerce in these regions to keep them 
informed about the importance of participation and keeping them up to date, 
spreading the word with their members.

5.    Organizing webinars in local languages to update interested stakeholders 
about recent changes and how these changes might affect their businesses might 
be a good idea to have more participation.

Thank you,

Best Regards,
Mahmoud A. Lattouf
Executive Director
Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property
Member of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization
Tel.: +962 6 5100 900 ext. 1606
Fax: +962 6 5100 901
Email: mlattouf@xxxxxxxx<mailto:mlattouf@xxxxxxxx>
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