dotGAL's comments on EOI

[Asociación PuntoGal <prensa@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

PuntoGAL Association welcomes the proposal of soliciting Expressions of
Interest (EOI) in new gTLDs. PuntoGal believes a call for EOI would provide
ICANN significant information about the level of interest in the program ,
the number and type of potential applicants and also about the potential
problems or issues ICANN might need to deal with once they open the new gTLD
process. This information will be very useful to help solve the remaining
overarching issues that have kept delaying the new gTLD program.

PuntoGAL (dotGAL) strongly supports the EOI as a manner of moving forward
with the new gTLDs and a way of reducing any further delays. Although the
EOI might not be perfect, it is a good approach to the introduction of new
gTLDs.
We thank ICANN for taking in consideration this EOI proposal, hoping ICANN
will carry out a call of Expressions of Interest as soon as possible .

Here are PuntoGAL's comments and ideas on how to proceed with the EOI:

- Participating in the EOI should be a pre-requisite for all those who want
to apply for a new gTLD in the 1st round, once the program officially
launches. Taking part in the EOI process should be mandatory for the first
round potential applicants. If it’s optional,  ICANN won't be able to know
in advance the number of gTLDs that are likely to be requested. If not
mandatory, there's not much point in developing an EOI process.

-A deposit for participating in the EOI should be required, as a part of the
application fee. This fee should be mandatory in order  to confirm that the
intention  of applying for a TLD string is serious and real.
This deposit should be  a significant amount of money, but also not a
barrier for those bids (especially non-profit) that are still searching for
funding and financial support. We propose a 20% of the Application fee
(185,000 USD, as stated in DAG 3), that is  37,000  USD.

This deposit should be refundable in the case ICANN hasn't launched the
program within 6 months of the filing of the EOI, as any further delay would
seriously harm the EOI participants.

It could also be refundable in the event that  the changes in  the Applicant
Guidebook (especially in the "Evaluation criteria" or any significant
changes in fees or similar) are so relevant that some of the TLD
applications would be left out. It should then be refunded to those
applicants that, according to the final Guidebook,  could be excluded.

-ICANN should collect the following information from EoI participants:
Applicants organization and contact data, applied-for-string, community
based or standard.

-If the EOI is mandatory for all those willing to take part in the new gTLDs
first round, there's no reason why the EOI shouldn't be made public.  By
publishing the applicant's organization  name and applied-for-string,
potential applicants will be able to know if there will be string contention
within their bids, and, in that case, try to get to an agreement with the
other(s) part(s) before the application process starts.


-- 
Asociación PuntoGal
www.puntogal.org
prensa@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Tlf. 0034 670226268