[gtld-council] Recommendation 20: updated text

[Liz Williams <liz.williams@xxxxxxxxx>]

Good evening everyone

A small group met this evening to further refine the language for  
Recommendation 20.  The following text is an amalgamation of work  
from Philip, Chuck, Mawaki and others on the call.  The small group  
supported the following formulation and have included suggestions  
from Becky Burr about the burden of proof upon an objector.  This can  
be discussed in tomorrow afternoon's call.
Recommendation 20

An application will be rejected if an expert panel determines that  
there is substantial opposition to it from a significant portion of  
the community to which the string may be explicitly or implicitly  
targeted.
The remainder of the discussion focussed on the following items but  
is not yet complete.
Process

§  Opposition must be objection based.
§  Determination will be made by a dispute resolution panel  
constituted for the purpose (perhaps like the RSTEP pool of panelists  
from which a small panel would be constituted for each objection)
§  The objector must provide verifiable evidence that it is an  
established institution of the community and that the legitimate  
rights or interests of the group would be materially harmed by the  
introduction of the TLDs
Implementation Guideline --

A small information paper is coming out from the Implementation Team  
on the place of public comments in the application evaluation process  
but there may be an automatic response to public comments that will  
alert public commenters to the objection process.

Guidelines

The task of the panel is the determination of substantial opposition.

a) substantial
In determining substantial the panel will assess the following:
§  significant portion
§  community
§  explicit or implicit targeting
§  established institution
§  formal existence.

b) significant portion:
In determining significant portion the panel will assess the balance  
between:
§  the level of objection submitted by one or more established  
institutions and
§  the level of support provided in the application from one or more  
established institutions.
The panel will assess :
§  significance proportionate to the explicit or implicit targeting.

c) community
Community should be interpreted broadly and will include for example  
an economic sector, a cultural community, or a linguistic community.  
It may also be a closely related community which believes it is  
impacted.
d) explicitly targeted
Explicitly targeted means there is a description of the intended use  
of the TLD in the application.
e) implicitly targeted
Implicit targeting means that the objector makes an assumption of  
targeting or that the objector believes there may be confusion by  
users over its intended use.
f) established institution
An institution that has been in formal existence for at least 5  
years. In exceptional cases, standing may be granted to an  
institution that has been in existence for fewer then 5 years.  
Exceptional circumstance include but are not limited to re- 
organisation, merger, or an inherently younger community.
The following ICANN organizations are established institutions: GAC,  
ALAC, GNSO, ccNSO, ASO (but this element requires further discussion)
g) formal existence
Formal existence may be demonstrated by:
§  appropriate public registration,
§  public historical evidence,
§  validation by a government, intergovernmental organization,  
international treaty organisation or similar.
.....................................................

Liz Williams
Senior Policy Counselor
ICANN - Brussels
+32 2 234 7874 tel
+32 2 234 7848 fax
+32 497 07 4243 mob