Public Comment from the American Red Cross Regarding Protection of International Olympic Committee (IOC) /Red Cross Names (RCRC) Drafting Team - Recommendations

["Brown, Lucy" <Lucy.Brown@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Public Comment from the American Red Cross Regarding Protection of 
International Olympic Committee (IOC) /Red Cross Names (RCRC) Drafting Team - 
Recommendations

The American Red Cross welcomes the opportunity to provide comments to the 
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN") regarding the 
proposed recommendations for the protection of the Red Cross/ Red Crescent and 
IOC names.

First, the American Red Cross strongly supports the comment posted on Friday, 
October 12, 2012 by the British, Australian and Canadian Red Cross Societies 
and supports the request made by governments to permanently protect the use of 
the words "Red Cross," "Red Crescent" and related names ("designations") in 
second level domain names.

The designations serve an important purpose.  In times of conflict, the 
designations are a symbol or signal that the personnel working under these 
designations are neutral actors that should be allowed safe passage to operate 
or transport supplies or equipment within a community in urgent need of medical 
attention or other assistance.  This noble purpose is the heart of the Geneva 
Conventions and the justification for the permanent protection of the 
designations without the need for a formal policy development process.

As our colleagues explained, American Red Cross, along with more than 186 
National Societies and organizations within the Red Cross Movement, uses the 
designations to execute the Movement's humanitarian mission throughout the 
world.  We acknowledge that there are many worthwhile NGOs, IGOs, and other 
organizations in civil society that contribute important charitable, 
humanitarian or educational services.  We understand they have concerns about 
the new gTLD program and our comment is not designed to impact the efforts of 
these organizations to protect the names they use to identify their 
organizations.


Finally, we take the opportunity to address the issue of the limited right of 
certain preexisting or "grandfathered users" to use the designations.  Certain 
entities used the designations before national legislation was passed to 
protect the designations for the domestic Red Cross or Red Crescent society.  
Those preexisting uses are permitted, or grandfathered, as of the date of 
enactment of the national legislation or the entry into force of the first 1949 
Geneva Convention for the given State.  Grandfathered users may continue to use 
the designations solely in association with goods or services that they used 
before the enactment of national legislation.  They may not use the 
designations in any new ways, such as in domain name registration activities or 
by becoming a new gTLD Registry.  Additionally, these grandfathered users may 
not use the designations - under any circumstances - to supersede the 
protection provided by the Geneva Conventions or national laws.


Thank you for considering our comments on these important issues.  We welcome 
further discussions about the above and are available should you have any 
questions regarding our comments.

Sincerely,

/Lucy Lindale Brown/

Lucy Lindale Brown
Sr. Advisor, International Humanitarian Law and Policy
American Red Cross
2025 E. St., NW
Washington, DC  20006
Tel:  202-303-5203
Fax:  202-303-0056
email:  lucy.brown@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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Attachment: Comment of British Australian & Canadian Red Cross Societies - Protection of IOC and RCRC Drafting Team - Recommendations.doc
Description: Comment of British Australian & Canadian Red Cross Societies - Protection of IOC and RCRC Drafting Team - Recommendations.doc