Re: [soac-newgtldapsup-wg] charter language

[Evan Leibovitch <evan@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Elaine,

On 10 May 2010 17:12, Elaine Pruis <elaine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Apologies for missing the call this morning.
>
> I do have a comment on the charter, specifically *Objective 2: *To
> identify how the application fee can be reduced to accommodate applicants
> that fulfill appropriate criteria to qualify for this benefit.
>
> The term "reduced" indicates that the applicant would not have to pay their
> fair share of the cost of the program.
>

That is an incorrect assumption. Note that the objective does not assert
that "the application fee for *some* can be reduced". By some
interpretations, the cost for *all* to apply is too high, set by an
inaccurate calculation of costs to be recovered. There is no issue of
unfairness if rates for *all* are lowered while maintaining commitment to
cost recovery, while the accessibility benefits are still realized.

In addition, we have identified perspectives that might indicate that
certain kinds of applications can be deemed to be simpler to process and
thus cost less to ICANN. In such a case, such applications could be argued
to be unfairly overpaying, in that they are subsidizing the process for more
complex applications

The comments above are just speculation based on comments to date and may
not be ultimately reflected in the group's discussion or conclusions. They
suggest, however, that there exist approaches to fee reduction that maintain
both fairness and commitment to the policy of cost-recovery, that ought to
be explored and are within scope.

- Evan