[bc-gnso] ICANN Now Projects April 14 Release of New Version of Applicant Guidebook.

[Phil Corwin <pcorwin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

ICANN has just put out a new announcement on the gTLD program at 
http://icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-22feb11-en.htm .



In addition to containing summaries and analyses of the latest comments on the 
Guidebook, it has this to say about the process going forward --



The ICANN Board and Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) will meet in 
Brussels<http://meetings.icann.org/board-gac-spring11> from 28 Feb – 1 Mar and 
during the ICANN meeting in San Francisco (13 – 18 March) in the interest of 
resolving the outstanding issues the GAC has identified with the new gTLD 
process.

A new version of the Applicant Guidebook is not being published at this time. 
This decision was made with the intent to avoid presuming the outcomes of the 
discussions among the Board, GAC, and community. Given the short time period 
between these consultations and the ICANN meeting in San Francisco, there is 
little utility to publishing a version with new changes, which would also be 
subject to additional changes based on the outcomes of these meetings, and 
without time for comment between versions.

Work on the Applicant Guidebook is continuing in parallel with these 
activities. ICANN is continuing to work with stakeholder groups in order to 
fully understand comments made on the Guidebook and make changes based upon 
them. It is expected that the next version of the Guidebook to be released will 
incorporate updates based on: public comment, ongoing consultations, and 
changes resulting from the Board-GAC consultations and from community 
discussions in San Francisco.

Expected Path Forward

  *   Board-GAC Consultations: 28 Feb – 1 Mar 2011
  *   ICANN meeting: 14 – 18 Mar 2011
  *   Release of Applicant Guidebook: 14 Apr 2011 (emphasis added)



Based upon the language of the statement, it appears likely that the version of 
the Guidebook released in April will likely be subject to an additional round 
of public comment. As to what that means for the actual opening date of the 
application window, the answer is unclear but one would expect additional delay 
until at least June 2011 in my personal opinion.



Philip S. Corwin
Partner
Butera & Andrews
1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Suite 500
Washington, DC 20004

202-347-6875 (office)

202-347-6876 (fax)

202-255-6172 (cell)

"Luck is the residue of design." -- Branch Rickey