Report of the Expressions of Interest Working Group
<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">On behalf of the Expressions of Interest Working Group (EOI-WG), I am pleased to submit our final report to ICANN, attached here as a PDF file. In addition, I have attached the EOI-WG charter, which sets our composition and our remit.<div><br></div><div>The EOI-WG makes a series of specific recommendations about the EOI process, as well as providing point-by-point answers to the questions asked by ICANN staff for this comment period. In each case, our recommendations are accompanied by the reasons for them. Where applicable, the level of consensus is also noted (e.g., "unanimous consensus" or "strong consensus"). </div><div><br></div><div>Our report also contains discussion of suggestions that we did not make as recommendations, and the reasons why they were not adopted as consensus recommendations.<br><div><br></div><div>The Working Group met first during the ICANN meeting in Seoul and then, with expanded ranks, by telephone call. We also set up a mailing list for our discussions. The Working Group was comprised of a diverse group of people, acting on their on behalf and not as representatives of any stakeholder group or constituency. Our goal was to see if we could come up with recommendations to help ICANN implement an Expressions of Interest process for new gTLDs as called for by the resolution of ICANN's Board of Directors on October 29, 2009 at their meeting in Seoul. Although ICANN did offer to provide us with resources, we decided to privately fund the entire effort in order to avoid squabbles about whether we were official or not. We're not official -- we're just some people who got together to make some recommendations. </div><div><br></div><div>In brief, our report recommends the following:</div><div><br></div><div>1. An Expressions of Interest procedure is desirable and should be implemented as soon as possible</div><div>2. The Expressions of Interest procedure should be mandatory for anyone seeking to apply for a new generic top-level domain</div><div>3. A $55,000 fee must accompany the submission of an Expression of Interest for each string sought, refundable only in very limited circumstances</div><div>4. At the close of the Expressions of Interest submission window, ICANN should publish at least the name of the submitter and the string submitted</div><div>5. ICANN should publicize the Expressions of Interest procedure in a manner sufficient to assure fairness to those who may as yet be unaware of the new gTLD program, but this communications period should be as short as possible within this constraint</div><div><br></div><div>Questions about the EOI-WG and its recommendations will be answered by reading the attached report and charter, as well as by reviewing our deliberations. The archives of our mailing list may be found at <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); "><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.pra.im/pipermail/eoi-wg/";>http://lists.pra.im/pipermail/eoi-wg/</a>. The archives also contain links to MP3 recordings of our two phone calls, held on Nov. 9 2009 and on Nov. 13 2009, as well as the various drafts that we considered, in clean and redlined versions. The EOI-WG members are listed in both the report and our charter. </span></div><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">We hope and expect that our work will be helpful to ICANN, to the ICANN community, and to the new gTLD process. </span></span></div><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Respectfully,</span></span></div><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Antony Van Couvering</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">EOI-WG co-ordinator</span></span></div><div><br></div><div></div></div></body></html> Attachment:
Expressions of Interest Working Group_final.pdf <html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><head></head><div><div></div><div><br></div><div></div></div></body></html> Attachment:
Expressions of Interest Working Group Charter_final.pdf <html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div></div><div><br></div><div> </div><div><br></div></div></body></html> |