[gtld-com] Registrars Constituency position on new TLDs

["Bruce Tonkin" <Bruce.Tonkin@melbourneit.com.au>]

The ICANN gTLD Registrar Constituency continues to support the expansion of the namespace in a controlled and responsible manner. The Constituency supports the criteria for expansion set forth in Stuart Lynn's paper, released on March 25, 2003 (http://www.icann.org/riodejaneiro/stld-rfp-topic.htm), as a practical step forward in a discussion that has been historically beleaguered by theoretical discussion of academic improbabilities. The Registrar Constituency believes that the Board of Directors of ICANN should adopt these final criteria, without delay and further that;

(1) ICANN should, in parallel, move forward with the creation of an Accredited Registry Services Provider program which, having been based on objective criteria, facilitates competition, innovation and continued growth within this nascent sector; 

(2) ICANN's Board of Directors move to implement a scalable long-term plan that institutionalizes the processes by which new generic top-level domain names are chartered and delegated and that such processes should governed by the following broad principles;

- that the ongoing expansion continue take place in a controlled and responsible manner,

- that any criteria used to evaluate charter and delegation proposals be objective and equitably applied to all proposals

- that delegants and operators be encouraged to leverage existing registry protocols and not create new ones

- that delegants be encouraged to explore and implement new business models

- that businesses be allowed to fail, but that strong redelegation practices be immediately implemented to ensure TLD continuity

- that registrar competition continue to be encouraged and remain a cornerstone of this growing market and that all accredited registrars continue to have equal and equitable access to registry operations and services