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GAC Advice

The GAC provides advice to the ICANN Board on policy matters where there may be an interaction between ICANN’s policies and various laws, international agreements and public policy objectives. GAC Advice is communicated to the ICANN Board through either a Communique or a formal piece of Correspondence.

2015-02-11 - Safeguards Advice Applicable to all new gTLDs and Category 1 and Category 2 strings

GAC Advice

Reference No. :

2015-02-11 - Safeguards Advice Applicable to all new gTLDs and Category 1 and Category 2 strings

First Delivered 11 Feb 2015 via :

ICANN52 Singapore Communique

Consenus:

Consensus met

2015-02-11 - Safeguards Advice Applicable to all new gTLDs and Category 1 and Category 2 strings

1. Safeguards Advice Applicable to all new gTLDs and Category 1 (consumer protection, sensitive strings and regulated markets) and Category 2 (restricted registration policies) strings

The GAC considers the Singapore 52 meeting an important milestone in confirming the record to date of the NGPC’s adoption and implementation of GAC advice, as well as in setting the stage for subsequent GAC work related to the monitoring of ICANN’s compliance and enforcement activities.

While the GAC appreciates the efforts of the NGPC since the 2013 Beijing meeting to respond to the GAC’s advice, the GAC regrets that the NGPC has determined that requiring Registries to verify and validate the credentials of registrants for domain names in regulated and highly regulated industries poses cross-jurisdictional challenges for Registries and Registrars.

The GAC believes that its advised affirmative requirement for verification of credentials at the time of registration goes much further to meeting the goal of mitigating consumer harm and fraud than an after-the-fact complaint system. The GAC also notes that a significant number of Registries and Applicants for highly regulated strings have, consistent with GAC advice, voluntarily committed to undertaking the verification and validation of credentials.

a. The GAC urges the NGPC to:

      1. publicly recognize these commitments as setting a best practices standard that all Registries involved with such strings should strive to meet. In addition,

b. The GAC recommends:

      1. that ICANN suggest to those Registries for which such commitments have not yet been taken and for which contracts have already been signed with ICANN, that they review means and ways of introducing such provisions in view of the public policy concerns. This could also help to raise confidence in Internet-based commerce.

With regard to the Public Interest Commitments Dispute Resolution Procedure (PICDRP), the GAC appreciates the further clarification that the PICDRP process provides a potential “alternative or parallel” mechanism for a harmed party to pursue remedies that does not “preclude or limit” ICANN’s normal contractual compliance process and timetable, and we urge the NGPC to continue to refine and clarify the process. At present, the GAC considers the PICDRP to be complex, lengthy, and ambiguous, raising questions as to its effectiveness in addressing serious threats.

c. The GAC urges the NGPC to:

      1. consider refining the PICDRP and/or to consider developing a “fast track” process for regulatory authorities, government agencies, and law enforcement to work with ICANN contract compliance to effectively respond to issues involving serious risks of harm to the public. Finally, with regard to the GAC’s Beijing Category 2 advice,

d. The GAC urges the NGPC to:

      1. provide greater clarity as to the mechanisms for redress in the event registrants believe they have been unduly discriminated against.

Responsible Party

Board

Current Status/Communications Log

Letter from ICANN Board to GAC Chair - 28 April 2015