ICANN: Proposed Implementation of GNSO Consensus Policy Recommendations for the Protection of IGO&INGO Identifiers in All gTLDs

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is seeking community feedback on the proposed implementation of consensus policy recommendations governing the protection of identifiers for International Governmental Organisations (IGOs) and International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) in all generic top-level domains (gTLDs). These recommendations relate to protection at the top- and second-level only for certain specific names of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement (RCRC), the International Olympic Committee (IOC), certain IGOs, and INGOs. 

This Proposed Implementation of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) policy requires gTLD operators to implement certain protections for IGOs and INGOs, including reserving the names from registration by third parties and implementing a notification service where the protected organisation will receive a notice if a third party registers a domain name that corresponds to its organisation name. Protections at the top-level will be implemented in any subsequent round of new gTLDs. At the second-level, all gTLD registry operators will be required to withhold the specified names from registration. The protections within this policy only cover specific names of the RCRC, the IOC, certain IGOs, and INGOs according to the recommendations already adopted by the ICANN Board. Specifically, the names that are protected by this policy are:

1. Full names of specific INGOs in English only: reservation at the top-level for INGOs with United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs General Consultative status and protection with a notification service at the second-level for INGOs with United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs General or Special Consultative status.
2. Full names of specific IGOs in up to two languages: reservation at the top- and second-level.
3. Full names of Red Cross Movement (Red Cross, Red Crescent, Red Crystal, Red Lion & Sun in six UN languages): reservation at the top- and second-level.
4. Full names of International Olympic Committee (Olympic and Olympiad in UN6 languages plus German, Greek, and Korean): reservation at the top- and second-level.

This policy also provides the Red Cross, IOC, and IGO organisations a way to register the domain names matching their full names. Registry operators and registrars will be required to devise methods for registering the reserved full names by the relevant Red Cross, IOC, and IGO organisations.

For INGOs, a Claims Service will be required for any gTLD delegated after the effective date of this Consensus Policy. Registry operators will provide the INGO Claims Service for the first ninety (90) calendar days for which domain names in that gTLD are available for registration. 

Comments are particularly invited on: DNS label conversion rules, INGO claims notification, and updated to IGO identifier list.

Submitted feedback will be summarisied in a report and considered in the preparatin of the final implementation of the IGO/INGO Identifier Protection Consensus Policy. 

To contribute to this consultation, visit the dedicated webpage.