ICANN has opened up another comment period for 12 more new gTLD which have applied to have the right to allocated 2 charter domain names.

The new gTLD string are: .XYZ, .DEALS, .CITY, .COLLEGE, .GOP, .TRADE, .WEBCAM, .BID, .HEALTHCARE, .WORLD, .BAND and the IDN XN–FJQ720A.

“”To obtain community input on the proposed amendments to the Registry Agreements of several registry operators. The proposed Amendments are to implement a new registry service that would permit the introduction of two-character domain names for registration in the new gTLD namespace resulting from the recently approved Registry Services Evaluation Process (RSEP) requests.”

Comment Period: 8 Jul 2014 – 29 Jul 2014 23:59 UTC

Reply Period: 30 Jul 2014 – 20 Aug 2014 23:59 UTC

Specification 5 (Schedule of Reserved Names), Section 2 of the New gTLD Registry Agreement addresses reservations of two-character labels. As provided in Specification 5:

All two-character ASCII labels shall be withheld from registration or allocated to Registry Operator at the second level within the TLD. Such labels may not be activated in the DNS, and may not be released for registration to any person or entity other than Registry Operator, provided that such two-character label strings may be released to the extent that Registry Operator reaches agreement with the related government and country-code manager of the string as specified in the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 standard. The Registry Operator may also propose the release of these reservations based on its implementation of measures to avoid confusion with the corresponding country codes, subject to approval by ICANN.

As part of these requests, each registry operator described the two-character domain names that it would offer for registration. These RSEP requests were posted for public information on the Registry Service Evaluation Process webpage, available at https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/rsep-2014-02-19-en.

See below for a summary of each RSEP request:

.healthcare, .world, .band – On 25 June 2014, ICANN posted for public information a request made by Binky Lake, LLC (on behalf of three Donuts, Inc. operated TLDs). The proposal requests the release of all two-character ASCII labels that do not appear on the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 list and for which there is no corresponding government or country-code operator. To avoid user confusion with the two-character country codes, the registry operator noted in its RSEP that “the release of these two-character ASCII labels poses no risk of confusion with any country-code. Therefore, the restrictions placed on this set of two-character ASCII labels are unwarranted and should be lifted forthwith.”

.trade, .webcam, .bid – On 16 June 2014, ICANN posted for public information a request made by Elite Registry Limited (on behalf of three Famous Four Media operated TLDs). The proposal requests the release of all two-character ASCII labels in respect of the listed strings that do not appear on the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 list and for which there is no corresponding government or country-code operator. The registry operator noted in its RSEP request that “On behalf of the following Registry Operators, Famous Four Media is requesting a written waiver from ICANN which would permit the allocation of two-character labels, while still reserving two-letter domains that correspond to the two-letter country code names found on the ISO-3166 alpha-2 list: Elite Registry Limited (.trade), Dot Webcam Limited (.webcam), Dot Bid Limited (.bid) (“Registry Operators”). As an initial step, we request the release of all two-character ASCII labels in respect of the listed strings or that will be operated by the foregoing Registry Operators, that do not appear on the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 list and for which there is no corresponding government or country-code operator.”

.gop – request was posted for public information on 12 June 2014 by Republican State Leadership Committee, Inc.. The proposal requests introduction of two-character .gop domains, while reserving two-letter domains that correspond to the two letter country code names.

.xyz, .college – request was posted for public information on 12 June 2014 by XYZ.COM, LLC for two TLDs. The proposal requests the release of all two-character ASCII labels that do not appear on the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 list and for which there is no corresponding government or country-code operator. The registry operator noted in its RSEP that it “will submit a subsequent request to release two-character labels that appear on the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 list and have a corresponding ccTLD, but this initial request is limited to two-character names with no corresponding ccTLD.”

.city – On 6 June 2014, ICANN posted for public information a request made by Binky Lake, LLC (on behalf of one Donuts, Inc. operated TLD) The proposal requests the release of all two-character ASCII labels that do not appear on the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 list and for which there is no corresponding government or country-code operator. To avoid user confusion with the two-character country codes, the registry operator noted in its RSEP that “the release of these two-character ASCII labels poses no risk of confusion with any country-code. Therefore, the restrictions placed on this set of two-character ASCII labels are unwarranted and should be lifted forthwith.”

.deals, .xn--fjq720a – On 6 June 2014, ICANN posted for public information a request made by Binky Lake, LLC (on behalf of two Donuts, Inc. operated TLDs) The proposal requests the release of all two-character ASCII labels that do not appear on the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 list and for which there is no corresponding government or country-code operator. To avoid user confusion with the two-character country codes, the registry operator noted in its RSEP that “the release of these two-character ASCII labels poses no risk of confusion with any country-code. Therefore, the restrictions placed on this set of two-character ASCII labels are unwarranted and should be lifted forthwith.”

As provided by the Registry Services Evaluation Policy, ICANN has undertaken a preliminary determination on whether the proposals might raise significant competition, security or stability issues. ICANN’s preliminary review (based on the information provided) did not identify any such issues for these requests.

To note, in its 27 March 2014 Singapore Communiqué, the GAC noted that it “discussed the Brand Registry Group proposal for a streamlined process under an addendum to the Registry Agreement for the approval of country names and 2-letter and character codes at the second level.” The GAC stated that it “has no major concerns about brand owners seeking approval for such names,” but that the approval should be “done directly with the countries concerned rather than through a GAC-level operational process.” The GAC noted that “individual GAC members could assist with proposals relevant to their particular country if requested,” and the GAC suggested that “consideration be given to establishing a register of countries that do not require individual requests to be made.” The GAC will be informed of this public comment period.
Section II: Background

In 2006, .name requested for a limited release of reserved two-character names which ICANN staff performed an initial technical evaluation, and referred the matter to the Registry Services Technical Evaluation Panel (RSTEP) process. The RSTEP panel considered the security and stability impacts of the proposal, which focused on unexpected responses being received from the DNS for both existing and non-existing domains, as well as simply user confusion where the idea of two letter second-level domains is unfamiliar. Based on the report of the RSTEP Panel, internal experts and other public comments, there were no significant security and stability issues related to introduction of the proposal, and the board adopted a resolution on 16 January 2007 to authorize ICANN to amend the .name Registry Agreement to implement the proposed registry services.

From 2007 to 2012, ICANN processed various RSEP proposals related to the release of two-character labels for 11 TLDs (.jobs, .coop, .mobi, .biz, .pro, .cat, .info, .travel, .tel, .asia, and .org).

Currently six RSEP proposals for the introduction of two-character domain names for .kred, .best, .ceo, .wiki, .globo, and 143 other Donuts, Inc. operated TLDs is open for public comment for a total of 148 New gTLDs. (Note: Binky Lake, LLC has submitted a RSEP request on behalf of Donuts, Inc. for 143 gTLDs.) Approving amendments to the identified Registry Agreements to implement the proposed new registry service would be the first of its kind in the new gTLD space. The public comment forum for these six requests can be found here: https://www.icann.org/public-comments/two-char-new-gtld-2014-06-12-en.