ICANN TO Chat With GAC At ICANN 51 in LA, Whether 2 Character new gTLD Domains Should Be Allowed

Posted on September 3, 2014

In a letter to Heather Dryden Chair of the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) Stephen D. Crocker, Chair ICANN Board of Directors made it clear that ICANN will be taking up the issue of allowing the registration of 2 character new gTLD domain names:

Dear Heather,

On behalf of the Board New gTLD Program Committee (NGPC), I thank you for your letter of 8 August 2014 regarding requests from new gTLD applicants and registries for the release of two- character domain names in the new gTLD namespace. We acknowledge the GAC’s time plan to address these requests and its intention to consider this matter at the ICANN 51 meeting in Los Angeles.

To date, four sets of requests have been posted for public comment.1 The complete set of Registry Service Evaluation Policy (RSEP) requests are available here .

We would be happy to keep the GAC updated on any change in the status of these requests as well as any new requests that may be submitted leading up to ICANN 51.

We also note that the Re: line of your letter refers to a request for release of “two-character labels,” but the text of your letter refers to requests for release of “two-letter codes.” Specification 5 requires the reservation of all “two-character” labels, meaning any combination of letter-letter (aa), letter-number (a2), number-number (22) and number-letter (2a) labels.

ICANN has requests pending for release of each of these four types of combinations.

It would be helpful if the GAC could clarify whether its concerns extend only to letter-letter (aa) combinations such as ccTLD labels, or if its concerns extend more broadly to other two character combinations.

In addition, as outlined in Specification 5, section 4 of the Registry Agreement, we would also like to request a review by the GAC with respect to the release of Country and Territory Names.

A new gTLD registry has submitted a request under the Registry Services Evaluation Policy to offer Country and Territory Names at the second level

We look forward to understanding in Los Angeles the GAC’s concerns regarding two-character/letter domain names and Country and Territory Names in the new gTLD namespace.””