ICANN 42 was entirely dedicated to the New gTLD Program.
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The 42nd ICANN meeting concluded in Dakar. Such meetings are held three times a year. The conference was entirely devoted to the introduction of new top-level domains (the New gTLD program).
Even at the beginning of the meeting, speaking at the opening,ICANN President Rod Beckstrom saidthat the New gTLD program is designed for a wide range of companies, countries and communities.
The cost of applying for a new domain extension was discussed at the conference. Currently, it is planned that in addition to the application fee of $185,000, applicants for the new domain will be required to provide a "safety cushion"—an amount sufficient to maintain the domain for three years.
This provision in the regulations for new domain zones sparked protests from many potential applicants. Instead, it was proposed to create a common fund to finance the operation of bankrupt domains. However, this would increase the application fee by $50,000.
Companies applying for the new .brand domain do not agree with this requirement.
A decision on this issue has not yet been made. ICANN is currently reviewing the matter and inviting anyone interested to comment on the organization's website by December 2, 2011.
The ICANN resolution includes a provision for developing countries to obtain top-level domains. These countries will be able to obtain a domain for $47,000 instead of $185,000. Moreover, this amount can be paid in increments. Furthermore, ICANN promised to provide support for these countries through a specially created fund. A commission established within ICANN will review applications submitted by companies and representatives from developing countries. ICANN also promised to incorporate this provision into the New gTLD Program in December.
ICANN's second decision concerns funding for advertising the new gTLD program. According to the new decision, the funding was originally planned at $750,000, but this amount will be increased to over $1.5 million.
The conference also discussed the issue of strengthening government oversight over certain registrar activities. It was proposed to compile a list of areas of registrar activity where, in the committee's opinion, changes are needed.
As a result, the organization published a report containing recommendations regarding registrar regulations. These changes include a ban on cybersquatting by registrars, the establishment of a 24-hour hotline to quickly disable domains containing malicious content, and a clear definition of the conditions and timeframes for disabling such domain names.
In addition, proposals were made to transfer the task of investigating the activities of "malicious" domains to the registrar and to introduce registrar liability for fraudulent actions by domain owners.
