[EURO-Discuss] Consultation Open on the RAA

[Nick Ashton-Hart]

Dear All:

Today the official consultation opens on the registrar accreditation  
agreement. You can see the announcement below and also at http:// 
www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-27jul07.htm.

NOTE: There is a new section at www.alac.icann.org for open public  
consultations and this will show up there very soon.

ICANN Starts Consultation on How to Protect Registrants
Public, stakeholder comments sought on changes to Registrar  
Accreditation Agreement

27 July 2007

MARINA DEL REY, Calif.: Increased protection for those registering  
domain names is ICANN’s goal as it launches consultations on its  
Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) and the accreditation process  
for companies who register domains.

“I called for the review of RAA and the accreditation back in March,  
and I’m pleased to be moving into the active consultation phase,”  
said Dr Paul Twomey, ICANN’s CEO and President. “The need for this  
review is clear. The current RAA is more than six years old. We’ve  
seen the number of accredited registrars grow to more than 900. And  
we’ve seen the incredible difficulties that can be unleashed with the  
collapse of a Registrar.”

The RAA is the contract that governs the relationship between ICANN  
and its accredited registrars. The current version was put in place  
in May 2001. The same contract is in place between ICANN and each of  
the more than 900 accredited registrars (a directory of which can be  
found at http://www.internic.net/regist.html ).

The consultation is looking for ideas and input on amendments to the  
RAA and the registrar accreditation process in order to provide  
additional protection to registrants. Previous discussions in the  
ICANN community has already helped create a number of suggestions for  
discussion, which are:

Incorporating provisions to govern the terms under which a registrar  
can be sold and continue to retain its ICANN accreditation.
Including additional contract enforcement tools offering more options  
than the current one option – terminating accreditation.
Addressing the responsibilities of a parent owner/manager when one or  
more of a “family” of registrars fails to comply with ICANN  
requirements.
Requiring registrars to escrow contact information for customers who  
register domain names using Whois privacy and Whois proxy services.
Augmenting the responsibilities placed on registrars with regard to  
their relationships with resellers.
Requiring operator skills training and testing for all ICANN- 
accredited Registrars.
Details of these proposals, as well as the consultation process, are  
available on ICANN”s website at http://www.icann.org/topics/raa/.

The consultation stems from ICANN board resolutions made at the San  
Juan 29th International Public meeting held in June 2007. Those  
resolutions call for ICANN staff to solicit and consider the input of  
the Internet community regarding proposed changes to the RAA,  
registrar accreditation process, and related policies.

A complete summary and analysis of community feedback will be made  
available at the end of the comment period and suggested amendments  
to the RAA will be posted for further comment. There will be a  
publicly available assessment of the impact that the input and  
comment had on the development of the amendments.

“These consultations will make sure we have input from the wider  
community, and help us make the changes needed to protect  
registrants,” added Dr Twomey.

About ICANN:

ICANN is responsible for the global coordination of the Internet's  
system of unique identifiers like domain names (like .org, .museum  
and country codes like .uk) and the addresses used in a variety of  
Internet protocols that help computers reach each other over the  
Internet. Careful management of these resources is vital to the  
Internet's operation, so ICANN's global stakeholders meet regularly  
to develop policies that ensure the Internet's ongoing security and  
stability. ICANN is an internationally organized, public benefit non- 
profit company. For more information please visit: www.icann.org.


-- 
Regards,

Nick Ashton-Hart
Director, At-Large
ICANN
PO Box 32160
London N4 2XY
United Kingdom
Main Tel: +44 (20) 8800-1011]
USA Tel: +1 (202) 657-5460
Fax: +44 (20) 7681-3135
mobile: +44 (7774) 932798
email: nick.ashton-hart at icann.org
Win IM: ashtonhart at hotmail.com / AIM/iSight: nashtonhart at mac.com /  
Skype: nashtonhart
Online Bio:   https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtonhart




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