[lac-discuss-es] Public Comment Open on new report: "Revisiting Vertical Separation of Registries and Registrars"

[Nick Ashton-Hart]

Public Comment: CRAI Report on gTLD Registries and Registrars

http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-24oct08-en.htm

24 October 2008

ICANN has received a report today, issued by CRA International, titled "Revisiting Vertical Separation of Registries and Registrars" ( http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtld-crai-report-24oct08-en.pdf) [PDF, 493K].

ICANN requested CRAI to perform economic research pursuant to two resolutions of the ICANN Board of Directors:


 1.  The 18 October 2006 resolution of ICANN's Board of Directors seeking more information relating to the registry and registrar marketplace; and,
 2.  The 26 June 2008 resolution of ICANN's Board, directing the development and completion of a detailed implementation plan for the new gTLD Policy.

CRAI's report makes certain recommendations regarding the relationship between registries and registrars. In particular, the CRAI report makes two proposals that might apply to the implementation of the new gTLD program.

First, CRAI proposes that, for single organization TLDs, that organization be permitted to operate both the registry and the registrar that sells second-level domain name subscriptions.

Second, CRAI proposes that a registry may own a registrar so long as the wholly-owned registrar does not sell second-level domain names subscriptions in the TLDs operated by the registrar.

ICANN would like to solicit public comment on these proposals, which if implemented, would have an immediate effect on applications under the new gTLD program.

Comments on the CRAI report are welcome via email to crai-report at icann.org. An archive of all comments received will be publicly posted at http://forum.icann.org/lists/crai-report/.

NOTE: CRA International (CRAI) is a highly respected economic consulting firm. ICANN asked CRAI to consider issues associated with certain competitive aspects at the registry and registrar level, including registry-registrar separation, for the purpose of helping guide the discussions related to the new TLD program.

CRAI does not speak for ICANN, and ICANN has not adopted this report. ICANN's Board, Management and Staff have not taken a position regarding this report. ICANN hopes that the community will benefit from the report and welcomes comments on it.

Related Links:

Public comment period: http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-200812.html#crai

CRAI report: http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtld-crai-report-24oct08-en.pdf [PDF, 439K]

New gTLD public comment page: http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtld-comments-en.htm

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Regards,

Nick Ashton-Hart
Director for At-Large
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
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