[ALAC-Announce] Proposed 2013 RAA Posted for Comment

[At-Large Staff]

https://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/proposed-raa-07mar13-en.htm
<https://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/proposed-raa-07mar13-en.htm>

Proposed 2013 RAA Posted for Comment
Comment / Reply Periods (*)
Comment Open Date: 
7 March 2013
Comment Close Date:
28 March 2013 - 23:59 UTC
Reply Open Date: 
29 March 2013
Reply Close Date: 
19 April 2013 - 23:59 UTC
Important Information Links
Public Comment Announcement
<https://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-2-07mar13-en.htm>
To Submit Your Comments (Forum)
<mailto:comments-proposed-raa-07mar13 at icann.org>
View Comments Submitted
<http://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-proposed-raa-07mar13/>
Brief Overview
Originating Organization:
ICANN
Categories/Tags: 
* Contracted Party Agreements
Purpose (Brief): 
ICANN is seeking public comments on a Proposed 2013 Registrar Accreditation
Agreement (RAA), particularly on areas where ICANN and the Registrar
Negotiating Team have not been able to reach agreement in principle. This
represents the first time in the nearly 18 months of negotiations that
community comment is formally sought on this document.

Current Status: 
ICANN and the Registrar Negotiating Team commenced negotiation on amendments
to the RAA in October 2011. While the documents posted today show many areas
of agreement, there are differences between the ICANN and Registrar
positions are highlighted. In addition, further discussion is still ongoing
regarding some of the specifications to the agreement.

Next Steps: 
After review of the comment received, the proposed 2013 RAA will be reviewed
to determine if further changes are warranted. In addition, ICANN and the
Registrar NT are likely to continue discussions regarding the areas where
the specifications remain open. The ultimate goal is to have a 2013 RAA
completed and approved in the near future.

Staff Contact: 
Samantha Eisner, Senior Counsel
Email Staff Contact
<mailto:samantha.eisner at icann.org?subject=More%20information%20on%20the%20Pr
oposed%202013%20RAA%20Posted%20for%20Comment%20public%20comment%20period>
Detailed Information
Section I: Description, Explanation, and Purpose:
After nearly 18 months of negotiations, ICANN is posting a new version of
the proposed 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) for public
comment.

The Registrar Negotiating Team (NT) has continued to engage in good faith
negotiations to understand ICANN's perspective with respect to the
outstanding issues, and to share the often divergent positions within the
Registrar Stakeholder Group. Recently, additional revisions were proposed by
ICANN's Negotiating Team stemming from the call by ICANN's CEO, Fadi
Chehadé, to work to improve the image of the domain industry and to protect
registrants through a further updated contractual framework. The Registrar
NT considered each of these new issues, and worked towards finding solutions
where appropriate. The RAA posted today reflects hard-fought concessions on
many of key issues raised throughout the negotiations, and highlights issues
remaining in order for the final 2013 RAA agreement to be reached.

Throughout the RAA and its Specifications, there are portions where two
versions of draft text appear side by side. These highlight areas where
ICANN and the Registrars have not been able to reach agreement in principle
on an issue, therefore both positions are provided for comment. Unless
otherwise noted, the remainder of the document reflects agreements in
principle among ICANN and the Registrar NT.

A fuller discussion of the status of negotiations and areas of difference is
available in ICANN's RAA Posting Memorandum
<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/memo-07mar13-en.pdf>
[PDF, 66 KB].

Section II: Background:
The current round of negotiations over the RAA began in October 2011. ICANN
and the Registrar Negotiation Team have presented updates to the community
at each of ICANN's public meetings since that time. Information on the
history of the negotiations, including previously released documentation, is
available at the community wiki at
https://community.icann.org/display/RAA/Negotiations+Between+ICANN+and+Regis
trars+to+Amend+the+Registrar+Accreditation+Agreement
<https://community.icann.org/display/RAA/Negotiations+Between+ICANN+and+Regi
strars+to+Amend+the+Registrar+Accreditation+Agreement> . This includes the
group of documents posted in June 2012, which demonstrated the progress to
date in the negotiations.

Section III: Document and Resource Links:
There are multiple documents for review as part of this posting. The new RAA
is anticipated to be a base document with a series of specifications
attached. This posting includes all documents that are currently anticipated
to be part of the 2013 a. As noted above, a fuller discussion of the status
of negotiations and areas of difference is available in ICANN's RAA Posting
Memorandum 
<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/memo-07mar13-en.pdf>
[PDF, 66 KB].

The base RAA documents:
* Proposed 2013 RAA, Annotated to Show Differences Between ICANN and
Registrar Positions
<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-agreement-07mar1
3-en.pdf>  [PDF, 281 KB]
* Redline showing changes between Proposed 2013 RAA and the June 2012 RAA
Posting 
<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-agreement-03jun1
2-redline-07mar13-en.pdf>  [PDF, 205 KB]
* Redline showing changes between Proposed 2013 RAA and the 2009 RAA
<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-agreement-2009-r
edline-07mar13-en.pdf>  [PDF, 259 KB]
* A Summary of Changes from the June 2012 RAA Posting
<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-agreement-summar
y-changes-07mar13-en.pdf>  [PDF, 268 KB] is also available.
The Specifications and Addendums:

For the Consensus and Temporary Policy Specification, the Data Retention
Specification, and the Whois Accuracy Program Specification, each is
available in annotated format to show where differences remain with the
registrars, as well as redlines showing the differences in the documents
from the 2012 posting.
* Proposed Consensus and Temporary Policy Specification, Annotated to Show
Differences Between ICANN and Registrar Positions
<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-consensus-tempor
ary-policy-07mar13-en.pdf>  [PDF, 121 KB]
* Redline showing changes between to the Consensus and Temporary Policy
Specification and the June 2012 Version
<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-consensus-tempor
ary-policy-redline-07mar13-en.pdf>  [PDF, 95 KB]
* Proposed Data Retention Specification, Annotated to Show Differences
Between ICANN and Registrar Positions
<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-data-retention-0
7mar13-en.pdf>  [PDF, 113 KB]
* Redline showing changes between to the Data Retention Specification and
the June 2012 Version
<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-data-retention-r
edline-07mar13-en.pdf>  [PDF, 118 KB]
* Proposed Whois Accuracy Program Specification, Annotated to Show
Differences Between ICANN and Registrar Positions
<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-whois-accuracy-0
7mar13-en.pdf>  [PDF, 116 KB]
* Redline showing changes between to the Whois Accuracy Program
Specification and the June 2012 Version
<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-whois-accuracy-r
edline-07mar13-en.pdf>  [PDF, 142 KB]
For the remaining specifications to the RAA, the versions below are provided
as ICANN's latest proposal. The Registrar Negotiation Team is still
considering each of these specifications:
* Proposed Registrant Rights and Responsibilities Specification
<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-registrant-right
s-responsibilities-07mar13-en.pdf>  [PDF, 48 KB]
* ICANN Proposed Specification on Proxy/Privacy Services
<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-privacy-proxy-07
mar13-en.pdf>  [PDF, 70 KB]
* ICANN Proposed Additional Registrar Operation Specification
<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-additional-opera
tion-07mar13-en.pdf>  [PDF, 78 KB]
* ICANN Proposed Registrar Information Specification
<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-registrar-inform
ation-07mar13-en.pdf>  [PDF, 76 KB]
* ICANN Proposed Whois Specification
<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-whois-07mar13-en
.pdf>  [PDF, 160 KB]
* ICANN Proposed Compliance Certificate
<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-compliance-certi
ficate-07mar13-en.pdf>  [PDF, 64 KB]
* ICANN Proposed Transition Addendum
<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-transition-adden
dum-07mar13-en.pdf> [PDF, 63 KB]
Section IV: Additional Information:
None


(*) Comments submitted after the posted Close Date/Time are not guaranteed
to be considered in any final summary, analysis, reporting, or
decision-making that takes place once this period lapses.

 Regards,



Heidi Ullrich, Silvia Vivanco, Matt Ashtiani, Gisella Gruber, Nathalie
Peregrine and Julia Charvolen
ICANN Policy Staff in support of ALAC
E-mail: staff at atlarge.icann.org


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