The ICANN Board directed the ICANN organization (org) to
initiate a community consultation on Public Interest
Commitments and Registry Voluntary Commitments
(PICs/RVCs). To complete the consultation expeditiously
and avoid impact on the timeline to open the next round of
applications for new gTLDs, we are sharing the next steps,
so the community knows what to expect.
Background
The ICANN Board adopted a subset of the New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Policy
Development Process recommendations at ICANN78 in October
2023, as shown in the October
2023 Scorecard. These recommendations envision that
applicants will be permitted—and in some cases,
required—to enter into Registry Agreements containing
public interest commitments with ICANN. In some cases,
these commitments, whether they are PICs or RVCs, may
implicate the contents within the applicants' proposed
gTLDs.
PICs, specifically the mandatory PICs and safeguard PICs,
are the product of Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC)
Advice concerning new gTLDs from the 2012 round and are
uniform across the relevant Registry Agreements. RVCs,
which are comparable to the voluntary PICs from the 2012
round, may vary widely and permit applicants to respond to
Public Comments, objections, GAC early warnings, GAC
Advice, and other comments from the GAC.
The Board previously raised concerns about potential challenges related to ICANN's ability to
enter into and enforce PICs/RVCs in accordance with its
mission, due to limitations in the Bylaws
Section 1.1. In adopting the aforementioned
recommendations, the Board cited the Generic Names
Supporting Organization (GNSO) Council's second Clarifying
Statement to the effect that ICANN and the applicant
both must agree that a proffered commitment is clear,
detailed, mutually understood, and sufficiently objective
and measurable so as to be enforceable, as a practicable
matter and under ICANN Bylaws.
To this end, the Board directed ICANN org to facilitate a
community consultation to ensure that the framework for
implementing these recommendations is consistent with the
ICANN Bylaws. Another purpose is to ensure that the ICANN
Board, org, and community are aligned in how these
recommendations can be implemented, considering the Board
concerns and the need for these commitments to be
enforceable under the ICANN Bylaws and as a practicable
matter, as noted in the GNSO Council's second Clarifying
Statement.
The community consultation is expected to inform the
development of the Applicant Guidebook for the New gTLD
Program: Next Round.
What To Expect
The consultation process will have three key components:
1) community review of and feedback on a proposed
implementation framework; 2) a community webinar to
provide an overview of the proposed framework and an
opportunity for initial community questions; and 3) a
plenary session on PICs/RVCs at ICANN79 in March 2024. The
time frame is set out below.