New gTLD Program: Next Round

For another use, see New gTLD Program (2012).

The New gTLD Program: Next Round is the second round of introduction of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), following the 2012 New gTLD Program, enabling the continued expansion of the Domain Name System (DNS). The Program gives businesses, communities, governments and other organizations the chance to apply for new top-level domains tailored to fit their organization, community, culture, language, and customer interests.

According to ICANN, the next round of new gTLDs will offer even more domain names in longer lengths and different scripts, allowing speakers of non-Latin-based languages to access the Internet using their own language or writing system. ICANN will accept applications for new gTLDs in the 26 scripts that are currently supported by the Root Zone Label Generation Rules (RZ-LGR): Arabic, Armenian, Bangla, Chinese (Han), Cyrillic, Devanagari, Ethiopic, Georgian, Greek, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Hebrew, Japanese (Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji [Han]), Kannada, Khmer, Korean (Hangul and Hanja [Han]), Lao, Latin, Malayalam, Myanmar, Oriya, Sinhala, Tamil, Telugu, and Thai. If one wishes to apply for a new gTLD in a script that is not yet supported but has common and widespread use, work with the community should be done, using the script to formulate a panel and develop a proposal for the RZ-LGR. The proposal will then be considered and integrated into the RZ-LGR using the RZ-LGR Procedure.

The New gTLD Program: Next Round is being implemented by ICANN in line with community-developed policy recommendations contained in the Generic Names Supporting Organization's New gTLD Subsequent Procedures (Subpro) Policy Development Process Final Report.

Cost

ICANN has set the expected evaluation fee for the next round of new gTLD applications. The expected fee will be USD $227,000. While the fee will not be approved formally until the Board approves the Applicant Guidebook for the next round, the expected cost is a critical piece of information for potential applicants when considering whether to submit a new gTLD application.

The cost was determined following program-related decisions made during the recent ICANN Board of Directors workshop, held 6–8 September in Los Angeles. These included the adoption of the pending recommendation from the Internationalized Domain Names Expedited Policy Development Process Phase 1 and adoption of advice from the Security and Stability Advisory Committee in relation to Name Collision Analysis. Also, the GNSO Final Report recommendations confirm that the fee is "set to recover costs associated with the new gTLD program. The fee is set to ensure that the program is fully funded and revenue-neutral and is not subsidized by existing contributions from ICANN funding sources, including generic TLD registries and registrars, ccTLD contributions and RIR contributions."

The gTLD evaluation fee does not include fees for conditional evaluations, which will be charged separately. Conditional evaluations are elective assessments that an applicant may choose, such as a Community Priority Evaluation or those that want to qualify for .Brand TLD status, to obtain special status or treatment.

Applicant Support Program

To make the New gTLD Program as accessible to as many eligible entities as possible, ICANN is providing financial and non-financial assistance to qualified applicants through the Applicant Support Program, or ASP.

The ASP is intended to make the New gTLD Program more attainable to entities that want to apply for a gTLD, but are unable to because of financial constraints and lack of other resources. The ASP provides a range of financial and nonfinancial assistance for qualified applicants including access to volunteer professional services, training, and other resources, and reductions in gTLD evaluation fees.

Generic Top-level Domain

Generic Top-level Domain

Generic Names Supporting Organization. Develops and recommends to the Board substantive policies relating to generic top-level domains and other responsibilities set forth in the Bylaws (ICANN Bylaws).

Top-Level Domain

Country code top-level domain. Determined by "ISO 3166-1: Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions — Part 1: Country codes".

Regional Internet Registry