.spa

Status:	Proposed
country:	International
Type:	Generic
Category:	Lifestyle
More information:

.spa is a proposed TLD in ICANN's New gTLD Program.

Current Applicants

1. Donuts (Foggy Sunset, LLC), has applied for 307 new TLDs. This applicant submitted a Public Interest Commitment, which can be downloaded here.
2. Asia Spa and Wellness Promotion Council Limited, Community Priority Application

Former Applicants

1. Top Level Domain Holdings Ltd. filed for 68 TLDs on its own behalf. This applicant submitted a Public Interest Commitment, which can be downloaded here.

.spa was WITHDRAWN by TLDH, along with another 3 TLDs (.free, .zulu, .sale), in April 2013.

Community Application

There is one community priority application for .spa, from Asia Spa and Wellness Promotion Council Limited (ASWPC). It is "connected with over 400 licensed spas across Asia and over 2000 spa professionals participating in and attending its events." While the organization is focused on Asia, they intend to operate the TLD as an open, international community space for all members of the spa community, which includes Spa operators, professionals and practitioners, Spa associations and their members, and spa products and services manufacturers and distributors. The ASWPC will create an International Registry board to oversee the registration policies for the TLD.

Objection from Belgium government

The government of Belgium objected to the .spa string within the GAC, as the small city of Spa in Belgium is also the origin for the English word Spa. The GAC did not offer consensus advice on the string, and thus it was up to ICANN to decide whether to take into account Belgium's objections or let the application proceed. One applicant, Asia Spa and Wellness Promotion Council, worked with the Spa government to give them a profit share and some control over the domain, but Donuts, the other applicant, refused to strike a similar deal.

In May 2014, ICANN announced they would allow the .Spa applications to proceed as-is, noting that the GAC did not present consensus advice. The contention set will now have to be resolved through some type of auction.

Top-Level Domain

Governmental Advisory Committee. Considers and provides advice on the activities of ICANN as they relate to concerns of governments, particularly matters where there may be an interaction between ICANN's policies and various laws and international agreements or where they may affect public policy issues (ICANN Bylaws).