.gratis

Status:	Proposed
Type:	Generic
Category:	Commerce
More information:

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

Applicants

1. Donuts (Pioneer Tigers, LLC), one of 307 applications by the company.
2. Uniregistry, Corp., one of 54 applications submitted by domainer Frank Schilling's company.

European Commission Objection

The European Commission objected to the application for .gratis outside of ICANN's defined remediation processes.

Just after ICANN's GAC issued its Early Warnings, which are advice given from one GAC member country to an applicant warning it of potential issues within its application, the European Commission issued a letter to all applicants within the new gTLD program. The letter highlights 58 applications that "could raise issues of compatibility with the existing legislation .. and/or with policy positions and objectives of the European Union." It notes a desire to open a dialogue with each offending applicant.

The Commission specifically notes that this objection is not a part of the GAC Early Warning process, and goes on to note that "the Commission does not consider itself legally bound to [ICANN] processes," given that there is not legal agreement between the two bodies.

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).