Applicant Guidebook
FAG stands for Final Applicant Guidebook. It is a guidebook of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). This guidebook describes the entire process of applying for the new generic top-level domain names[1]. The fifth version which is also the latest version of the Guidebook was released in the year 2010 to get the inputs on the Proposed Final Applicant Guidebook. [2]
ICANN kept a timeline of four months to conduct a four-month communications campaign just to ensure that people who want to participate can get a fair idea when ICANN is going to start accepting applications for new gTLDs. It gave a chance for participants to comment either on a module or the entire FAG depending on the area of interest of the participants. [2]
Contents of the latest FAG
The latest version of the FAG consist some new points in each of its Module except the Module 4. Some of these changes are as follows:
Module 1:
- Based on a recent Board decision of ICANN, the restrictions imposed on Registrar cross-ownership were eliminated
- It contains some additional information on delegation rates, application batch and dependencies for root scaling, than the earlier version
- The background screening criteria has been limited to businesses, cybersquatting and criminal background.
- It also includes an added placeholder for outcomes on Applicant Support Working Group. [1]
Module 2:
- It also consists of updates in the string requirements section, which deal with the use of numbers in the TLDs
- It contains a list of the UNESCO as a reference for region/continent names. [1]
Module 3:
- It has incorporated the Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) in the Legal Rights Objection
- It contains many recommendations from the Working group which deals with the morality and public order objection. [1]
Module 4:
As mentioned earlier, there are no significant changes in this module
Module 5:
This includes the role of the ICANN Board in the process of implementing the new gTLD process. [1] The Board has got the right to consider an application for a new gTLD individually under exceptional circumstances that whether the approval would do well to the Internet community.[3]
References