Registry Agreement
The Registry Agreement (RA) is a generic formal document constructed by ICANN, it's Councils and Boards, and the community at large. It was written in order to formalize a relationship between the designated Registry of the TLD and ICANN. The document sets the rights, obligations, and other terms of agreement that the would-be Registry must submit to in order to become a Registry Operator.[1]
Developments
First Registry Agreement
The first ever Registry Agreement was signed between ICANN and Network Solutions (later bought by Verisign) on November 10th, 1999 for the gTLDs .com, .net, and .org.[2]
New gTLD Program
The first Registry Agreements to be signed for TLDs from ICANN's new expansion program were unveiled and signed at ICANN 47 in Durban. All 4 agreements were signed for IDNs. They were:
- .شبكة - applicant is International Domain Registry Pty. Ltd., the string is Arabic for "web or network"
- .онлайн - applicant is CORE, the string is Russian for "online"
- .сайт - applicant is CORE, the string is Russian for "site"
- .游戏 - applicant is Donuts (Spring Fields LLC), the string is Chinese (Hans/Simplified) for "games"
There has been some controversy regarding ICANN's right to unilaterally amend the RA and other agreements. On February 5th, 2013, ICANN published a new version of the RA with language that gave the organization unilateral right to amend the contract between them and Registries. A public comment period that followed the February version saw 30 comments that opposed the "right to amend" language.[3]
Resources
- A list of TLDs with current RAs: TLDs with Registry Agreements
- Downloads of the published RAs: Registry Agreements
References
- ↑ Registry Agreement, New gTLDs, ICANN.org Retrieved 10 Sept 2013
- ↑ Registry Agreement Nov 1999, ICANN.org Retrieved 10 Oct 2013
- ↑ The Unilateral Right to Amend, Internet Governance.orgPublished 5 Sept 2013, Retrieved 10 Sept 2013