Brussels,
Belgium - On the third day of the ICANN meeting Karla Valente, ICANN
Director of Communications and Product Services, facilitated a session
called, “Reducing Barriers to New gTLD Creation in Developing Regions.”
This session is related to the ICANN Board’s resolution in March in
Nairobi, requesting the staff to “develop a sustainable approach to
providing support to applicants requiring assistance in applying for
and operating new gTLDs.”
Possible policies and procedures are now being laid out to determine
an objective set of criteria for applicants to qualify for ICANN support.
The specific kind of support is also being discussed. ICANN will not
be the only organization to support applications from developing countries;
in fact, ICANN may not support directly. The possibility of having other
support providers is also being discussed.
This is the first time that there was a dedicated session on support
provision for developing countries although there has been a clamor
for this kind of attention since it was announced last year that the
cost of evaluation fee is US$185,000. For the new gTLD program to be
a means to level the Internet playing field, there should be more than
one fee structure.
As of now, the staff has determined that those who will not be eligible
for support are the following:
- applicants that don’t need financing
- applicants that are brands/groups that should
be self-supporting companies
- purely government/parastatalapplicants
- applicants whose business model doesn’t demonstrate
sustainability
Final results of this discussion will be published for public comment
until August 10. The working group will then submit recommendations
to ICANN’s At-Large Committee (ALAC) and the GNSO (Generic Names Supporting
Organization), in adherence to ICANN’s bottom-up policy. The Board may
or may not release a resolution regarding this matter in December, in
time for ICANN 39 in South America.
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ICANN 38th official website : 
