ICANN's RAA Update

[Robin Gross]

http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-3-14dec12-en.htm

ICANN RAA Negotiations Update – December 2012
14 December 2012

Over many months of negotiations, ICANN and the Registrars have made  
significant progress in negotiating the 12 recommendations from law  
enforcement authorities on improvements to the Registrar  
Accreditation Agreement. At ICANN's October 2012 meeting in Toronto,  
the negotiation teams described the agreements in principle on 11 of  
the 12 key law enforcement-recommended improvements, including the  
establishment of an abuse point of contact at each registrar;  
enhanced requirements to maintain updated information with ICANN; and  
robust data retention requirements. The documents posted in advance  
of the Toronto meeting also reflect the progress made with respect to  
the amendment topics proposed by the GNSO and ALAC. On one of the  
more complex items within the negotiations – the institution of  
validation and verification requirements on Whois data submitted by  
registrants – much progress has been made towards outlining an  
initial Whois verification process. However, a fundamental area of  
difference still remains between ICANN and the registrars, and  
agreement in principle has not been reached on this remaining topic.

ICANN and the registrars have jointly initiated work on the  
development of a strawman for a Proxy/Privacy Service Provider  
Accreditation Program. The working team hosted a session on this  
topic at ICANN's Public Meeting in Toronto to start soliciting  
community input into what such a program should encompass.

While much progress has been made on the recommendations provided by  
law enforcement, the GNSO and the ALAC, additional items remain for  
ICANN and the registrars to discuss. Both ICANN and the registrars  
have additional proposed changes which have not yet been negotiated.  
As previously discussed, it has been ICANN's position that the  
negotiations on key topics within the law enforcement recommendations  
need to come to resolution prior to concluding negotiations on these  
additional areas.

In Toronto, ICANN's new President and CEO, Fadi Chehadé, announced to  
the community that the changes to the RAA are one of his top  
priorities, and assured the community of his focus on this work.  
While in Toronto, an ambitious schedule was set out for the  
completion of the RAA negotiations, including the posting of a  
proposed RAA for public comment before the end of 2012. Since the  
Toronto meeting, the President and CEO has been working closely with  
ICANN staff to gain a deeper understanding of the RAA negotiation  
topics. The substantial amount of work spent on the Trademark  
Clearinghouse for the New gTLD Program as well as the organizational  
work to meet the operational excellence goals has pushed the RAA  
negotiations into December.  While the registrars and ICANN explored  
potential dates for negotiation in December 2012, both sides have  
agreed that between holidays, difficult travel schedules and the  
ICANN Prioritization Draw for New gTLDs, a December meeting is not  
feasible. Therefore, negotiations will resume in January 2013, and  
the anticipated date for publication of a draft RAA for community  
comment will be announced in January as well. ICANN thanks the  
registrars for their continued engagement in this negotiation process.





IP JUSTICE
Robin Gross, Executive Director
1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA  94117  USA
p: +1-415-553-6261    f: +1-415-462-6451
w: http://www.ipjustice.org     e: robin at ipjustice.org



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