On the opening day of ICANN47 Durban, ICANN signed the first four Registry Agreements with new gTLD applicants. This is a historic moment in the New gTLD Program, which is drawing ever nearer to delegation of the first new gTLDs and the upcoming expansion of the Internet.
All four signed Registry Agreements are for the operation of Internationalized Domain Names (IDN). Two of the Registry Agreements are for strings in Cyrillic, one in Arabic and one in Chinese. Once these and other IDN strings are delegated and become operational, it will mark the first time that people will be able to access and type in a website address for generic Top-Level Domains in their native language. This will expand the Internet not just in the number of generic Top-Level Domains available, but also in the overall accessibility for all people across the globe.
The four signed Registry Agreements are listed below and the will soon be posted on the ICANN.org website.
- International Domain Registry Pty. Ltd.'s شبكة , the Arabic for "Web or Network"
- Core Association's онлайн, Russian for "Online"
- Core Association's сайт, Russian for "Web site"
- Spring Fields, LLC 游戏, Chinese for "Game"
Invitations to begin the Contracting Process will continue on a rolling basis, by prioritization number, for applications that are not subject to any outstanding items that can or do impact eligibility (learn more).
Applicants wishing to sign a Registry Agreement prior to resolution of certain outstanding issues that may affect the terms of the Agreement, such as GAC Advice, Rights Protection Mechanisms requirements and Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Proceedings, will need to sign the Supplement to the Registry Agreement allowing ICANN to update executed Registry Agreements to potentially address these unresolved issues.