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Objection funding request form for eligible governmental entities [DOCX, 159 KB]
Under Section 3.3.2 of the gTLD Applicant Guidebook, governmental entities may request ICANN to fund an objection to a new gTLD application. The following provides information on the eligibility criteria, request for funding instructions, and fund disbursement process.
Eligibility Criteria:
For purposes of determining whether a governmental entity is eligible for objection funding, ICANN will use the ISO 3166-1 standard 2-Letter Country/Territory code (http://www.iso.org/iso/country_names_and_code_elements) as well as the published list of GAC Representatives (https://gacweb.icann.org/display/gacweb/GAC+Representatives).
Consistent with the Applicant Guidebook, funding from ICANN for objection filling fees, as well as for advance payment of costs, is available to eligible governmental entities in the amount of USD 50,000 with the guarantee that a minimum of one objection per government will be fully funded by ICANN where requested. When completing the objection funding request form, the requestor may only select one ground for objection. If an eligible governmental entity chooses to apply for multiple funding requests (i.e., submits multiple objection funding request forms), ICANN will process the requests in the order they are received. Once a requestor receives an objection funding approval from ICANN, all subsequent funding requests will be automatically rejected.
Funding available from ICANN will cover the objector filing fees and advance payment costs payable to the Dispute Resolution Service Provider (DRSP), which ICANN will pay directly to the DRSP. This funding does not cover other costs, such as fees for legal advice. In the event that the ICANN-funded objector is determined to be the prevailing party by the DRSP, ICANN will receive the refund from the DRSP for all funds advanced to the DRSP by ICANN.
ICANN reserves the right to contact the identified government entity listed in the funding request form and/or other relevant government parties.
The Objections Procedures are outlined in Module 3 of the Applicant Guidebook (http://newgtlds.icann.org/applicants/agb).
Request for Funding Instructions:
For the purpose of describing the funding request process, the objector is defined as the point of contact responsible for the Objection Funding Request Form for Eligible Governmental Entities.
To submit a request, the objector must complete the Objection Funding Request Form for Eligible Governmental Entities [DOCX, 159 KB].
Below is an example of the form and instructions as to what needs to be provided in each field. Forms should be completed in English and returned to ICANN in the original document format (e.g., no PDF). No handwritten and scanned request forms will be accepted.
Objecting Government Information:
| Eligible Governmental Entity: | 2-Letter Country/Territory Code as defined by ISO 3166-1 (http://www.iso.org/iso/country_names_and_code_elements) or GAC Representative list (https://gacweb.icann.org/display/gacweb/GAC+Representatives) | ||
| Name of Filing Authority/Entity: | Entity, department, or similar division of the government within the above country/territory responsible for filing identified objection | ||
| Objector Contact Name: | Individual responsible for filing the objection. This person will be contacted if ICANN has any questions regarding this funding request. | ||
| Contact Position/Title: | This is the position/title name of the above-named contact. | ||
| Contact Phone: | Phone number of the above-named contact. | Contact Email: | Email address of the above-named contact. |
Application Information Subject to this Objection:
| Application ID: | The unique application ID in the form: 1-111-11111 |
String: | The applied for TLD against which the objection is being filed. IDN strings should be in the UTF-16 format. |
| Applicant Name: | Full name of the applicant responsible for the applied-for TLD | ||
| Grounds (check ONLY one): |
▢ String Confusion ▢ Legal Rights |
▢ Limited Public Interest ▢ Community |
|
| Check the objection ground for which you intend to file an objection. You may only check one. Forms with more than one grounds checked will be rejected. | |||
Once the form is complete and ready for submittal to ICANN, the objector must send an email to newgtld@icann.org with the subject title header, "Objection Funding Request for <insert name of eligible governmental entity>" and with the request form attached to the email.
The deadline for ICANN to receive the objection funding request is UTC 23:59:59 11-March-2013. Requests received after this date and time will not be eligible for funding.
The new gTLD Customer Service Center will create a case number for each request received and send an acknowledgement email with the case number to the objector. ICANN will verify (1) the eligibility of the governmental entity; (2) the objector point of contact; and (3) confirm the active status of the application subject to the objection funding request. The objector will be informed of whether its funding request was accepted or declined no later than 12-March-2013.
Fund Disbursement Process:
As the objection filing and dispute resolution proceedings will be administered by independent DRSPs, ICANN encourages the objector to prepare the DRSP objection in advance of 12-March-2013.
If the funding request is accepted, ICANN will inform the objector and the applicable DRSP. The objector should promptly process its objection through the respective DRSP as listed below:
- String Confusion Objection: The International Centre for Dispute Resolution (http://www.adr.org/icdr)
- Legal Rights Objection: The Arbitration and Mediation Center of the World Intellectual Property Organization (http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/index.html)
- Limited Public Interest Objection & Community Objection: The International Center of Expertise of the International Chamber of Commerce (http://www.iccwbo.org/court/ expertise/id4595/index.html).
If the funding request is declined, the governmental entity may determine that it wishes to continue with the objection process without ICANN funding. If so, the objector will need to file its objection with the applicable DRSP as listed above, and be prepared to pay for its own objection filing fee and other DRSP fees and costs.
If there are any additional questions regarding this process, please contact the new gTLD Customer Service Center at newgtld@icann.org.