Public Comment is a vital part of our multistakeholder model. It provides a mechanism for stakeholders to have their opinions and recommendations formally and publicly documented. It is an opportunity for the ICANN community to effect change and improve policies and operations.
dotBERLIN GmbH & Co. KG appreciates the opportunity to provide feedback to the draft sections of the Next Round Applicant Guidebook (AGB). We are Registry Operator of the .berlin TLD. We’ve been involved in the matter of geographic top-level domains from the very beginning of the discussion in 2005. With this background, we would like to provide the following feedback:
If no, please explain.
We would like to point out that no protocols or other relevant documents on decisions from the 2012 Geographic Name Panel are publicly available. Such documents would illustrate to new gTLD applicants how the Geographic Name Panel made decisions on the various strings that were identical to geographic names. In this context, it is hard to assess whether the proposed language is consistent with the relevant recommendations and further information and clarification form ICANN org would be appreciated to make a final assessment. The absence of essential information leaves a bitter aftertaste when it comes to the transparency of the classification of geographic top-level domains.
Missing information about the Geographic Names Panel decisions in the 2012 nTLD round leaves many questions unanswered.