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GAC Advice

The GAC provides advice to the ICANN Board on policy matters where there may be an interaction between ICANN’s policies and various laws, international agreements and public policy objectives. GAC Advice is communicated to the ICANN Board through either a Communique or a formal piece of Correspondence.

2017-03-15 2-Character Country/Territory Codes at the Second Level

GAC Advice

Reference No. :

2017-03-15 2-Character Country/Territory Codes at the Second Level

First Delivered 15 Mar 2017 via :

ICANN58 Copenhagen Communique

Consenus:

Consensus met

2017-03-15 2-Character Country/Territory Codes at the Second Level

In light of the discussions with the ICANN Board in Copenhagen on the Board Resolution of 8 November 2016 and its implementation of 13 December 2016 regarding two-letter country codes as second level domains,

The GAC advises the ICANN Board to:

  1. Take into account the serious concerns expressed by some GAC Members as contained in previous GAC Advice
  2. Engage with concerned governments by the next ICANN meeting to resolve those concerns.
  3. Immediately explore measures to find a satisfactory solution of the matter to meet the concerns of these countries before being further aggravated.
  4. Provide clarification of the decision-making process and of the rationale for the November 2016 resolution, particularly in regard to consideration of the GAC advice, timing and level of support for this resolution.

Rationale

The GAC noted serious concerns expressed by some governments about the consequences introduced by the changes created by the 8 November 2016 Resolution. In particular, according to the new procedure it is no longer mandatory for the registries to notify governments of the plans for their use of 2-letter codes, nor are registries required to seek agreement of governments when releasing two-letter country codes at the second level, which, for example, allows registries to charge governments substantial fees.