Here at Seoul 36th ICANN Meeting, ICANN Board has just approved to Launch “IDN ccTLD Fast Track Program”.

Application Period for IDN ccTLD Fast Track Program is going to be start on 16th Nov.

The new rules for IDN Script are as follows:
1. the string must be a minimum of two characters long (U-label),
2. characters are counted as basic Unicode components,
3. the string does not need to be the entire country or territory name, nor does it need to be an acronym, as long as the string fulfills the meaningfulness criteria described further below,
4. the string must not be longer than 63 characters (A-label).
The IDN ccTLD string(s) must be a meaningful:

The name of the country or territory; or
• A part of the name of the country or territory denoting the country or territory; or
• A short-form designation for the name of the country or territory that is recognizable and denotes the country or territory in the selected language.

The meaningfulness requirement is verified as follows:
1. If the requested string is listed in the UNGEGN Manual, then the string fulfills the meaningfulness requirement.
2. If the requested string is not listed in the UNGEGN Manual, then the meaningfulness must be substantiated by the requester providing documentation from an internationally recognized expert or organization.

ICANN will recognize the following as internationally recognized experts or organizations:
a) National Naming Authority – a government recognized National Geographic Naming Authority, or other organization performing the same function, for the country or territory for which the IDN ccTLD Fast Track request is presented. The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) maintains such a list of organizations at: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/Authorities_listJan09.pdf
b) National Linguistic Authority – a government recognized National Linguistic Authority, or other organization performing the same function, for the country or territory for which the IDN ccTLD Fast Track request is presented.
c) ICANN agreed expert or organization – in the case where a country or territory does not have access to either of the above, it may request assistance from ICANN to identify and refer a recognized experts or organization. Any expertise referred from or agreed to by ICANN will be considered acceptable and sufficient to determine whether a string is a meaningful representation of a country or territory name.

• One string per official language or script per country or territory.
Based on detailed financial analysis the following constitutes the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Fee structure:
• A pre-arranged and recommended revenue-neutral IDN ccTLD evaluation processing fee of US $26,000 (rounded).
A processing fee notice will sent to the requester upon receipt of an IDN ccTLD request. The processing fee can be paid in local currency.
Requesters unable to pay this fee can contact ICANN and request fee waiver.
The processing fee can be paid in local currency.

• A pre-arranged and recommended annual cost contribution fee of 3% of revenue, payable in local currency (1-2% for low volume registries).
The annual contribution fee is included as the expected annual contribution fee in the DoR and in the EOL.
The annual contribution will be based a statement, detailed by the IDN ccTLD Manager. ICANN will not request the necessary revenue-related information.
The annual contribution fee can be paid in local currency.

If the registry wishes to use a different model (other than the percent of revenue model) that arrives at the same general level of contribution, that contribution will be welcomed by ICANN. ICANN will maintain accounting of all ccTLD contributions and continue to compare those contributions against costs for supporting the ccTLDs.
IDN ccTLD managers unable to pay this fee can contact ICANN and request fee waiver.

This Public Forum [Public.ICANN.Org] is very usefull to interact with the Coomunity & ICANN Staff. You can find that it is I who first time proposed ICANN to make fundamental changed in the Plocicies of IDN ccTLDs and gTLDs. I have contributed in the Policy Development Process through this blog/forum and submitted Financial Analysis to the ICANN Staff.

Great thanks to Allah who given me the chance and power to convince M/s ICANN to alter their policies & procedures which are now has become integral part of the recently implemented policies.

I proposed M/s ICANN to:
1. Remove the restriction and limitation of two Characters for new IDN ccTLD’s naming script. Now it is offering by the ICANN to select IDN ccTLD script with minimum 2 U- characters and upto 63 A Letters.
2. New IDN ccTLD’s naming script should be a meaningful word in their Local Language.
3. Reduction of the cost of the new ccTLDs (which is now US$26,000 or even to apply for waiver).
4. Start a Urdu Wiki with IDN naming script, it was opened in second round.
5. Also another proposal is also accepted regarding gTLDs application fee to be charged in different rounds of evaluation to enablement (4 Rounds). The looser of one round will not be going to pay the cost of the next round.

I have got global level achievement because 250+ Countries & Territories are the Beneficiary trough the acceptance of my above proposals.

Credit goes to Tina Dam, who worked very hard.

Special thanks to ICANN Board for approval.

Regards

Imran Ahmed Shah
[+92-300-4130617]
Hotel Lotte, Seoul, Korea

Fellowship Member of SEOUL 36 ICANN MEETING
Advisor to: Urdu Internet Council
Group Leader of:
Websphere User Group of Pakistan
Pakistan Tivoli User Group
Pakistan Rational User Group