[ICANN]<http://www.icann.org/> News Alert https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2015-01-07-en ________________________________ Three Contention Sets Postponed for 21 January gTLD Auction 7 January 2015 The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is postponing auctions that had been scheduled for 21 January 2015, for .LLC, .LLP and .INC. ICANN made this decision following receipt of a recommendation issued by the Emergency Panelist appointed in the Independent Review Process (IRP) initiated by Dot Registry, LLC, which is an applicant for these three strings. All affected applicants have been informed. The Emergency Panelist recommended that the auctions be postponed pending the conclusion of the IRP, and ICANN has voluntarily chosen to follow the recommendation for the time being. The parties have selected two of the three panelists for the IRP and expect to constitute the full three-person panel shortly. ICANN has a proven commitment to accountability and transparency in all of its practices. ICANN considers these principles to be fundamental safeguards in ensuring that its bottom-up, multi-stakeholder model remains effective. The mechanisms through which ICANN achieves accountability and transparency are built into every level of its organization and mandate. The IRP<https://www.icann.org/en/about/governance/bylaws#IV-3> is one of the accountability review mechanisms<https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/mechanisms-2014-03-20-en> set out in the ICANN Bylaws. For an understanding of how ICANN's accountability review processes work, including the IRP, please view the infographic<https://www.icann.org/sites/default/files/assets/accountability-mechanisms-5...>. For more information about this specific IRP, visit: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/dot-registry-v-icann-2014-09-25-en