Sébastien has very kindly informed us that the following announcement has been made by ICANN: New gTLDS: Briefing Papers for ICANN Board-GAC Consultations http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-6-21feb11-en.htm Extract from the Web page: --- cut here --- The briefing papers are as follows: *Objection Procedures*: includes requirements for governments to pay fees; procedures for review of sensitive strings; and early warning to applications---whether a proposed string would be considered controversial or to raise sensitivities (including geographical names) [PDF, 362 KB] *Root Zone Scaling* (to be provided) *Market and Economic Impacts* [PDF, 312 KB] *Registry-Registrar Separation* [PDF, 321 KB] *Protection of Rights Owners* (trademark protections) [PDF, 273 KB] *Consumer Protection Issues* (malicious conduct) [PDF, 259 KB] *Law Enforcement Due Diligence Recommendations* [PDF, 141 KB] *Post Delegation Disputes* with governments [PDF, 250 KB] *Geographic Names*: use and protection of geographical names [PDF, 370 KB] *Legal Recourse for Applicants* [PDF, 170 KB] *Providing Opportunities for all Stakeholders* [PDF, 256 KB] The Agenda for the meeting is still being finalized. --- cut here --- For the record, I am *surprised* that we have not been advised of this forthcoming set of documents and not been sent such details by email. It takes serendipity to find out about this information. Thank goodness luck is on our side. Kind regards, Olivier -- Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond, PhD http://www.gih.com/ocl.html