Really, it's 15 years too late to change the rules on ccTLDs.
You are certainly right, but it is not for the registrars selling the names under ccTLDs ...
Follow up, I clicked on send too fast ... It is not fuss, it is real abuse based on confusion and misinformation from some registrars which are taking advantage of some "packaged deal schemes" offering registrar services for names that are based on some ccTLDs, including particular ones that do not have agreements or MoUs or even recognize the figure of a registrar, and never delegated the authority or responsibility of registration services to a third party, public or private. I'll not make names at this moment but I'll be more than happy to provide detailed information if such a program to report abuse from a registrar exists. I guess the compliance office has to pay a much closer look at some of these folks which are by the way listed on the independent audit of June 2010 from KnuJon. Just to cite one case, this particular registrar plays a game combining the Intellectual Property and Trademarks market (no wonder why the IP and TM lawyers make so much noise and even sponsor ICANN meetings), plus domain registration services and web hosting, etc., interesting biz model and one would say 100% legit. The company is registered in the US, but all the addresses belong to locations (typically used by spammers and fraudsters) such as UPS Stores or SkyBox services, and their phone number belongs to a VoIP service, still dubious but 100% legit. Now, among several of the classic TLDs in the market, this company offers to register names under several ccTLDs, and their biz model obviously include trademark and patent filing in several countries, still 100% legit. The issue is that some of the ccTLDs on the list do not offer registration through third parties, and in some cases the registration is free, one could say that this company is offering some sort of "agent" service and charges for it, 100% legit no ? Well, what about the company claiming to have the registration done in 24hrs when the ccTLD policies say that there is a minimum wait period of 48 ? and when they offer you to register the name for a given number of years (discounts included) obviously paying in advance, when the ccTLD does only yearly registrations ? The biggest issue is, IMHO, that this registrar obviously promotes itself as an "ICANN accredited registrar", when ICANN has nothing to do accrediting registrars for ccTLD names, and on top of that they claim that in case of conflicts the UDRP is used even when the ccTLD never agreed to that and probably don't even like the UDRP. Then, who is defending the interests of the end user ? if the company goes belly up and engulfs all the pre-paid fees for multiyear registrations ? and the end user lose the name because incompetence of this company to timely handle renewals ? or if there is any other conflict with the name ? The end user has no recourse since it will not justify for the loss of few bucks to sue a well oiled network of experienced attorneys with the backing of some IT guys that are presenting a 100% legit biz facade. After all besides improperly claiming being "official" registers of something or being borderline in compliance with the registrar agreement with ICANN, all they do seems to be legal. That's how the DNS became the land of the modern con artists, with a higher degree of sophistication... Regards Jorge