Dear all,

First of all apologies for cross-posting.

As you may know the ccNSO Policy Development Process on retirement of ccTLDs has reached a very important milestone: the ccTLD Managers who are member of the ccNSO will have the opportunity to express whether they support the proposed policy. As every vote counts (due to the requirement that at least 87 out of 172 members need to cast a vote) and this policy is important for all, we want to bring this opportunity to vote to your attention.

The voting will start on 07 July 2021, 00.01 UTC and is open up and until 28 July 2021, 23.59 UTC and only the primary contacts of the ccNSO member (see: https://ccnso.icann.org/en/primary-contact) will receive a ballot to vote. The primary contacts have already been contacted by the ccNSO Secretariat.

The Members Report, which includes the recommended policy and ccNSO Council decision of 17 June 2021, is available at: https://ccnso.icann.org/en/workinggroups/pdp-retirement.htm

The policy is included in the Final Paper of the Retirement Working Group section 1- 5 (Annex A  of the Members Report). For ease of understanding, a summary and flow diagram of the proposed policy are included below, which is also included in the Members Report. 

Kind regards,

Bart Boswinkel

Issue Manager ccPDP3 Retirement ccTLDs

Summary of recommended policy on the retirement of ccTLDs

Objective of the Policy. The Policy should provide clear and predictable guidance and document a process that is orderly andreasonable up and to, but excluding, the removal of a ccTLD from the Root Zone.

Applicability of the Policy. This Policy applies to all entries in the Root Zone database which are identified as ccTLDs and are subject to a Retirement Triggering Event, which are defined as:

• For 2 letter ccTLDs which corresponded to an ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2 Code Element – The deletion of the Alpha-2 Code Element from the ISO 3166-1 Standard by the ISO 3166-1 Maintenance Agency (“ISO 3166/MA”).
• For 2 letter Latin ccTLDs which do not correspond to an ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2 Code Element – The ISO 3166-1 Making a change (other than making it an ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2 Code Element) to any of these.
• For IDN ccTLDs – The Triggering Event will be identified in the Policy on the (de-)selection of IDN ccTLD strings, which was initiated on 21 May 2020.

Retirement Process Expectations. There is a good faith obligation for both the IANA Naming Functions Operator (IFO) and theManager of the retiring ccTLD to ensure an orderly shutdown of the retiring ccTLD which takes into consideration the interests of itsregistrants and the stability and security of the DNS.

Notice of Removal & Standard Duration Removal Process. Once the IFO confirms that a Retirement Triggering Event has occurred and that the ccTLD should be retired, it shall promptly notify the Manager of the ccTLD that the ccTLD shall be removed from the Root Zone five (5) years from the date of the notice (Notice of Removal), unless the Manager has requested an extension and this extension was granted.

Extension of Removal Process. If the Manager wishes to request an extension of the Default 5 years removal process, it must request this from the IFO as part of a Retirement Plan.

Retirement Plan. If the Manager of the retiring ccTLD wishes to request an extension beyond the five (5) standard duration of the process, the manager must produce a Retirement Plan which is acceptable to the IFO. The retirement plan must be produced within twelve (12) months of the date the Notice of Removal was sent. To be acceptable, the Retirement Plan shall contain:

• A copy of the Notice of Removal
• Date the ccTLD is expected to stop taking registrations, renewals and transfers that exceed the Date of Removal fromthe Root Zone.
• Details of a communications plan to advise the registrants of Retirement of the ccTLD.

• The length of the extension requested (a maximum of five (5) additional years) including the proposed Date of the removal of the ccTLD from the Root Zone.

• The reasons for requesting an extension as well as an impact analysis which supports the reasons for making the extension request.

Granting Extension. Granting an extension to the Default Retirement Date is at the discretion of the IFO and shall not be unreasonably withheld.

If the ccTLD manager and the IFO cannot agree on a Retirement Plan within the required timeframe the ccTLD shall be removed from the Root Zone 5 years from the date the IFO has sent the Notice of Removal to the Manager of the retiring ccTLD.

If the request for an extension is rejected and the ccTLD Manager believes that the rejection is unreasonable or inconsistent with the Retirement Plan requirements, it may appeal the decision by the IFO.

Oversight. This Policy is directed at ICANN and the IFO as the entity that performs the IANA Naming Functions with respect to ccTLDs. This Policy will not change or amend the role that the ICANN Board of Directors has with respect to individual cases of ccTLD Delegation, Transfer and Revocation.

Review. The WG has identified two situations that could be subject to a review: 

• If the ccTLD Manager disagrees with the IFO’s decision to initiate the Retirement Process for a 2 letter Latin ccTLD which does not correspond to an ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2 Code Element following the ISO 3166-1 MA making a change to this entry.
• If the ccTLD Manager disagrees with the IFO’s decision to refuse the request for an extension of the default five (5) year duration of the Retirement Process.