The ICANN organization Policy Development Support function publishes this twice-weekly digest

to help ICANN community groups track requests and follow updates.

Do you have any ideas for improving the ICANN Community Digest?

Write to us at policyinfo@icann.org!

Information Sharing

• NEW: ICANN Publishes Updated Evaluation Guide for Community Priority Evaluation
• NEW: Celebrating ICANN Working Group Chairs and Vice Chairs
• NEW: Chair’s Blog: Recap of the June Board Workshop and ICANN86
• NEW: A Permanent Internet Governance Forum: The Work Ahead

2026 Round

• NEW: Update on the New gTLD Program 2026 Round
• ICANN Request for Proposal: 2026 Round Name Collision Initial Assessment of Applied-for Strings
• ICANN Extends Deadline for Expressions of Interest: 2026 Round Independent Objectors
• ICANN Introduces Payment Testing for 2026 Round Applicants
• ICANN Opens Second Application Period for the 2026 Round RSP Evaluation Program
• ICANN 2026 Round Application System User Guide, Support Model Available

🚨 Action Items 🚨

• NEW: FY28 Planning Prioritization Group Nominations Needed by 9 July 2026
• ICANNWiki Seeking Volunteers

Public Comment

• CLOSES TOMORROW: Additional Reference Label Generation Rules and Related Updates

Events

• These events occur in June 2026.

NEW: Update on the New gTLD Program 2026 Round

I would like to share new resources and reminders as the New Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD) Program: 2026 Round application deadline of 12 August 2026 draws near.

Read more.

ICANN Request for Proposal: 2026 Round Name Collision Initial Assessment of Applied-for Strings

The Initial Assessment Panel will evaluate all applied-for strings using a combination of quantitative and, where necessary, qualitative analysis, in accordance with the Name Collision Initial Assessment Procedure.

Deadline: 31 July 2026

Read more.

ICANN Extends Deadline for Expressions of Interest: 2026 Round Independent Objectors

The application window will remain open until all roles have been filled. ICANN will actively review submissions, conduct interviews, and begin to contract with selected candidates while the window is open and highly recommends that interested providers not wait to apply.

Read more.

ICANN Introduces Payment Testing for 2026 Round Applicants

Payment transfers take varying amounts of time, depending on the applicant's bank and geographic location. Because of this, applicants are encouraged to test their payment method to ensure a smooth payment process in advance of submitting their application.

Read more.

ICANN Opens Second Application Period for the 2026 Round RSP Evaluation Program

The second application period for the RSP Evaluation Program runs from 30 April to 12 August 2026.

Read more.

ICANN 2026 Round Application System User Guide, Support Model Available

ICANN has made several resources available to help prospective applicants familiarize themselves with ICANN's TLD Application Management System (TAMS). This online system will be used by all applicants, evaluation panelists, and ICANN staff to submit, manage, and process new gTLD applications.

These resources are available to help prospective applicants prepare for the application completion and submission process through TAMS:

System user guide

Frequently Asked Questions

Demo videos

Q&A webinar recordings

Read more.

NEW: FY28 Planning Prioritization Group Nominations Needed by 9 July 2026

We are seeking to confirm the community members for the FY28 Planning Prioritization Group. We ask that the ICANN stakeholder groups reconfirm or nominate new member(s) from your group by 9 July 2026.

Please email the name of the members that you have reconfirmed/ nominated to planning@icann.org, with a copy to the Policy Strategic Management team (policy-strat-mgt@icann.org).

Below is a listing of the current Planning Prioritization Group Members by ICANN stakeholder group:

Affilitation/ Primary Member/ Secondary Member

At-Large - ALAC: Claire Craig/ Avri Doria

ccNSO: Irina Danelia/ Chris Disspain

GAC: Aderonke Sola-Ogunsola

GNSO - CPH: Jothan Frakes

GNSO - CSG: Santanu Acharya/ Segunfunmi Olajide

GNSO - NCSG: Peter Akinremi/ Amin Hacha

RSSAC: Erum Welling/ Daniel Migault

SSAC: Jeffrey Bedser

ASO elected not to participate

ICANN Board Liaison: Sajid Rahman 

Thank you in advance for your support. 

ICANNWiki Seeking Volunteers

ICANNWiki is seeking volunteers to assist with creating and editing articles and content for the site. Do you want to help? Getting started is as simple as requesting an account. Then, make sure to read the short content guide to get a feel for what belongs in the wiki. Also, feel free to take a look at some data source suggestions on where to find reliable data. Happy editing!

See upcoming proceedings.

See other public consultations.

These events occur in June 2026.

To learn more, please visit our community engagement calendar.

• Africa Internet Summit (AIS) 2026
• Latin America & Caribbean Digital Communications and Media Forum 2026
• Multilingual ICANN86 Read-out by EURALO
• Potsdamer Konferenz für Nationale CyberSicherheit
• Webinar for EMEA: AI Models and the Internet’s Unique Identifiers
• AI and Scams: Beyond the Hype