Whereas, opening up the market to many new TLD operators calls into question some of the assumptions on which the separation of registry and registrar functions is based;

Whereas, economic research commissioned by ICANN staff also suggests that changes might be justified;

Whereas, the new gTLD policies passed by the Council do not provide any policy guidance regarding the proper approach to cross ownership and vertical integration, but instead suggest that the status quo be left in place;

Resolved: the GNSO Council should initiate a policy development process on registry-registrar cross-ownership and the policies that should be applied to vertical integration or separation of gTLD registrars and registries and requests that an Issues Report be done on this question. This policy process should not delay or affect the progress of the new gTLD application process but should run in parallel."