Email from ICANN

FYI:

Thursday, 11 December 2025

ICANN Community Digest

Click here to learn more about the New gTLD Program [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net]

Applicant Support Program [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net]

Registry Service Provider Evaluation Program [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net]

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!

Table of Contents

ICANN85

· Register now

· Sign up for the session slot for "Get To Know ICANN Community" Onboarding Program for Newcomers, including ICANN85 Fellowship and NextGen@ICANN Programs Participants

· ICANN85 Community Childcare Grants Program: Apply Now

Information Sharing

· NEW: ICANN Seeks Feedback on Specification 14 of 2026 Round Base Registry Agreement

· NEW: ICANN Request for Proposal: 2026 Round Safeguard Assessment

· NEW: The SSAC at ICANN84

· NEW: ICANN’s Istanbul Presence and the Maturation of Türkiye’s DNS Ecosystem

Webinars

· Register to Attend: Informational Webinar on ICANN's and PTI’s Draft FY27 Plans

Next Round

· ICANN Materials Provide Prospective New gTLD Applicants Clarity on Key Topics

· Next Round Champions Toolkit Available in the Six ICANN Languages

· Call for ASP Mentors

🚨 Action Items 🚨

· Policy Development Accelerator Open to Additional Participants

· ICANN Initiates RFP for Asset Management and Custodial Services

· ICANN Community Excellence Award: Now Accepting Nominations

· Call for Applications: NextGen@ICANN86

· ICANN Request for Proposal: Evaluator Panels for String Similarity and Variant Strings for the new gTLD Program: 2026 Round

· Invitation to Provide Input for the 2026 ICANN Nominating Committee Cycle

· Call for Nominations for ICANN Fellowship Program Mentors

· ICANN Request for Proposal: New gTLD Program: 2026 Round Background Screening Services

· ICANNWiki Seeking Volunteers

Public Comment

· NEW: Proposed Next Round Base gTLD Registry Agreement - Spec 14 (Variant TLDs)

· CLOSES TUESDAY: Registration Data Request Service (RDRS) Policy Alignment Analysis

· CLOSES TUESDAY: Timeline for Urgent Requests for Lawful Disclosure of Nonpublic Registration Data

· Name Collision IPv6 Research Study

· Proposed GNSO Process for ICANN Board to Reverse Adoption of GNSO Policy Recs

· String Similarity Evaluation Guidelines for New gTLD Program: 2026 Round

Events

· These events occur in December 2025 and January 2026.

ICANN85

Sign up for the session slot for "Get To Know ICANN Community" Onboarding Program for Newcomers, including ICANN85 Fellowship and NextGen@ICANN Programs Participants

Want to introduce your group’s work to ICANN85 Community Forum newcomers, including Fellowship and NextGen@ICANN Programs Participants? Sign up for a 30 minute session on 7-8 March, 2026. These outreach sessions are part of the ""Get To Know ICANN Community"" Onboarding Program for Newcomers and are an opportunity for every SO/AC to share information with the ICANN Meeting newcomers and highlight the important work that your group does within ICANN.

The link to sign up for available slots is as follows: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TAxTUrE0ZkODdrend9OClQ5I_1r5Rs_BHSQ5HY8KcdA/edit?usp=sharing [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net]. For any additional questions, please contact ICANN Fellowship Program Manager, Siranush Vardanyan at siranush.vardanyan@icann.org.

The deadline to sign up for a slot is December 22, 2025

ICANN85 Community Childcare Grants Program: Apply Now

The program facilitates the in-person participation of community members with children who are 12 years old or younger at ICANN Public Meetings and eligible ICANN events.

DEADLINE: Friday, 16 January 2026, at 23:59 UTC

Read more. [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net]

Information Sharing

NEW: ICANN Seeks Feedback on Specification 14 of 2026 Round Base Registry Agreement

The Board directed the ICANN organization to incorporate the remaining two recommendations into the existing implementation work, which includes the 2026 RA and, specifically, updates to Specification 14.

Announcement. [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net]

Public Comment. [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net]

NEW: ICANN Request for Proposal: 2026 Round Safeguard Assessment

The safeguard assessment provider will determine whether an applied-for string fits into one of the risk-based groups that will require specific safeguard public interest commitments (PICs) as contractual obligations in the 2026 Round registry agreement.

DEADLINE: 22 January 2026

Read more. [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net]

NEW: The SSAC at ICANN84

It is clear that the ICANN community is made more efficient, effective, and thorough through joint efforts to address matters of significance from a holistic perspective.

Read more. [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net]

NEW: ICANN’s Istanbul Presence and the Maturation of Türkiye’s DNS Ecosystem

The focus now is on building on this momentum, expanding knowledge, enhancing collaborations, and supporting Türkiye's continued role in the global Internet ecosystem.

Read more. [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net]

Webinars

Register to Attend: Informational Webinar on ICANN's and PTI’s Draft FY27 Plans

The webinar will provide an overview of the draft plans for ICANN and Public Technical Identifiers (PTI) which will be posted for separate, concurrent Public Comments. The webinar will be presented at two different times, and community members can register for one or both of the sessions:

18 December 2025 at 15:30 UTC

14 January 2026 at 00:00 UTC

Next Round

ICANN Materials Provide Prospective New gTLD Applicants Clarity on Key Topics

ICANN org is developing supplemental, complementary materials to aid prospective generic top-level domain (gTLD) applicants in understanding the Next Round application requirements, and how to navigate the application and evaluation processes.

Blog [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net].

Key Topic Overview Documents. [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net]

Next Round Champions Toolkit Available in the Six ICANN Languages

ICANN is working with the community to identify potential Applicant Support Program (ASP) applicants – especially in regions that are currently under-represented in ICANN. If you are interested in helping to raise awareness among your own contacts or communities, please use the materials in the Next Round Champions Toolkit [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net].

To stay up to date on the New gTLD Program: Next Round and ASP, join the mailing list: nextroundinfo@icann.org. ASP leads, targets, and ideas can be sent to engagement.newgTLDprogram@icann.org.

Call for ASP Mentors

ICANN is seeking volunteer mentors who would like to offer their expertise to supported applicants as part of the ASP in the new gTLD Program: Next Round [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net]. ICANN is looking for mentors who can share insights and experience across ICANN Languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, or Spanish) to support diverse gTLD applicants.

Mentors may play a role in: advising applicants on navigating the gTLD application process and DNS industry; identifying resources; providing guidance; sharing experiences as appropriate; and helping supported applicants navigate the ICANN community and Public Meetings. If you or someone in your network might be interested, please refer to the mentor registration announcement [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net] for more information.

Questions about the ASP or becoming a supported applicant Mentor can be sent to globalsupport@icann.org.

Action Items

Policy Development Accelerator Open to Additional Participants

Staff have decided to open up Term 2 of the Policy Development Accelerator to outside participants. This is an exception from our normal practice in response to several requests.

Term 2 involves participating in four workshops focusing on developing soft skills and leadership skills that are useful for policy development and day-to-day life.

Participants with a 75% percent attendance rate will receive a pdf certificate at the end of the course.

Enrollments will be fielded through ICANN Join that requires you to first login to ICANN Account. [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net] If you have not used ICANN Join before, please follow the ICANN Join: New User Instructions [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net] to enroll yourself to the Policy Development Accelerator. The enrollment window closes 19 December 2025.

Please reach out to devan.reed@icann.org [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net] if you have any questions.

ICANN Initiates RFP for Asset Management and Custodial Services

Firms may respond to this RFP to provide asset management services only, custody services only, or both asset management and custody services.

DEADLINE: 23:59 UTC on 31 December 2025

Read more. [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net]

ICANN Community Excellence Award: Now Accepting Nominations

The Community Excellence Award recognizes ICANN community members who have deeply invested in consensus-based solutions and contributed substantively to the ICANN multistakeholder model.

DEADLINE: 8 January 2026 at 23:59 UTC

Read more. [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net]

Call for Applications: NextGen@ICANN86

ICANN wants to hear from university students living and studying in the European region who are interested in the future of the Internet and participating in the Public Meeting.

DEADLINE: 9 January 2026

Read more. [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net]

ICANN Request for Proposal: New gTLD Program: 2026 Round Background Screening Services

Its purpose is to safeguard registrants and the public interest by ensuring that corporations, organizations, and institutions are in good standing and eligible to operate a gTLD.

DEADLINE: 23:59 UTC on 16 January 2026

Read more. [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net]

ICANN Request for Proposal: Evaluator Panels for String Similarity and Variant Strings for the new gTLD Program: 2026 Round

The selected provider(s) will also be required to collaborate with ICANN on the development of evaluation guides for the work conducted by the panels, ensuring that the evaluation processes are transparent, consistent, and repeatable across all gTLD applications.

DEADLINE: 23:59 UTC on 16 January 2026

Read more. [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net]

Invitation to Provide Input for the 2026 ICANN Nominating Committee Cycle

Specifically, it seeks feedback on the guidance and candidate job descriptions provided by the receiving bodies, as well as additional qualities, skills, or considerations that should be prioritized in candidate selection.

DEADLINE: 21 January 2026

Read more. [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net]

Call for Nominations for ICANN Fellowship Program Mentors

Interested SOs/ACs should select their respective Fellowship Program mentor representative to serve for the ICANN87–ICANN89 meetings, and notify ICANN Fellowship Program Manager Siranush Vardanyan via email at siranush.vardanyan@icann.org no later than 10 February, 2026.

Read more. [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net]

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 [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net]. Then, make sure to read the short content guide [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net] to get a feel for what belongs in the wiki. Also, feel free to take a look at some data [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net]source suggestions [danh45uab.cc.rs6.net] on where to find reliable data. Happy editing!