From the ICANN Board meeting on 18 Oct:
http://www.icann.org/minutes/resolutions-18oct06.htm Economic Study of Proposed Registry Agreements Whereas, proposed new registry agreements between ICANN the operators of the .BIZ, .INFO, and .ORG registries have been posted for public comment and presented to the Board. Whereas, the proposed new agreements were the subject of a substantial number of comments, especially concerning competition-related issues such as differential pricing. Whereas, ICANN's Core Values include: * Preserving and enhancing the operational stability, reliability, security, and global interoperability of the Internet. * Where feasible and appropriate, depending on market mechanisms to promote and sustain a competitive environment. * Introducing and promoting competition in the registration of domain names where practicable and beneficial in the public interest. Whereas, the Board has carefully considered the proposed new agreement, and the public comments and the registry responses, and finds that approval of the proposed new agreements would be beneficial for ICANN and the Internet community, provided that ICANN and the registry operators are able to agree to appropriate revisions to the proposed agreements to address competition-related issues such as differential pricing. Whereas, the GNSO is currently conducting a policy-development process that includes study of some of these issues, but ICANN has pressing operational questions relating to its bilateral contracts with registry operators that need to be resolved, separate from any generally applicable new policies on this subject that might be recommended through the GNSO process. Whereas, the domain registration market is very complex and producing reliable analysis and findings will require high-levels of economic expertise. Resolved (06.___), the President is directed to commission an independent study by a reputable economic consulting firm or organization to deliver findings on economic questions relating to the domain registration market, such as: * whether the domain registration market is one market or whether each TLD functions as a separate market, * whether registrations in different TLDs are substitutable, * what are the effects on consumer and pricing behavior of the switching costs involved in moving from one TLD to another, * what is the effect of the market structure and pricing on new TLD entrants, and * whether there are other markets with similar issues, and if so how are these issues addressed and by who? Resolved (06.__), after having considered the public comments and the responses from the registries, the President and the General Counsel are hereby requested to renegotiate the proposed agreements relating to: competition-related concerns (in particular price increase restrictions); traffic data and review mechanisms resulting from the introduction of new studies or additional information.