http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-22apr13-en.htm Proposed Final 2013 RAA Comment / Reply Periods (*) Comment Open Date: 22 April 2013 Comment Close Date: 13 May 2013 - 23:59 UTC Reply Open Date: 14 May 2013 Reply Close Date: 4 June 2013 - 23:59 UTC Important Information Links Public Comment Announcement<http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-22apr13-en.htm> To Submit Your Comments (Forum)<mailto:comments-proposed-raa-22apr13@icann.org> View Comments Submitted<http://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-proposed-raa-22apr13/> Brief Overview Originating Organization: ICANN Categories/Tags: * Contracted Party Agreements Purpose (Brief): ICANN is seeking public comments on the Proposed Final 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA). This is the culmination of 18 months of intensive negotiations. Current Status: ICANN and the Registrar Negotiating Team commenced negotiation on amendments to the RAA in October 2011. Since the 7 March 2013 version was posted, ICANN and the Registrars (through the Registrar Negotiating Team) continued to reach agreement on the proposed text of the 2013 RAA, which is now posted for community comment. Next Steps: After review of the comment received, the Proposed Final 2013 RAA will be reviewed to determine if further changes are warranted. Input on the areas that have changed since the 7 March 2013 posting will be of particular help. Staff Contact: Samantha Eisner, Senior Counsel Email Staff Contact<mailto:samantha.eisner@icann.org?subject=More%20information%20on%20the%20Proposed%20Final%202013%20RAA%20public%20comment%20period> Detailed Information Section I: Description, Explanation, and Purpose: After an extended period of negotiations, ICANN is posting a proposed 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) for public comment. On 7 March 2013, ICANN posted its version of the 2013 RAA for public comment, noting some areas of disagreement between ICANN and the Registrar Negotiating Team (NT). In addition, some of the specifications posted for comment were ICANN versions only. Since the 7 March posting, the Registrar NT has engaged in frequent negotiation sessions with ICANN in order to bring to closure to all of the open negotiation topics and to consider the community comments received from the 7 March posting. As a result, at ICANN's public meeting in Beijing, ICANN and the Registrar NT announced that they had reached agreement in principle on each of the outstanding items highlighted in the March posting version. The documents posted today reflect ICANN and the Registrar NT's agreements and are the Proposed Final 2013 RAA. This proposed 2013 RAA is a cornerstone of ICANN's efforts to work to improve the image of the domain industry and to protect registrants through a further updated contractual framework. It is ICANN's intention to have the 2013 RAA completed and approved in the near future for use in the New gTLD Program. To allow for transparency into the proposed final version of the 2013 RAA and community input on the changes from the 7 March posting, ICANN is opening a full comment forum. ICANN thanks the Registrar Negotiating Team (NT) for its continued engagement in good faith negotiations on the RAA. The RAA posted today reflects hard-fought concessions on many of key issues raised throughout the negotiations. A fuller discussion of the status of negotiations and areas of difference is available in ICANN's RAA Posting Memorandum<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/memo-22apr13-en.pdf> [PDF, 65 KB]. Section II: Background: The current round of negotiations over the RAA began in October 2011. ICANN and the Registrar Negotiation Team have presented updates to the community at each of ICANN's public meetings since that time. Information on the history of the negotiations, including previously released documentation, is available at the community wiki at https://community.icann.org/display/RAA/Negotiations+Between+ICANN+and+Regis.... This includes the group of documents posted in June 2012, which demonstrated the progress to date in the negotiations. Section III: Document and Resource Links: There are multiple documents for review as part of this posting. The new RAA is anticipated to be a base document with a series of specifications attached. Each specification is an integral, enforceable component of the RAA. This posting includes all documents that are currently anticipated to be part of the 2013 RAA. As noted above, a fuller discussion of the status of negotiations and areas of difference is available in ICANN's RAA Posting Memorandum<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/memo-22apr13-en.pdf> [PDF, 65 KB]. A summary<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/le-recommendations-22apr13-...> [PDF, 59 KB] of how the 12 law enforcement recommendations are incorporated into the RAA is also provided. The base RAA documents: * Proposed 2013 RAA<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-agreement-22apr13-...> [PDF, 311 KB] * Redline Showing Changes Between Proposed 2013 RAA and 7 March 2013 RAA Posting<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-agreement-07mar13-...> [PDF, 293 KB] * Redline Showing Changes Between Proposed 2013 RAA and the 2009 RAA<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-agreement-21may09-...> [PDF, 343 KB] * A Summary of Changes from the 2009 RAA<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-agreement-summary-...> [PDF, 496 KB] is also available. The Proposed Specifications and Addendums: Consensus and Temporary Policy Specification<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-consensus-temporar...> [PDF, 90 KB] Redline Showing Changes from June 2012 Posting<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-consensus-temporar...> [PDF, 145 KB] Redline Showing Changes from March 2013 Posting<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-consensus-temporar...> [PDF, 161 KB] Data Retention Specification<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-data-retention-22a...> [PDF, 77 KB] Redline Showing Changes from June 2012 Posting<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-data-retention-03j...> [PDF, 113 KB] Redline Showing Changes from March 2013 Posting<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-data-retention-07m...> [PDF, 120 KB] Whois Accuracy Program Specification<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-whois-accuracy-22a...> [PDF, 86 KB] Redline Showing Changes from June 2012 Posting<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-whois-accuracy-03j...> [PDF, 121 KB] Redline Showing Changes from March 2013 Posting<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-whois-accuracy-07m...> [PDF, 115 KB] Whois SLA<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-whois-22apr13-en.p...> [PDF, 93 KB] Redline Showing Changes from March 2013 Posting<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-whois-07mar13-redl...> [PDF, 169 KB] Specification on Proxy/Privacy Services<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-privacy-proxy-22ap...> [PDF, 57 KB] Redline Showing Changes from March 2013 Posting<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-privacy-proxy-07ma...> [PDF, 110 KB] Registrant Rights and Responsibilities Specification<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-registrant-rights-...> [PDF, 50 KB] No changes since March 2013 posting Additional Registrar Operation Specification<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-additional-operati...> [PDF, 73 KB] No changes since March 2013 posting Registrar Information Specification<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-registrar-informat...> [PDF, 64 KB] Redline Showing Changes from March 2013 Posting<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-registrar-informat...> [PDF, 128 KB] Compliance Certificate<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-compliance-certifi...> [PDF, 55 KB] Redline Showing Changes from March 2013 Posting<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-compliance-certifi...> [PDF, 92 KB] Transition Addendum<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-transition-addendu...> [PDF, 61 KB] Redline Showing Changes from March 2013 Posting<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-transition-addendu...> [PDF, 105 KB] Section IV: Additional Information: A Report of the Public Comments submitted in response to the 7 March 2013 posting of the RAA is available here<http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/report-comments-proposed-raa-22a...> [PDF, 178 KB]. ________________________________ Glen de Saint Géry GNSO Secretariat gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org<mailto:gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org> http://gnso.icann.org<http://gnso.icann.org/>