http://blog.icann.org/2013/02/registrar-accreditation-agreement-negotiation-... Registrar Accreditation Agreement Negotiation Session by Fadi Chehadé on February 7, 2013 Building on the great work that has been achieved to date, yesterday I met with the Registrar Stakeholder Group's Negotiating Team to continue with negotiations toward a new Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA). We started the day by affirming our commitment to further, in good faith, a new RAA that will address the needs of the community as well as prepare the Internet domain name system for a new season of growth. The RAA negotiations provide an important opportunity to carefully balance the various requirements voiced by the ICANN community, as well as to evolve relations with the registrars who are at the frontline delivering the innovation and consumer choice enabled by the new gTLD program. We discussed several items that had been tabled since this group met last year and made headway in considering additional enhancements that will complete the agreement in a manner that best achieves our goals rooted in the public interest. We continued to explore how the proposed RAA can be synchronized with the new gTLD Registry Agreement that ICANN published for comment on 5 February 2013. Assuming such alignment, this will bring a more cohesive framework across these agreements. I will endeavor, with every tool available, to ensure that all agreements with our contracted parties are embraced in the broadest way plausible, and furthermore to support efforts by ICANN as it works to create a level playing field for all participants in this growing sector. Without compromising any of our principles, we hope to achieve closure as soon as possible. I look forward to continuing this spirited and collaborative dialogue with the registrars as ICANN and the registrars are committed to moving through this process in a deliberative and expeditious way.