Dear IRT Members,

Following up on our afternoon session on Sunday (26 October 2025), please find here the latest version of the AGB, which includes the redlines that were presented in the session:

1. Removal of a sentence in Section 5.2.3.1 to clarify language regarding prohibited communications.
2. Clarification in Section 7.7.5 regarding when a Mitigation Plan must be submitted.
3. Addition of clarifying language in Section 7.6. and Application Question 129 regarding “commitments…to minimize operational and management complexities…” as it relates to variant gTLDs.

I also wanted to follow up on a discussion regarding requirements for submission of financial information and whether that must come from the applying entity or a Qualified Parent Entity (QPE). To clarify, and apologies that this was not made clear in the discussion, financial statements from are NOT required from the QPE—they are an optional alternative, and that is up to the applying entity to decide to submit this information. This is stated as much in Section 6.2.2 and is clear in Table 6-1:

• “The applicant (except for Government profile) must provide audited, reviewed, or compiled financial statements, prepared by a third-party accounting firm, for the applying entity that complies with the accounting standards required by the jurisdiction of the applying entity. Alternatively, the applicant may provide third-party audited, reviewed, or compiled statements from an ICANN-approved Qualified Parent Entity (QPE), prepared by a third-party accounting firm. A Qualified Parent Entity (QPE) is a legal entity that has at least 51% ownership in the applicant, directly or indirectly. Qualified Parent Statements (QPS) are audited financial statements from a QPE” (emphasis added).

I hope this clears up some of the concerns, but we can also answer any more questions on this in our Q&A tomorrow.

Please note an updated pdf version of the AGB has also been posted on the wiki here: https://icann-community.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/SPIR/pages/543752261/6.+Applicant+Guidebook+Drafts.

Thank you,

Jared

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Jared Erwin

Senior Director, New gTLD Program

Global Domains & Strategy

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

jared.erwin@icann.org