ICANN has opened up a Public Comment Period on proposed changes to the .XXX Registry Agreement to, “among other things, modify the fees payable to ICANN schedule and also to add additional safeguards and compliance audit requirements”.
The highlights of the proposed changes are; ICM who owns the .XXX registry wants its per domain ICANN fee reduced from $2 a domain to $.25 a domain the same as all new gTLD’s. In return ICM is willing to subject .XXX to the Uniform Rapid Suspension procedure (URS).
Now that the new gTLD’s also owned by ICM; .porn, .sex and .adult have launched subject to the same rules as any other new gTLD, including being subject to URS; I don’t see a problem with this proposal.
The comment period is opened until November 24th 2016.
Here are the details:
“On 30 March 2011, ICM Registry LLC entered into a 10-year Sponsored Registry Agreement with ICANN for .XXX (https://www.icann.org/resources/agreement/xxx-2011-03-31-en).
ICM’s request is that ICANN amend the .XXX Registry Agreement to lower the per transaction registry fee from $2.00 per transaction to the per transaction fee contained in the new gTLD Registry Agreement ($.25 per domain)
“As part of the review process, ICANN conducted a review of contractual compliance under the .XXX Registry Agreement and found the Registry to be in substantial compliance with its contractual requirements. Additionally, ICANN reviewed the most recent IFFOR audit report of the Registry Operator’s CRS and found that the system is not only fully functional, but exceptionally functional and compliant for its intended purposes. ICM conveyed its belief that IFFOR’s Audit Report and trend analysis demonstrate effectiveness regarding mitigating abuse on the .XXX gTLD and further maintained that the .XXX gTLD no longer carries risk, for either ICANN or the Internet stakeholders initially concerned with the launch of .XXX. ICM explained that the data shows that the system has been enhanced beyond its original capabilities and has now demonstrated high levels of utility for its operation and ease of use, which is evidenced by a pattern of decline in cases.”
“During the course of discussions, ICM informed ICANN that ICM would agree to add both additional safeguards contained in the form new gTLD Registry Agreement, and a phased implementation of a reduction of fees based on ICM’s compliance with the terms of the .XXX Registry Agreement.:
Following negotiations, ICANN and ICM agreed to submit the proposed amendment to the .XXX Registry Agreement for public comment. The proposed amendment to .XXX Registry Agreement includes the following:
- An increase in the quarterly fee payable to ICANN from $2,500 to $6,500, except that, until the first adjustment to the per transaction fee is effective, the total registry-level fees will not exceed $90,000 (as currently provided in the .XXX Registry Agreement).
- A staged reduction in the per transaction registration fee from $2.00 to $0.25 over a period of several years if ICM passes a compliance audit tied to each stage of the fee reduction.
- The inclusion of certain rights protections mechanism set forth in the new gTLD Registry Agreement.
- The inclusion of contractual and operational compliance audits rights consistent with those contained in the new gTLD Registry Agreement.
- The inclusion of the additional public interest commitments that are contained in ICM’s Registry Agreements for its new gTLDs referenced in Section III of this proceeding.
ICANN invites public comment on the proposed amendment to the .XXX Registry Agreement
