See ICANN's press release for additional details. The new TLDs are not expected to be operational until the second or third quarter of 2001.

Recent announcements about the new TLDs:

• ICANN Accredits New Top-Level Domains -- .biz and .info Registration Process to Begin This Summer (15 May 2001)

DRAFTING OF REGISTRY AGREEMENTS

In selecting the seven new top-level domains, the Board authorized the negotiate TLD sponsorship and registry agreements with the sponsors and operators.

The selected TLD proposals are of two types. Four proposals (.biz, .info, .name, and .pro) are for relatively large, unsponsored TLDs. The other three proposals (.aero, .coop, and .museum) are for smaller "sponsored" TLDs. (Generally speaking, an "unsponsored" TLD operates under policies established by the global Internet community directly through the ICANN process, while a "sponsored" TLD is a specialized TLD that has a sponsoring organization representing the narrower community that is most affected by the TLD. The sponsoring organization thus carries out delegated policy-formulation responsibilities over many matters concerning the TLD.)

The original goal was to complete the negotiations by the end of 2000. The task of agreeing upon the language of agreements under which these TLDs will be operated for several years, however, turned out to be more complex, and thus more time-consuming, than originally anticipated.

A. Unsponsored TLD Agreements

The unsponsored TLDs will be operated under "Registry Agreements" with ICANN. A single form of agreement has been negotiated with all four new TLD operators. It covers the common aspects of all four and it is hoped that this form of agreement will serve, perhaps with some minor modifications based on experience, as the agreement for unsponsored TLDs that may be introduced in the future. The single form of agreement refers to twenty-four appendices, many of which are customized to reflect special features of the four TLD proposals. The appendices are:

Appendix	Description	Appendix	Description
A	Format and Technical Requirements for Requests to Change TLD Nameservers	N	TLD Zone-File Access Agreement
B	Format and Technical Requirements for Requests to Change TLD Contact Information	O	Whois Specification—Public Whois
C	Functional Specifications	P	Whois Data Specification—Independent Whois Provider
D	Performance Specifications	Q	Whois Data Specification—ICANN
E	Service-Level Agreement	R	Data Escrow Specification
F	Registry-Registrar Agreement	S	Data Escrow Agreement
G	Fees for Registry Services	T	Monthly Registry Reports
H	Equivalent Access Certification	U	Proof-of-Concept Reports
I	Registry Code of Conduct	V	Initial Consensus Policies
J	Start-Up Plan	W	Additional Covenants
K	Names Reserved from Registration	X	Registry Operator's Domain Names
L	Registration Restrictions	Y	Sanctions Program
M	Enforcement of Registration Restrictions

At its meeting in Melbourne on 13 March 2001, the ICANN Board adopted the following resolutions:

RESOLVED [01.24] that the President and General Counsel are authorized and requested to complete negotiation of the remaining unsponsored top-level domain appendices as soon as feasible and to post the resulting appendices on the ICANN web site, along with any minor corrections or adjustments to the base agreement and appendices as already posted;

RESOLVED [01.25] that the Board shall be notified of the complete posting of the agreement and appendices for any of the four unsponsored top-level domains (.biz, .info, .name, and .pro) and after that notification seven days shall be allowed for Board members to make any additional comments to the President and General Counsel;

RESOLVED [01.26] that in the absence of the request of any Board member to the contrary based on policy considerations, the President is authorized to sign the posted agreements after the conclusion of those seven days; and

RESOLVED [01.27] that upon signature of the agreements the President is authorized to take such actions, including causing reports to be made to the United States Department of Commerce, as appropriate to implement the agreements.

The state of negotiations as to the basic unsponsored TLD agreement and the various appendices varies for the different new unsponsored TLD operators.

The table below provides links to those documents for which negotiations have been completed. (A single cell across the entire table indicates that the document is the same for all four TLDs.) The unlinked entries are not yet completed. As appendices are completed, they will be posted and linked from the table below. Recently revised documents are in italics.

The green highlighting in the table below indicates that the agreement has been signed or approved for signature.

.biz (agreement signed 11 May 2001)	.info (agreement signed 11 May 2001)	.name (agreement signed 1 August 2001)	.pro
Unsponsored TLD Agreement		Unsponsored TLD Agreement
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C	Appendix C	Appendix C	Appendix C
Appendix D	Appendix D	Appendix D	Appendix D
Appendix E	Appendix E	Appendix E	Appendix E
Appendix F	Appendix F	Appendix F	Appendix F
Appendix G	Appendix G	Appendix G	Appendix G
Appendix H	Appendix H	Appendix H	Appendix H
Appendix I	Appendix I	Appendix I	Appendix I
Appendix J	Appendix J	Appendix J	Appendix J
Appendix K
Appendix L	(n/a—unrestricted TLD)	Appendix L	Appendix L
Appendix M	(n/a—unrestricted TLD)	Appendix M	Appendix M
Appendix N
Appendix O	Appendix O	Appendix O	Appendix O
Appendix P	Appendix P	Appendix P	Appendix P
Appendix Q
Appendix R	Appendix R	Appendix R	Appendix R
Appendix S
Appendix T
Appendix U	Appendix U	Appendix U	Appendix U
Appendix V
Appendix W	Appendix W	Appendix W	Appendix W
Appendix X	Appendix X	Appendix X	Appendix X
Appendix Y