Valuable Insights! Policy Interpretation of the Top - level Domain Opening at ICANN81

In November 2024, the 81st Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Conference was held in Istanbul, Turkey. Experts from the National Engineering Research Center for Internet Domain Name System (ZDNS) were deeply involved in the conference, participating in discussions on the allocation of key Internet infrastructure resources and relevant policies.

1. ICANN Reiterated the Opening Nodes for the Next Round of Top - Level Domains

The opening of the next round of top - level domains was one of the core topics of this conference. The conference reaffirmed the opening time of April 2026 and several important time nodes.
“ICANN Interim CEO Sally Costerton: ICANN has made significant progress in implementing the next round of new generic top - level domain applications. We are working with the Implementation Review Team to address issues such as the base registry agreement, community priority assessment, and contention set resolution, and jointly strive for the next round of applications scheduled to open in April 2026.”

2. Regarding the Competition of Identical/Similar Top - Level Domains

The conference made the following resolutions regarding the resolution of contention sets in the next - round applications:

1. Any form of private settlement of contention sets in the next round is prohibited, including the prohibition of applicants forming joint ventures after submitting applications.

2. The auction mechanism of the first round will be used in the next round.

3. Regarding the Competition of Identical/Similar Top - Level Domains

It was decided at the conference that the authorization of both the singular and plural forms of the same word in the same language is prohibited to reduce the risk of user confusion.

4. Regarding the Supplementary Application Rules

It was decided at the conference that the authorization of both the singular and plural forms of the same word in the same language is prohibited to reduce the risk of user confusion.

5. Regarding the Registry Service Provider Evaluation Project

After the conference, ICANN officially announced the launch of the Registry Service Provider (RSP) evaluation project. RSPs are institutions that provide technical support and management services to top - level domain holders, and all top - level domain applicants must use RSPs that have been evaluated and compliant by ICANN. ZDNS joined the pre - review of RSPs in a timely manner, using its professional technical strength to help shorten the technical verification process.

6. Regarding the Key Process Time Nodes

A series of time nodes for important processes of applying for top - level domains were officially disclosed at the conference, including string similarity review, applicant support program, registry service provider review plan, base registry agreement formulation, and public comment on the guidelines for the next - round top - level domain applicants. The conference also focused on discussions of topics such as DNS Abuse, global revisions of the Registry Agreement (RA) and Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA). It is of great importance to pay timely attention to relevant policies and coordinate resources to seize this once - in - more - than - a - decade opportunity for the opening of top - level domains. Scan the QR code to obtain the complete report.