ICANN 81 | ZDNS Experts Deeply Involved in the Formulation of the Second - round Global Top - level Domain Policies

On November 9, 2024, the 81st meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was held in Istanbul, Turkey. Experts from the National Engineering Research Center for Internet Domain Name System (ZDNS) were deeply engaged in discussions on formulating the policies for the opening of the second - round top - level domains.

ICANN Interim CEO Sally Costerton highlighted at the conference the upcoming RSP pre - review and the important milestone of the opening in April 2026.

At the conference, the opening of the new round of top - level domains, one of the core topics, triggered heated discussions among experts from around the world.Feng Shuo, the Co - Chair of Working Group 2 for formulating the follow - up processes and policies of ICANN top - level domains and the Deputy General Manager of ZDNS, during the special session "Challenges and Opportunities of New Generic Top - level Domains" held by the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO), had in - depth discussions with global experts on the unique ways, models, and challenges of launching and expanding different types of top - level domain registries.

Feng Shuo (the second from the left), Co - Chair of Working Group 2 for formulating the follow - up processes and policies of ICANN top - level domains, and Deputy General Manager of the National Engineering Research Center for Internet Domain Name System (ZDNS)

Feng Shuo said that Chinese enterprises have been making unique explorations in the brand value of top - level domains. In the new round of top - level domain openings, Chinese - branded domain names are expected to be one of the important application directions. He expressed high hopes for the opening of the second - round top - level domains and proposed that ICANN further simplify the procedures to facilitate the smooth application and use of brand - specific top - level domains.

ICANN will open the registration applications for the second - round top - level domains in April 2026. The previous opening was in 2012. ZDNS has been participating in discussions on ICANN top - level domain - related policies, as well as the formulation of standards and rules, for over ten consecutive years. Through international exchanges and community participation, ZDNS has mastered the policy requirements and process nodes for the opening of the second - round top - level domains. It actively voices its opinions to promote the fair and reasonable distribution of top - level domain resources, helping Chinese enterprises obtain top - level domains that match their brands, integrate into the global Internet industry chain and value chain, and enhance their international competitiveness.

ZDNS has established and operates Asia's largest new top - level domain service platform, which is compliant with the dual certifications of ICANN and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. It provides services to 27 registry operators and 60 top - level domains globally, and hosts over 6.4 million second - level domains.

At this conference, the ZDNS expert team also widely participated in discussions on various topics, including the base registry agreement of the Implementation Review Team for the new round of top - level domains (SubPro IRT), internationalized domain names, community priority assessment, outreach and publicity plans. Regarding DNS abuse, ZDNS participated in and followed up on the discussion results of the ICANN community regarding measures to mitigate DNS abuse and the implementation of DNS abuse amendments, ensuring that the ZDNS technical platform can better provide DNS abuse governance services to its customers.