1 Updated as of 1 July 2014 Issues of the day at ICANN Universal Acceptance of All TLDs KISA-ICANN Language Localisation Project Module 2.2

2 Updated as of 1 July 2014 Universal Acceptance of All Top Level Domains (TLDs)

3 Updated as of 1 July 2014 Universal Acceptance Background:  1980s-90s: fewer TLDs; most ended in either a 2-letter country code (ccTLDs) or consisted of 3 ASCII letters (gTLDs)  2000s: new ASCII gTLDs longer than 3 letters introduced (e.g..info,.museum)  2010: non-ASCII ccTLDs launched (e.g.. சிங்கப்பூர்,. مليسيا.)  2012: New gTLD Program = Expanded Domain Name System consisting of more than 1000 new gTLDs (including new non-ASCII gTLDs)

4 Updated as of 1 July 2014 Problem: Existing software packages often “screen out” domain names ending with more than 3 characters, or that are in non-ASCII scripts  Not an ICANN-specific problem – need cooperation/coordination across software & website developers, vendors, registry operators etc.  But ICANN can play a facilitative role to help find solutions … What is the issue with Universal Acceptance?

5 Updated as of 1 July 2014 Example 1 – TLDs Options in forms are restricted and do not accommodate new gTLDs.

6 Updated as of 1 July 2014 Example 2 - IDNs Forms also do not recognise Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs)

7 Updated as of 1 July 2014 Example 3 – Browser display Displayed as punycode

8 Updated as of 1 July 2014  2010: ccNSO & GNSO Councils set up a Joint IDN Working Group (JIG)  Nov 2013: JIG Final Report published  June 2014: Proposed “Roadmap for the Universal Acceptance Initiative” open for Public Comment  Proposed Roadmap highlights on ICANN’s role: To raise awareness, and to foster relationships among stakeholders involved with universal acceptance issues To promote internationalised as a way to enable full functionality of IDN TLDs To build a ‘corporate memory’ of the progress toward universal acceptable To develop a means to accept reports of problems, as well as successes, to pass information amongst stakeholders for resolution. ICANN community work to date

9 Updated as of 1 July 2014 For further information:  Proposed Roadmap for the Universal Acceptance Initiative: initiative enhttps:// initiative en  JIG Final Report on Universal Acceptance: en.htm en.htm  ICANN Background Information on Universal Acceptance: We need feedback from the Asia Pacific  Participate at our ICANN meetings remotely or in person and give us your feedback Where do we go from here?

10 Updated as of 1 July 2014 Thank you. Questions?