Reglikedomain industry desk

Registrars might have to adopt fresh RAA in order to sell fresh top level domains

In October I wrote regarding negotiations for a fresh registrar accreditation agreement (RAA).

The RAA is the contract between domain name registrars and ICANN.

It is periodically updated. When it’s updated, ICANN provides some sort of incentive to existing registrars to abandon their existing RAA ahead of it expires and adopt a fresh one.

For example, ICANN has previously reduced per-domain fees in a newer version of the RAA.

One idea that was being tossed around in October for the latest RAA revision was requiring registrars to adopt it ahead of being allowed to register fresh top level domains.

Instead of a carrot, it’s a stick.

The general consensus I heard back in October was that this was unlikely since it could seriously hamper the fresh TLD launch.

Yet the latest version of the fresh TLD registry agreement has this provision. If the changes are adopted, registries would not be allowed to sell domains through registrars not using the fresh RAA.

The problem is that RAA is still being negotiated. That creates a really tight timeline to finish RAA negotiations and get registrars to adopt it or risk damaging fresh TLD adoption.

I understand ICANN’s desire to get registrars to adopt the fresh agreement. But potentially damaging the launch of fresh TLDs is not the way to do it.

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