18(c) What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs?

Prototypical answer:

18 (c) What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs (e.g., time or financial resource costs, as well as various types of consumer vulnerabilities)? What other steps will you take to minimize negative consequences⁄costs imposed upon consumers?

The community-based approach of .radio (see answers to Q20 below for more details), with its rules for Eligibility, Name Selection, Accepted Use and its vigorous Enforcement practices (see answer to Q29 below for additional details) ensure that trademark owners and other rights holders will not face the usual costs of monitoring, and defending against abuses. Nor would they feel forced to register their names, identities, products, services, brands in .radio to prevent abuses.

The .radio Registry will furthermore implement a vigorous and comprehensive general malicious conduct prevention and mitigation policy to reduce the number, importance and effects of abuses harming the general users.

Answers to enumerated questions:

i. How will multiple applications for a particular domain name be resolved, for example, by auction or on a first-come⁄first- serve basis?

Categories 1 and 2 (Broadcasting Unions and Licensed Broadcasters) will be subject to the Frequent Names Global Contention Resolution procedure during the Pre-Launch phase. This procedure will involves extensive mediation and alternative dispute resolution efforts to minimize conflicts among applicants.

As described above, during the Launch Phase (Sunrise), the first-come⁄first-served principle is not universally applied. Multiple applications for the same domain will be solved through the following mechanisms:

A) Hierarchy among Sunrise⁄Landrush categories (qualifying applications from higher-ranked categories take precedence over qualified applications from lower-ranked categories). Please see answer to 18 (b) (iv) above.

B) Within same category (and subcategory), Dispute Resolution Mechanisms consisting on:

B.1) Proposed Mediation and⁄or Arbitration (if both parties agree)

B.2) If conflict arises among applications within other categories (3 to 7), the resolution could come through an auction mechanism of last resort.


ii. Explain any cost benefits for registrants you intend to implement (e.g., advantageous pricing, introductory discounts, bulk registration discounts).


The pricing models will be set-up by the World Radio Advisory Board (WRAB) as defined above on behalf of the .radio community to serve the best interests of that community. These interests include both sufficient funding of the Registry (but not profits as EBU is a non-for-profit entity) and fair pricing to registrants. The model will not be geared towards favoring speculators, massive warehousing or names or otherwise providing incentives for the aggregate of non-used (in the sense of content-less, service-less) names.

The .radio Registry, truthful to its public interest roots and orientation, will fully take into account the differentiated financial burdens that nominally equal pricing carries to Broadcasters and other parties located in different parts of the world. Therefore, in an effort to promote not only fairness, but also access to registrants but also promote diversification and global reach to all users, it will have reduced pricing for Broadcasters and other registrants such as web and amateur radios located and operating from Less Developed Countries.

This differentiated, preferential, reduced, exclusive pricing will be in place both at Launch and during Ongoing Registrations phases. In this latter case, the use Promotional Codes distributed through the different Regional Unions will both allow and pre-validate eligibility for such discounts.


Note that the Registry Agreement requires that registrars be offered the option to obtain initial domain name registrations for periods of one to ten years at the discretion of the registrar, but no greater than ten years. Additionally, the Registry Agreement requires advance written notice of price increases. Do you intend to make contractual commitments to registrants regarding the magnitude of price escalation? If so, please describe your plans.

EBU is committed to provide domain name registration services in accordance with the requirements, notices and periods set forth in the future .radio TLD Registry Agreement, ICANN Consensus Policies and best practices rules. The .radio TLD will be based on predictability regarding pricing. The .radio Registry-Registrar Agreement will not contain specific or non-standard clauses regarding price escalation between the .radio Registry and its registrars (or registrants).
The .radio business plan is designed to avoid any future necessity to increase registry price in real terms. The fundamental principle is prudence: starting from very conservative price levels and gradually lowering them. This method ensures sufficient financial reserves, favours optimal allocation of domain names, helps prevent misuse and supports an orderly registration process.

Domain name registrations will be available for periods ranging for one to ten years to registrants through registrars. In some exceptional cases, such as Sunrise, minimum period will be two years.

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