gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.NGO	Public Interest Registry	pir.org	View

PIR’s goal is to provide the NGO Community an exclusive and immediately recognized home on the Internet. To achieve this goal and ensure that .NGO domain names are allocated in a manner that serves the NGO Community, PIR has developed a set of .NGO registration restriction policies and corresponding compliance and enforcement mechanisms.

The policies are built to match the need of the NGO Community based on feedback from NGO Community members; based on experience from the .ORG gTLD management since 2003; and generally established to ensure a higher security level for .NGO domain names than what currently is considered standard global requirements for gTLDs today.

.NGO Registration Policies
The registration policies in support of the NGO Community goals are described in the following summary and are detailed later in this section.
• Registrant Eligibility Requirements – all registrants must demonstrate affiliation through NGO membership organizations or through evidence of NGO status. PIR will work with membership organization, the NGO Community Advisory Council, and other members of the NGO Community to validate their eligibility.
• Name Selection Policy – ensures that only NGO Community relevant domain names are registered.
• Reserved Name Policy – names⁄types of domain names will initially be reserved from registration under .NGO.
• Registry Name Policy – names⁄types of domain names will be held from general availability, these will be used in support of the registry.
• Content and Use Restriction Policy – ensures that usage of the .NGO domain name corresponds with NGO Community activities.
• Compliance Functions – ensures ongoing compliance of the Registrant Eligibility Requirements, and the Content and Use Restriction Policy listed below.

The following policies support of the NGO Community goals and are detailed in subsequent Evaluation Questions of the application dedicated to such policies, as noted below.
• Abuse Prevention and Mitigation – includes the Anti-Abuse Policy which addresses the identification and prompt action taken on malicious use of domain names, and the Restriction Dispute Resolution Policy (RDRP) which ensures that disputes concerning any of the .NGO Registration Policies can be solved in an appropriate manner. Detailed descriptions of both policies can be found in response to Evaluation Question #28.
• Rights Protection Mechanisms – protects intellectual property holders under the Trademark Clearinghouse, Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS), Registry Restrictions Dispute Resolution Procedures (RRDRP),Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Policy (PDDRP), in addition to the Sunrise services and policies that can be found in response to Evaluation Question #29.

PIR will review all policies and processes on an annual basis with involvement from the PIR’s NGO Community Advisory Council and present the results to the NGO Community, allowing them to provide feedback.

Specific Policy Details

Registrant Eligibility Requirements: The .NGO domain registrations are open to NGO Community members. All registrants must demonstrate affiliation through NGO membership organizations or through evidence of NGO status. PIR will work with NGO membership organizations, the NGO Community Advisory Council, and other members of the NGO Community to validate their eligibility.

In consultation with PIR’s NGO Community Advisory Council PIR is reviewing potential NGO membership organizations who can verify the NGO status of registrants. NGO membership organizations include the following, and will expand over time:
• Global organizations: International associations and⁄or classification-based associations.
• Regional organizations: Associations across broad geographic areas, potentially including multiple countries or jurisdictions.
• Local organizations: Associations or groups that provide support and memberships at a country or local level.

During the registration process, the registrant will be asked to verify their eligibility and to demonstrate affiliation with a NGO member organization. Once the initial certification in step 1 of the verification process is confirmed, the domain is successfully created. If the .NGO registrant fails to provide any additional required information through step 2 of the verification process, the domain will be deleted and released back into the pool of available domains.

Content and Use Restriction Policy: Abusive use of the .NGO domain names will not be tolerated by PIR. The following use and content limitations apply:
• Overall the NGO domain name must be for a bona fide NGO use, as defined in the Restrictions Dispute Resolution in response to Evaluation Question #28.
• Websites must be developed with the intent to promote the corresponding .NGO registrant’s existing mission and activities, and not solely for commercialized or for-profit marketing usage.
• Use of the registered domain name to engage in activities inconsistent with the mission of a NGO is not allowed.
• Any illegal or fraudulent usage of the .NGO domain name is not allowed, including but not limited to phishing and pharming attacks, distribution of malware, and distribution of adult content.
• Registration and use of a domain name in violation of Rights Protection Mechanisms is not allowed.

Violations of any of the .NGO Registration Policies may be grounds for loss of registration, pursuant to the enforcement mechanism discussed below (with an appeal procedure).

Compliance Functions: While disputes will be managed directly by resolution providers, PIR will conduct random compliance audits across all the .NGO Registration Policies. Periodically PIRʹs compliance staff will audit a sample of .NGO registrations to verify claims to membership in a listed organization, name policy adherence, and compliance with the name and use policy.

If a registrant is found to not be in compliance the registrant will be notified that the domain will be placed on registry lock and that if the compliance issue is not cured the domain will be terminated.

As part of the compliance function PIR will also utilize its existing expertise, obtained through its management of .ORG, to monitor and take action on any abusive behavior taken place with .NGO domain names.

Name Selection Policy: The .NGO registrant must fulfill certain name policy criteria. PIR will employ the following restrictions concerning the names that eligible .NGO registrants can register. As such a .NGO registrant cannot register any name they wish but is limited by the following restrictions. A .NGO registered domain name may be:
1) the name of (entire or portion of) the NGO, e.g. its “doing business as” name,
2) an acronym representing the NGO,
3) a name that recognizes or generally describes the NGO, or
4) a name related to the mission or activities of the NGO.

Reserved Name Policy: The following names⁄types of domain names will initially be reserved from registration:
• All single- and two-character second-level domain names;
• Domains of an inappropriate nature, e.g., adult-related terminology, pursuant to a list defined by PIR and its NGO Community Advisory Council;
• Names provided by ICANN as required reserved names;
• A list of generic names defined by PIR and its NGO Community Advisory Council based on the overall criteria that the names represent the NGO Community in a general manner. Such names will be released in a specific RFP process ensuring that the names will benefit the NGO Community.

Registry Name Policy: The following names⁄types of domain names will be held from general availability; they will be used in support of the registry.
• Names to support registry operations, e.g., directory.ngo;
• Names to support PIR’s NGO Community Advisory Council.

Compliance and Enforcement Mechanisms
PIR will take both proactive and reactive measures to enforce the policies of the gTLD. Proactive measures are taken at the time of registration by requiring .NGO registrants to meet the .NGO Registration Policies and to agree to all policies and procedures of the gTLD. Reactive measures are addressed via our audit process and through our defined dispute resolution processes.

A violation of the .NGO Registration Policies will be enforced on a case-by-case, fact specific basis under the processes set forth below:
1. Any allegation that a domain name is not used primarily for NGO purposes shall be enforced under the provisions of the Restrictions Dispute Resolution Policy (ʺRDRPʺ) as described in Evaluation Question #28. The RDRP will be included as an appendix to the Registry Agreement. An appeal procedure is included in the RDRP.
2. Any alleged violation of the Rights Protection Mechanisms shall be enforced under the provisions contained in each of them.

Disputes resulting from violations of the .NGO Registration Policies will be resolved through the Compliance Functions and the Rights Protection Mechanisms. The Rights Protection Mechanisms (as detailed in Evaluation Question #29) will be made applicable by the ICANN-Accredited Registrarsʹ registration agreements with registrants. Proceedings under the Rights Protection Mechanisms will be conducted in accordance with the policies and procedures that will be included in an appendix to the Registry Agreement. As set forth in the Compliance Functions, the registry operator will review on a random basis, monitor, and verify that any particular domain name is being used primarily for NGO purposes and that a domain is being used in compliance with the Rights Protection Mechanisms processes.

Resource Plans
PIR will devote 2 compliance officers to handle compliance and disputes as they arise, although currently for .ORG this need is rare. Most compliance checks on registration eligibility are expected to be handled in an automated process.

gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.art	Dadotart, Inc.	deviantart.com	View

Descriptions should include proposed policies, if any, on the following:
• Eligibility: who is eligible to register a second-level name in the gTLD, and how will eligibility be determined.
• Name selection: what types of second-level names may be registered in the gTLD.
• Content⁄Use: what restrictions, if any, the registry operator will impose on how a registrant may use its registered name.
• Enforcement: what investigation practices and mechanisms exist to enforce the policies above, what resources are allocated for enforcement, and what appeal mechanisms are available to registrants.


Eligibility— The arts community at large is made up of Artists and those who are have an identifiable engagement with the Arts worldwide. The following statement describes the feature of community definition for the purposes of eligibility.

Definition—The Art community is comprised of individuals, groups of individuals and legal entities who identify themselves with the Arts and actively participate in or support Art activities or the organization of Art activities.

Domain name registration is planned to occur on both the second and third level: at the second level (e.g. Stella.ART) and at the third level (e.g. Stella.Sculpture.ART). The PAB will define policies to ensure that Art-specific name spaces are managed in line with the interests of the Art community. Registrant Eligibility criteria at the second- and third-level within the .ART gTLD will be deferred to PAB for development and later adoption by Dadotart. The universe of registrants that could potentially be permitted to register in accordance with any final Registrant Eligibility criteria at either the second or third level include, Artists and those who have an identifiable engagement with the Arts.

Eligibility will be reviewed before registration in the pre-launch phase. During the launch phase pre-validation will apply for reserved names or trademarks, but will always involve community nexus.
During the post-launch phase of general availability, community nexus will be subject to post-validation by way of an extensive compliance program along with statistically targeted random validation, backed up by a ongoing enforcement program.

From time to time in cases of special promotion, eligibility review may be assisted by pre-identification of potential registrants using existing community channels, in particular through promotion codes.
Projections for the maximum size of the .ART gTLD are 50,000 names by the end of year three, as described more fully in Questions 45-49. Given the anticipated size of the gTLD review of eligibility will not be a problem for the staff identified.
Name Selection— Name selection will be limited by several policies and procedures: reserved lists, landrush and “sunrise” rules, and “portal” names allocated in pre-launch. Reserved names restriction will involve preparation of several lists of reserved names as follows:
(1) Names denoting genres or fields of activity (e.g. theatre, sculpture, painting, photography, sculpture, etc.);
(2) In addition, a second reserved list of names of prominent Art institutions as well as Art-related trademarks will be created; and
(3) Names of prominent Artists living or dead.
Name selection will further be limited by provisions restricting registration of country codes at the second level. In addition a sunrise and landrush program will provide special provision for trademarks.
In the pre-launch phase key portal names of use to the entire community will be registered and used for communication and outreach. It is anticipated that the pre-launch portal development program will involve builders and users in the Art community. The portal development program will allocate domain names based on an open and transparent project selection process based on proposals for use of the names for the benefit of the Art community.
Content—The arts community is a community of production, support and affinity, and its policies of member definition would be incomplete if they did not hold requirements for name use. Use of a name in artistic production, support and affinity represents ongoing evidence of community eligibility
The registration of domain names under the .ART gTLD will be subject to the further requirement that the registrant’s participation or support in the Art community arena and the registrant’s use of the domain name must be:
(1) Generally accepted as legitimate;
(2) Of a nature that demonstrates the registrant’s membership in the Art community; and
(3) Conducted in good faith at the time of registration and thereafter.
To facilitate validation, registrants will be required to state their intended use of the registered domain name. A false statement of intended use is an indication of bad faith and can be the basis for the suspension or revocation of the domain name
Enforcement— The purpose of the enforcement program is to protect the credibility of the .ART gTLD for users.
The enforcement program will be based on statistically targeted random investigations and on a complaint follow-up process. The statistical targeting is strongly automated and involves the use of search engines and the analysis of registry data related to behavior of registrants.
Depending on the type of misuse to be investigated, web site content or content sent to victims of abuse will reviewed and analyzed by investigators.
Enhanced investigation will take place if the registrant has a bad track record in terms of compliance with the rules of the .ART gTLD. Other violations of public record (such as UDRP or URS cases) will also be taken into account.
If the intended use cannot be deemed legitimate, the registration will be rejected at the time of initial application. If content or later use of an existing .ART domain demonstrate that the registrant has shown bad faith by stating a false intended use, or has changed use, the domain name will be suspended.
If a registrar is complicit with systematic violations of the .ART policies or causes an unacceptable burden for the validation and enforcement program by negligence, the registry can restrict that registrar’s access to the new registrations, subject its inventory of .ART domains to enhanced investigation and require it conduct its own post-validation program.
An appeals process will available for all administrative measures taken in the framework of the enforcement program. The first instance of the appeals process will be managed by the registry service provider.
The PAB set up by Dadotart provides the second and last instance of an appeals process by itself or entrusts it to an alternative dispute resolution provider. The charter of the appeals process will be promulgated by the PAB.
The ongoing compliance program will regularly be adapted to current needs based on experience and audit findings. Community nexus validation combined with strong protection of trademarks will help to stamp out cybersquatting and abusive registrations. Non-complying registrations will be subject to revocation.
Eligibility and name use conditions must always be fulfilled. The strength of the validation will be kept in line with the nature of the underlying domain name base and the reasonable expectations of a typical user.
The validation and enforcement program will be supported by an integrated issue tracking system. This system allows validating agents and personnel to cooperate and interact with the registrant. The system keeps track of decisions made by the agents and stores supplemental documentary evidence that may be supplied by the registrants.
Projections for the maximum size of the .ART gTLD are 50,000 names by the end of Year three, as described more fully in Questions 45-49. Given the anticipated size of the gTLD enforcement will not be a problem for the staff identified.