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
.quebec	PointQuébec Inc	pointquebec.org	View

e) i. Eligibility: who is eligible to register a second-level name in the gTLD, and how will eligibility be determined.

The .quebec TLD is intended to serve the Québec community and its general welfare. The community is composed of individuals and organizations linked to the community on a linguistic, cultural, tourism, business basis.or any other activity conducive to the welfare of the Québec community,

Elegibility requirement policies will be developed according to the definition of the Québec community, and a diversity of proceedings will be implemented to ensure accommodation of all its bona fide members

Registrations under .quebec are restricted to bona-fide members of the Québec community, and subject to the further requirement that the registrant’s actions in the .quebec community, as well as the registrant’s use of the registered domain name, must be:

(i) generally accepted as legitimate; and

(ii) beneficial to the cause and the welfare of the Québec community; and

(iii) commensurate with the role and importance of the registered domain name; and

(iv) in good faith at the time of registration and thereafter.

These conditions must always be fulfilled. The strength of the validation is kept in line with the importance of the underlying domain name base on the assumption that a typical user would reasonably make.

To facilitate validation, registrants are 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 of the domain name.

The validation may be assisted through pre-identification of potential registrants using existing community channels, through membership of qualified Organizations or the distribution of Promotion Codes to members.

After the launch phase, the validation mode goes from pre-validation to post-validation with statistically targeted random validation, backed up by a ongoing enforcement program. The validation and enforcement programs are 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

e) ii. Name selection: what types of second-level names may be registered in the gTLD.

The fundamental rule on which name selection is based is part of the policy principles: the domain names may be registered considering the registrant‘s relationship to the Québec community, and the use of the domain name must be commensurate to the role and importance of the domain name.

The role and importance of the domain name registrations is based on the meaning an average user would reasonably make of a domain name in the context of the Québec community

e) iii. Content⁄Use: what restrictions, if any, the registry operator will impose on how a registrant may use its registered name.

PointQuébec, as the Registry Operator, will adopt policies to ensure that the use of the domain names is:

(i) generally accepted as legitimate; and
(ii) conducive to the welfare of the Québec community; and
(iii) in good faith at the time of registration and thereafter.

This will be verified according to:

1) the intended use statement supplied by the domain registrant at the time of registration and⁄or the explicit agreement to the terms and conditions including the .quebec TLD use policies.

2) an ongoing enforcement program.


e) iv. 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.

The purpose of the enforcement program is to protect the credibility of the .quebec TLD for its local in international public. In particular, upholds the community-based purpose of the .quebec TLD and helps prevent misuse or malicious behaviour.

The enforcement program is 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 behaviour 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 takes place if the registrant has a bad track record in terms of compliance with the rules of the .quebec TLD. Other violations of public record (such as UDRP or URS cases) will also be taken into account.

If content or use of an existing .quebec domain demonstrate that the registrant has shown bad faith by stating a false intended use, the domain name is suspended. If a registrar is complicit with systematic violations of the .quebec 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 .quebec domains to enhanced investigation and require it conduct its own post-validation program.

An appeals process is available for all administrative measures taken in the framework of the enforcement program. The first instance of the appeals process is managed by the registry service provider.
PointQuébec will engage the relevant ADR providers of its area to establish a second instance appeal process.