18(b) How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

Prototypical answer:

b. How do you expect that your proposed TLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

Answers to enumerated question points:

b i.What is the goal of your proposed TLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation?))

Specialty
The goal of .catalonia is to focus on the name of the region as a brand name to be communicated worldwide.

The key benefits of the .catalonia TLD are derived from its intrinsic relation to the name of the region in both Latin and English, “Catalonia”. That will help to promote all the activities that the Generalitat of Catalonia will develop online and offline under a common and easy-to-understand brand name.

For instance, domain names such as www.invest-in.catalonia or www.holidays.catalonia may serve as a clear message in traditional and online media, while grouping together all the different portals of the Generalitat on a given topic, to provide a better experience for anyone searching for information.

Reputation

It is clear that a .catalonia Top Level Domain will strengthen Catalonia’s international recognition, which will naturally increase the value of its online and offline reputation and branding.

The aim of .catalonia is to show to the world from its own TLD:
Business opportunities
Universities and other places to study
Places to go on many different kinds of holidays (cultural, beach, sports, family, gastronomic, and so on)

Service Levels

Protecting the name of Catalonia and having exclusive control of what can be done with it is a top priority for the Generalitat of Catalonia.
Service levels will match or exceed the high end of currently existing TLDs. The .catalonia registry, being an exclusive TLD, will vigorously build and defend the reputation of .catalonia, providing only content approved by the department responsible for the online communications of the Generalitat.

b ii.What do you anticipate your proposed TLD will add to the current space, in terms of competition, differentiation, or innovation?))

As .catalonia is a TLD for the exclusive use of the registry operator, it is naturally differentiated by its scope, by its governance model, and by its intrinsic meaning, from other TLDs.

Innovation is greatly enhanced by introducing a new use of the TLDs to take advantage of the whole name of the region (much easier to understand and remember).

b iii.What goals does your proposed TLD have in terms of user experience?))

Compared with most existing TLDs, the .catalonia TLD will greatly enhance the predictability and memorability of domain names. The brand-name focus and the responsibility of the Registry to ensure a strong respect for intellectual property ensure that users will generally find the services they are looking for under the names they intuitively tend to use for them.

The user experience is improved by a unique online identifier under which users can easily find the online services they are looking for.

.catalonia will simplify the way people find information about the region on the Internet by creating an easy and understandable Web address.

b iv.Provide a complete description of the applicant’s intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.))



The .catalonia TLD will be for the EXCLUSIVE USE of the Generalitat of Catalonia. The Generalitat does not contemplate at this stage opening the registration to any third party. Therefore, the mandatory registration agreement will refer to the following terms and conditions:

a) Eligibility: The registrant will be the Generalitat of Catalonia.

b) Name selection: .catalonia domain name registrations will be related to any lawful promotional endeavour the Generalitat of Catalonia may wish to undertake.

c)Use and content: .catalonia domain names may be used only in relationship to the Generalitat of Catalonia and the promotion of its services on the Internet.

Considering that:

(i) The Generalitat of Catalonia will register and maintain all domain name registrations within .catalonia for its own exclusive use; and that
(ii) The Generalitat of Catalonia will not sell, distribute, or transfer control or use of any registrations in .catalonia to any third party that is not related to the Generalitat of Catalonia; and that
(iii) application of the Code of Conduct contained in Specification 9 of the Base TLD Registry Agreement to .catalonia is not necessary to protect the public interest

The Generalitat of Catalonia will request an exemption to the above-mentioned Code of Conduct, and expects ICANN to grant such exemption, as the Generalitat of Catalonia provides reasonable satisfaction of the conditions hereof expressed.

The Generalitat of Catalonia may in the future consider extending the use of domain names to employees, partners, and entities under its governmental scope, but this is not foreseen nor allowed in the current description of the registration policies.

b) v.Will your proposed TLD impose any measures for protecting the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users? If so, please describe any such measures.))

The Generalitat of Catalonia recognizes that this is a relevant issue and an evolving area of law in which there is no international standard. The protection of privacy and confidential information of registrants and users will comply with applicable law, in particular the European Data Protection framework and the Catalan and Spanish Personal Data Protection legislation, as well as any ICANN requirements in this area.

As .catalonia is a single-user single-registrant TLD, all these issues are under control, as the only registrant will be the Generalitat of Catalonia on behalf of its ministries and departments, and no external organizations or individuals will be allowed to register .catalonia names.


b) vi. Describe whether and in what ways outreach and communications will help to achieve your projected benefits.))

The .catalonia TLD will be used, according to the communications strategy of the Generalitat of Catalonia, as an easy-to-read and identifiable name and a tool for outreach to address communication campaigns to non-Catalan speaking markets and targets in various existing media; including, of course, digital media.

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