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Extended Process Similarity Review Panel (EPSRP) Reports for IDN ccTLD Applications

On 5 November 2013, ICANN published an updated Final Implementation Plan for the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process [PDF, 879 KB] with the changes required for the implementation of the two-panel string similarity review process, as approved by the ICANN Board. This includes the Extended Process Similarity Review Panel (EPSRP) as the second review based on the Guidelines for the Extended Process Similarity Review Panel [PDF, 86 KB].

The Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) country code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD) applicants who have requested the second and final review through the EPSRP are listed in the table below, along with the reports describing the findings of the Panel.

ccTLD Reference Country /Territory Requested String String in English Language Script Requester EPSRP Findings Report
BG Bulgaria xn--90ae
бг		 bg Bulgarian Cyrillic Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications EPSRP-EvaluationReport-Bulgaria-Cyrillic [PDF, 4.81 MB]
EU European Union  xn--qxa6a
ευ		 eu Greek Greek EURid EPSRP-EvaluationReport-EU-Greek [PDF, 2.46 MB]
GR Greece xn--qxam
ελ		 el Greek Greek Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks EPSRP-EvaluationReport-Greece-Greek [PDF, 4.28 MB]

Background

The IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process was launched on 16 November 2009. As of that date, eligible countries and territories were able to request their respective IDN ccTLD(s) through the process.

Following extensive public consultations, the ccNSO Council adopted in April 2013 [PDF, 118 KB] the Final Report on the IDN ccNSO PDP [PDF, 376 KB]. This work has taken into account the experiences and reviews of the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process as well as the Governmental Advisory Committee's advice on the matter.

On 27 June 2013, the ICANN Board approved an amendment to the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process Final Implementation Plan. The amendment implements a two-panel process for string similarity review in the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process, and was proposed following the conclusion of the IDN Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) Policy Development Process (PDP). The ICANN Board also resolved on 27 June 2013 that all pending and future IDN ccTLD Fast Track applicants have the option to request evaluation by the EPSRP.

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Domain Name System
Internationalized Domain Name ,IDN,"IDNs are domain names that include characters used in the local representation of languages that are not written with the twenty-six letters of the basic Latin alphabet ""a-z"". An IDN can contain Latin letters with diacritical marks, as required by many European languages, or may consist of characters from non-Latin scripts such as Arabic or Chinese. Many languages also use other types of digits than the European ""0-9"". The basic Latin alphabet together with the European-Arabic digits are, for the purpose of domain names, termed ""ASCII characters"" (ASCII = American Standard Code for Information Interchange). These are also included in the broader range of ""Unicode characters"" that provides the basis for IDNs. The ""hostname rule"" requires that all domain names of the type under consideration here are stored in the DNS using only the ASCII characters listed above, with the one further addition of the hyphen ""-"". The Unicode form of an IDN therefore requires special encoding before it is entered into the DNS. The following terminology is used when distinguishing between these forms: A domain name consists of a series of ""labels"" (separated by ""dots""). The ASCII form of an IDN label is termed an ""A-label"". All operations defined in the DNS protocol use A-labels exclusively. The Unicode form, which a user expects to be displayed, is termed a ""U-label"". The difference may be illustrated with the Hindi word for ""test"" — परीका — appearing here as a U-label would (in the Devanagari script). A special form of ""ASCII compatible encoding"" (abbreviated ACE) is applied to this to produce the corresponding A-label: xn--11b5bs1di. A domain name that only includes ASCII letters, digits, and hyphens is termed an ""LDH label"". Although the definitions of A-labels and LDH-labels overlap, a name consisting exclusively of LDH labels, such as""icann.org"" is not an IDN."