Executive Summary

ICANN was founded in 1998 as a nonprofit public benefit corporation. ICANN's mission directs it to coordinate the allocation and assignment of names in the root zone of the Domain Name System and is committed to introducing and promoting competition in the registration of domain names. The New gTLD Program is an ICANN initiative to enable the expansion of the Internet’s DNS and has been designed to ensure security and stability of the DNS, promote competition in the DNS, and encourage transparency and community participation.

The SubPro Final Report¹ outputs adopted by the ICANN Board, which cover 41 different topics related to the New gTLD Program, are the product of diverse participation in the gTLD policy development process. In consultation with the ICANN community, ICANN has implemented several changes to the 2026 Round.

Some key differences from the 2012 Round include:

• Applicant Support Program (ASP): The ASP is intended to make the 2026 Round accessible to applicants that want to apply for a new gTLD or operate a registry but face financial and resource constraints. Improving upon the 2012 ASP, qualified applicants may expect to receive percentage-based reductions on the base gTLD evaluation fee and other gTLD evaluation fees. Additionally, they will have access to a training program, pro bono (volunteer) service providers, applicant counselors, and, in cases of string contention resolution, a bid credit to be used in an auction. See Appendix 11 Applicant Support Program.

• Contention Resolution: Since the 2012 Round, contention resolution and the use of private resolution, including via private auctions, have been discussion points within the ICANN community. In consultation with the community, ICANN has implemented certain restrictions and features, described in this Guidebook, to ensure that applicants have a bona fide (good faith) intent to operate an applied-for gTLD. A notable new feature is the opportunity for applicants to submit a replacement string along with their original choice of string, reducing string contention and expanding name diversity in the DNS. See Module 5 Contention Set Resolution.

• Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs): IDNs play a crucial role in fostering diversity in the DNS by allowing domain names to be represented in characters beyond traditional ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange). Label Generation Rules are currently available for the following twenty-seven scripts: Arabic, Armenian, Bangla, Chinese (Han), Cyrillic, Devanagari, Ethiopic, Georgian, Greek, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Hebrew, Japanese (Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji [Han]), Kannada, Khmer, Korean (Hangul and Hanja [Han]), Lao, Latin, Malayalam, Myanmar, Oriya, Sinhala, Tamil, Telugu, Thaana, and Thai. See Section 3.1.9 Internationalized Domain Names.

• Predictability Framework: The Predictability Framework ensures efficient and transparent management of unexpected issues that may arise during the course of implementing the Program by engaging with the Standing Predictability Implementation Review Team to address changes based on their impact to ICANN’s operations of the New gTLD Program or applicants. See Appendix 6 Predictability Framework.

• Registry Service Provider (RSP) Evaluation Program: This Program has been developed to reduce the cost and time involved in evaluating new gTLDs by separating the technical assessment of operating a gTLD from the application for the gTLD label. Through the RSP Evaluation Program, RSPs may only need to be evaluated once, regardless of the number of gTLDs they intend to support. See Appendix 12 Registry Service Provider Evaluation Program.

This Guidebook was developed collaboratively through community input, with ICANN leading the initiative. In consultation with an Implementation Review Team² that was composed of ICANN community volunteers, ICANN implemented the selection criteria, evaluation, and allocation processes for gTLDs, and the contractual conditions required for new gTLD registry operators. This work reflects the iterative development of the Guidebook through Public Comment³ periods. Meaningful community input has directly influenced revisions to the draft. In parallel, ICANN has established the resources needed to successfully launch and operate the Program.