Nov 1, 2000 : Update: 1 November 2000

On Monday, 2 October 2000 the applicationperiod for those seeking to sponsor or operate new TLDs ended.A total of 47applications were received during the application period.Forty-four of these applications are still active.

Tasks That Have Been Completed

ICANN has completed the following stepsin its review of applications:

• Acknowledging receipt of applications.
• Reviewing the applications to ensure theyinclude all the required parts. All applications being considerednow have all the required major parts, although some still appearto be missing exhibits, postable HTML versions, etc.
• Verifying payment of the application fee.Two of the 47 applications submitted were not accompanied bythe US $50,000 application fee. These two applications (.number/.tel/.phoneand .wap) have been returned.
• Reviewing confidentiality requests andcontacting applicants to notify them of the disposition of therequest. One of the 47 applications (.nyc) was withdrawn becausethe applicant and ICANN did not agree on treatment of confidentialityclaims. All other confidentiality claims have been resolved byagreement. In general, ICANN agreed to treat only a very limitedportion of application materials as confidential.
• Completing posting of non-confidentialportions of applicationson the ICANN web site.We have now posted all of the basicapplication materials, though a few partial omissions are stillbeing addressed.

Tasks Currently Underway

ICANN is currently involved in the followingaspects of the review:

• The web-basedpublic comment forum is currently collecting public commentson the applications. In nineteen days of operation, over 3000comments have been submitted. We are reviewing and digestingthe comments.
• Technical, business/financial, and legalreview of applications.
• Where an application seeks alternativeor multiple TLD strings, verifyingthat it is a single application (i.e. that all parts of theapplication apply, without significant variation, to all of thestrings). Applicants submitting materials that constitute morethan one application will be notified in the near future.
• We have begun sending questions out tomany of the applicants. As responses are received, we will postthe questions and responses with the application materials.

The Schedule

Here is the current schedule:

• First Public Comment Period. The web-based publiccomment forum on the applications will remain open until 4:00pm California time (midnight UTC) on Sunday, 5 November 2000.
• Staff Report. The results of the staff review of the applicationswill be posted on approximately 8 November 2000. We expect theseresults to be presented in a detailed report, including an explanationof the goals of the analysis, a detailed statement of how theanalysis was performed, identification of those who participatedin the review process, summaries of findings as to each application,compilations of comparative data on the applications, observationsregarding how the posted criteria for evaluation apply, and otherrelevant results of the analysis.
• Second Public Comment Period. A second web-based public comment forum will beestablished at the time the Staff Report is issued to allow thepublic to comment on the report. The second forum will also permitpersons wishing to make their own comments on the applicationsto do so.

Legal Claims Concerning TLDs

We continue to receive various correspondenceconcerning additional legal claims concerning TLDs. We are preparingresponses that we will postalong with the correspondence asserting the claims.

Avoiding Conflicts of Interest

It is important that persons having financialinterests in the applicants not be involved in making selectionsamong the applications. Accordingly, the members of ICANN's Boardof Directors (who will vote on the selections) and its officersand employees (who will be advising the Board on the selections)have reviewed whether they have any relationship to applicantsor applications that would make their participating in the selectioninappropriate. Based on this review, the following persons recusedthemselves prior to their consideration of any application: