22 Describe proposed measures for protection of geographic names at the second and other levels in the applied-for gTLD

Prototypical answer:

The ZACR is aware of the GAC adviceon this issue and will take it into consideration in their management of second level domain name registrations and further confirms that it will comply with Specification 5 of the Registry Agreement.

Specification 5 of the New gTLD Registry Agreement initially reserves at the 2nd and all other levels within the TLD:
- Country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list
- UN Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardisation of Geographical Names, Part II Names of Countries of the World, and
- The list of UN member states in 6 official UN languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the UN Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names

In accordance with the provisos contained in Specification 5, such names may be released if the Registry Operator reaches agreement with the applicable government and⁄or the Registry Operator proposes release of the reserved name(s) subject to review by GAC and approved by ICANN.

The Registry will work cooperatively with ICANN to ensure that the 2nd and subsequent levels of the proposed TLD comply with expressed public policies and goals and in particular the following:

1. It is worth noting, as documented by ICANN, that rights of governments or public authorities in relation to the rights of the sovereign state or territory which they represent cannot be limited or made conditional by any procedures that ICANN introduces to new gTLDs. The ZACR will follow the GAC public process relating to geographic names

2. The ZACR will use existing recognised international lists as prescribed by ICANN. The lists will be reserved at the second level at no cost to the governments of the dotAfrica TLD. It will be the prerogative of the relevant governments to adopt
procedures that allow for applicants to register names from any of teh reserve lists.

3. The AUC shall within three months into force of the agreement with the ZACR, allow member states to submit to the AUC and other member states a limited list of broadly recognised names with regard to geographical and⁄or geopolitical concepts which affect their political or territorial organisation that may either:
- not be registered or
- be registered only under a second level domain according to the public policy rules

4. The African Union Commission (AUC) will furnish the list of notified names to which such criteria apply, and the AUC shall also publish the list at the same time as it notifies the ZACR

5. Where a member state or the AUC within 30 days of publication raises an objection to an item included in the notified list, the ZACR will take measures to remedy the situation

6. Before starting the registration operations, the ZACR will adopt the initial registration policy for the dotAfrica TLD in consultation with the AUC and other interested parties. The ZACR will implement in the registration policy the public policy rules pursuant to the agreement between the AUC and the ZACR taking into account the exception lists and the GAC process as prescribed in the principles regarding new gTLDs.

7. It should be noted that the AUC shall retain all rights relating to the dotAfrica TLD, including in particular, intellectual property and other rights to the registry databases required to ensure the implementation of the agreement between the AUC and the ZACR, and the right to re-designate the registry function.

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