18(c) What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs?

Prototypical answer:

SOCIAL COSTS

LAT will not impose a social cost that is higher than the existing ones. As of today, there are dozens of ccTLDs that do not require registrants to demonstrate their place of residence to register a domain name. Nevertheless many of those ccTLDs are not widely used; they are used only by whom finds it relevant for their interests, or by whom shares the market focus of the TLD. Due to this it becomes especially important to have communications and positioning strategies specially tailored to promote the differentiation and specialized market focus of the .LAT on the latino market, as this will help potential registrars and internet users to decide if the .LAT is relevant for them or not.

MULTIPLE APPLICATIONS FOR A DOMAIN NAME

The .LAT is presented as an integrating element for latinos around the world through the Internet, as a tool that enables them to draw attention to their roots and interests, and the effort will be made to make this available to the community it intends to serve, while avoiding the price factor become an impediment for its adoption.

Nonetheless, we must consider the manner in which the domain names will be assigned to the registrants. The launching plan includes a sunrise period which will have special considerations for the rights of brand and intellectual property owners. Conflicting registrations received during the Sunrise Period will be resolved with clear policy, which will take into account trademark information validated by the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMC). The landrush will feature a first-come first-served approach with the use of a special pricing scheme. There will be no auctions for premium names previously reserved by the registry. The landrush will be followed by a traditional, first-come first-served registration process in the general availability launch.

All special names and words as specified in the Guidebook will be reserved and will not be available for registration.

COST BENEFITS

In order to facilitate the introduction and adoption of the .LAT, the marketing plans will include Price strategies that offer benefits to the registrants, through the registrars, enabling them to have access to preferential prices based on volume or during specific campaigns. Among the programs we intend to implement are the following:

* Discount campaigns during special seasons. The registry will actively participate in the promotion of the TLD, investing in advertising for positioning of the TLD, together with those registrars who elect to participate.
* Other appropiate discounts and offer to all participant registrars.

NIC Mexico was one of the first registries in the world that made important efforts in marketing and price strategies, in order to promote the positioning and growth of a TLD in its market, the .MX in this particular case. Due to the positive results achieved and the experience acquired, we believe it is possible to replicate some of these most successful strategies with the .LAT.

In order to minimize the social cost that .LAT may have, verification mechanisms required to increase the trustworthiness of the information will be implemented, including

* Thick Whois
* URS
* UDRP
* IP Claims

PRICING STRATEGIES

The Pricin strategy for the .LAT will aim to find a balance between offering an attractive margin to registrars while at the same time makeing it accessible to registrants, while obtaining the necessary resources for the promotion and positioning of .LAT in the target market. A plan will be proposed that will provide incentive to the growth of the base of domain names registered, promoting registration for 2 or more years, while simultaneously it will be sought that this plan achieve a renewal rate around 70%. The price increments will only occur when necessary, and in full compliance with the ICANN contract, giving notice in appropriate form and with required anticipation, as per the contract signed with ICANN.

.LAT Registry does not consider making contractual commitments with the registrants regarding price escalation other than the ones indicated by ICANN, as we think that it would be very difficult to regulate the pricing schemes that the registrars offer to final customers. However it is our goal to gradually reduce the tariff the registrars pay, if and when possible, enabling them to pass this benefit on to the registrants.

Similar gTLD applications: (0)