20(e) Provide a description of the applicant's intended registration policies in support of the community-based purpose of the applied-for gTLD

Prototypical answer:

The policies developed by the .ECO Community Council form the .ECO policy consensus, a key result of the process discussed in 20c. Policies are also discussed in 18b. The Dot ECO Global Community Organization (the Organization) provides for continued community discussion and participation to develop and modify .ECO policies and practices.

The registry will prevent DNS resolution of .ECO names until the registrant submits information to support their compliance with the .ECO community eligibility requirements. Registrants will be required to satisfactorily complete their .ECO-profile, the central eligibility verification system. Provided that this step is completed, active DNS resolution will be enabled.

The registry will employ standard registration lifecycle mechanisms, statuses, and states such as HOLD or LOCK functions, or other existing Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) commands, in order to disallow a domain to be active when a registrant is not in compliance with the community eligibility requirements or under related community dispute resolution procedures.

ELIGIBILITY

Eligibility is limited to individuals and entities (not-for-profit, business and government) that are members of the Global Environmental Community (the Community) that meet community-recognized standards:

1. Not-for-profit environmental organizations that affirm and can provide proof on request of:
A) Accreditation by relevant UN agencies (ie, UNEP, UN Economic and Social Council) or
B) Proof of legal establishment and environmental mission⁄purpose.

2. Business entities that affirm and can provide proof on request of:
A) Membership in environmental organizations and initiatives including:
i. Organizations as in 1 A)-B) or
ii. The United Nations Global Compact or
iii. Other memberships approved by the Organization

B) Accreditation by voluntary environmental certifications, standards and reporting systems of:
i. Organizations as in 1 A)-B) or
ii. UN member states, national and sub-national governmental bodies and entities or
iii. The International Organization for Standardization or
iv. Other certification, standards and reporting systems approved by the Organization

3. Governments, including environment-related departments and initiatives of UN member states, national and sub-national governmental bodies, and UN bodies

4. Individuals that affirm and can provide proof on request of membership, financial support for, or accreditation including:
A) Organizations as in 1 A)-B) or
B) Certified environmental professional qualifications approved by the Organization or
C) Academics⁄scientists affiliated with recognized universities

Registrants holding certain environmental certifications may qualify to register for .ECO domain names without providing additional details through a .ECO-Profile. The Organization will establish the required qualifications and agreements with certifiers to enable rapid, accurate validation. Certified registrants will be promoted as such within the .ECO System.

NAME SELECTION

Community-priority: Prior to launch, the Organization will approve a list of community-priority names and with the Registry, develop a best-use plan competition. Allocated names will be donated to the winners for a defined term. All community-priority names will be reviewed biennially by the Registry against their use plans (eg, Forest, Finance).

Platform Names: Registry will reserve a list of names that may be useful to the .ECO System like industry sectors, environmental issues, nouns with environmental significance and other names deemed useful to the Registry’s implementation of .ECO (eg, Council, Community) for allocation in a manner to be determined by the Organization.

Auction-able: Registry will publish a list of remaining names available for auction during sunrise. Funds generated from these names will be used to support the Registry and Organization.

CONTENT⁄USE

Registrants must comply with the .ECO Purpose and Principles and provide accurate information in their .ECO-profiles.

Applicants must complete a .ECO-profile that includes a series of mandatory and voluntary questions about commitments, memberships, certification, reporting and other activities undertaken in support of Community goals.

Responses will form a .ECO-profile webpage that will be added to a public online database called the .ECO System. Registrant .ECO-profiles will be linked to the registrant’s .ECO domain via a .ECO logo trust-mark.

The Organization will develop a process to establish, regularly review, and update the .ECO-profile Registrant questions.

The types of .ECO use will be not-for-profit, business, individual, government, and product.

Controversial Names: Organization will develop a method to flag controversial strings based on: existing public policy, community recommendations; industry sector and green-washing watch-lists; and research⁄surveys. Controversial names will not be automatically blocked but registrants selecting flagged names will be notified that registration will be subject to additional scrutiny.

.ECO-profiles: Registry, in consultation with Organization, will develop a set of review guidelines to maximize .ECO System accuracy and to ensure compliance with the .ECO eligibility requirements. Registry will report annually on review process and results to the Organization.

To use a .ECO domain name a registrant must sign a Registrant Agreement that explains the actions they will need to take in support of the .ECO purpose and policies.

Registrants must review and⁄or update their .ECO-profiles at least annually. Non-compliant Registrants will be reminded by the Registry 30 and 10 days prior to the mandatory review date. Domain names with .ECO-profiles that remain non-compliant 12 months after the review date will be subject to takedown proceedings. This requirement further strengthens our rights protection and WHOIS accuracy mechanisms. See also Question 29.

Anywhere a registrant references .ECO (or Dot Eco) and⁄or the .ECO logo, the registrant’s corresponding Eco-profile URL must also be displayed (ie, as a footnote or hyperlink) as the .ECO logo must directly reference the registrant’s .ECO-profile.

Registrants must complete all mandatory .ECO-profile questions.

Registrants can indicate if the information in their .ECO-profile has been independently verified, and if so, include the verifier and validity⁄expiry dates.

ENFORCEMENT

Complaints: Every .ECO-profile will have a report abuse link where a complaint can be submitted about that registrant to the Registry. The Registry will evaluate complaints against the Registrant Agreement and decide whether and how to take action.

Where the registrant, Registry or Organization sees no clear resolution, the case may be referred to a dispute resolution process. The Registry, in keeping with the principles of improvement and inclusivity, will work with the registrant through the process to reach a mutually agreeable solution on behalf of the Community.

Where complaints are not addressed to the satisfaction of Registry and Organization, the registrant’s domain name may be suspended and⁄or taken down.

Complaints submitted by verified Community member registrants will be given priority over the general public. The Registry will review the number and nature of complaints about a registrant when considering suspension and take-down measures.

Dispute Resolution Process: Registry will support a Community Eligibility Dispute Resolution Process (CEDRP) aligned with the Accountability Policy described in the .ECO Policy Consensus. The CEDRP can be initiated by .ECO community member or the general public to address alleged violations of .ECO member policies or operating requirements by a registrant or registrar. Complaints will be first be addressed between the Registry, or a dispute resolution party contracted by the Registry, and the relevant Registrant. If not resolved to the satisfaction of the registrant, the registrant may pay a fee to seek the recommendation of an independent mediator or arbiter approved by the Registry. If not resolved to the satisfaction of the Registry, the Registry may choose to refer the dispute to the Organization for a final decision.

Comments on .ECO-profiles: .ECO-profiles are tools used to confirm Community membership and eligibility. Every .ECO-profile to have a public comment forum and the registrant whose .ECO domain name is associated with an .ECO-profile will have the right to moderate comments on their profile. Registrants may post comments about .ECO-profiles to relevant Platform Name pages. The Organization will establish and regularly review recommended moderation ⁄ commenting guidelines, including handling malicious comments.

Community Comment Forum: Registry will implement a .ECO community comment ⁄ debate forum for members to interact with each-other, the Registry and the Organization

Take-Down Process: For Registrants found to be in breach of the .ECO Registrant Agreement: receipt of a 60 day email notice to come into compliance and⁄or opt for dispute resolution, if no action, domain to be suspended for 60 days, if remains non-compliant, domain to be taken down by the Registry.

Transparency: Registry process for evaluating and resolving complaints and results of disputes will be made public. An Annual report of all complaints and actions taken will be made to the Organization.

Controversial Names: Registry mechanisms for community enforcement include: reporting controversial names, implementation of complaints, dispute resolution, takedown mechanisms per the Accountability Policy, and the right to take down names and sites that it or the Organization deem to be in breach of the .ECO Purpose and Registrant Agreement.

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