We've been invited by ICANN to contract!

TLD Registry is proud to announce to our many stakeholders and supporters that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers -- ICANN -- has at long last invited us to enter into the Registry Agreement contracting phase. This is the final big step towards the essential new Chinese TLDs to go live.

ICANN has determined that our application for Dot Chinese Online (number 1-1940-42600)  has passed Initial Evaluation, is not currently in a contention set, does not have an unresolved objection filed against it, is for a string that is not referenced in the Governmental Advisory Committee's Beijing Communique, and is not currently subject to a change request*.

So what happens next?

Well, the next step will be that we will receive the Communications Information Request from ICANN, which we'll return to them, completed with pro-forma information, right away. After that, we will enter a short period of negotiation and shortly thereafter, we'll be on the final straightforward steps of our five year journey to make the Chinese web more accessible to Chinese netizens.

Dot Chinese Online will available soon!

Post written by Simon Cousins, TLD Registry communications director.

* "Is not subject to a change request (a) for which ICANN has not yet approved or denied the requested changes and (b) for which the 30 day public comment period following posting of the amended application has not yet expired."