[Chapter-delegates] IRP decision on ICANN's lifing of price cap on .org

[Caleb Olumuyiwa Ogundele]

Hi Richard,

Namecheap also put out a statement on this.  It will be nice to take a look
at both views.

*NameCheap's Statement
<https://www.namecheap.com/blog/namecheap-vs-icann-removal-of-price-caps-for-org-and-info-found-improper/>*
https://www.namecheap.com/blog/namecheap-vs-icann-removal-of-price-caps-for-org-and-info-found-improper/


I also gathered that the ICANN board of directors at the weekend voted
<https://www.icann.org/en/board-activities-and-meetings/materials/approved-resolutions-regular-meeting-of-the-icann-board-21-01-2023-en#section2.b>
to
ask its Board Accountability Mechanisms Committee (BAMC) to “review,
consider, and evaluate” the IRP decision and recommend the next steps.

https://www.icann.org/en/board-activities-and-meetings/materials/approved-resolutions-regular-meeting-of-the-icann-board-21-01-2023-en#section2.b

We are following the output of the BAMC keenly.



*Caleb OgundeleISOC, Nigeria Chapter*muyiwacaleb at gmail.com


On Wed, Jan 25, 2023 at 10:51 AM Richard Hill via Chapter-delegates <
chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org> wrote:

> An ICANN Independent Review Panel (IRP) has found that “ICANN’s action
> with respect to the Price Cap Decision [removing price caps for “.org” and
> “.info”] was inconsistent with Sections 1.2(a), 1.2(b), 2.1, 3.1, 3.4, 3.5,
> and 3.6(a) of the Bylaws and Article III of the Articles of Incorporation.”
> (Paragraph 505 of the decision)
>
>
>
> The decision is at:
>
>
>
>
> https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/irp-namecheap-icann-final-declaration-redacted-23dec22-en.pdf
>
>
>
> Paragraphs 372 and above, regarding lack of transparency, may be of
> particular interest to those who participated in discussions regarding
> ISOC’s proposal to sell “.org”.
>
>
>
> And also the following recommendations:
>
>
>
> “494. With regard to the 2019 Registry Agreements for .ORG and .INFO, the
> fundamental issue is that ICANN does not appear to have given sufficient
> consideration to the strong public opposition to removal of price controls,
> especially as to .ORG. While ICANN may have discussed and considered this
> issue internally, ICANN’s public explanation of its decision did not
> specifically explain why it concluded that price caps were no longer
> needed, or take into account any market power that .ORG may have in its
> particular niche of the domain market.
>
>
>
> 495. ICANN’s lack of a detailed public explanation was exacerbated by its
> assertion of the attorney-client privilege as to almost all of its internal
> documents. The result is that there is virtually no documentary record of
> ICANN’s internal deliberations or why ICANN decided that price controls
> were no longer needed. As discussed above, the Panel has decided not to
> address the precise extent of any obligation to maintain a non-privileged
> record, but has serious concerns on this subject.
>
> …
>
> 500. Third, as discussed above, the Panel finds that the evidence that
> price controls should be retained is much stronger for .ORG than for .INFO,
> given that .ORG is an original gTLD with a much larger number of DUMs, and
> serves a special market focused on not-for-profit organizations. Thus,
> while the ICANN Board should consider what remedial measures to take as to
> both .ORG and .INFO, the measures for .ORG may be stronger and more
> extensive than for .INFO.
>
> …
>
> 502. Fifth, if the Board concludes that some form of price controls for
> .ORG and/or .INFO are in the global public interest, the Panel recommends
> that ICANN seek to amend the 2019 Registry Agreements to include
> appropriate price controls. The registry operator of .ORG has publicly
> represented that it will not raise prices unreasonably, so it presumably
> would be willing to agree to some form of price controls. The registry
> operator for .INFO may also be willing to agree to price controls, given
> that prices do not appear to have increased by more than what would have
> been allowed under the prior price control provisions.”
>
>
>
> The full case file is at:
>
>
>
> https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/irp-namecheap-v-icann-2020-03-03-en
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Richard
>
>
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-- 
*Caleb Ogundele*
Mobile: +1-204-558-6904
Email: muyiwacaleb at gmail.com
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