At the
February 18 Special Meeting of the ICANN Board, the sTLD application for
.CAT was allowed to proceed to the negotiation stage. From the minutes posted recently on the ICANN website:
.CAT sTLD Approval to Enter Negotiations
Kurt Pritz introduced the .CAT application materials, evaluator's responses and the applicant's supplemental materials. There was extensive board discussion regarding the application. Following this discussion, Vint Cerf moved for a vote on approval the resolutions as set out below, seconding was simultaneously offered by Mouhamet Diop, Veni Markovski, and Michael D. Palage. The resolution was the following:
Resolved [05.__] the Board authorizes the President and General Counsel to enter into negotiations relating to proposed commercial and technical terms for the .CAT sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) with the applicant, in conjunction with consultation with the appropriate governmental authorities.
Resolved [05.__] if after entering into negotiations with the .CAT sTLD applicant the President and General Counsel are able to negotiate a set of proposed commercial and technical terms for a contractual arrangement, the President shall present such proposed terms to this board, for approval and authorization to enter into an agreement relating to the delegation of the sTLD.
This resolution was approved by the Board by a roll call vote of 10-2, with one abstention. The following Board Members voted affirmatively: Raimundo Beca, Vint Cerf, Mouhamet Diop, Hagen Hultzsch, Joichi Ito, Veni Markovski, Michael D. Palage, Hualin Qian, Vanda Scartezini and Paul Twomey. Alejandro Pisanty and Thomas Niles voted against the resolution. Demi Getschko abstained from voting. Njeri Rionge and Peter Dengate Thrush were not present for the vote.
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At the same meeting, the Board tabled a resolution on .ASIA.