ICANN Board of Directors Chair Steve Crocker addressed management of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO). The issue is whether it is possible to start accepting applications for the new domains under the New gTLD program sooner. Earlier in May Akram Atallah, head of ICANN's Global Domain Division, said that the next round would highly unlikely start sooner than 2020.
The problem is that different ICANN working groups, committees and commissions haven't yet finished their reports on the first round of the New gTLDs program, analyzing flaws, etc. Their approval and development of all necessary measures taking into account the experience of the first round is the condition for the start of the next round. However, the amount of work that has to be done is huge. Moreover, critics have many times stated that ICANN's committees and commissions are far from being fast.
However, Steve Crocker asks whether it is possible to finish the work on the reports and start accepting new applications at the same time. He asks GNSO executives whether there are any «critical issues» that can prevent this and that have to be dealt with before the ICANN begins to accept applications. Thus, ICANN management demonstrates clear interest in launching the next round of the New gTLD program as soon as possible.
