The Independent Review Process (IRP) of ICANN's decision to remove price caps on gTLDs .ORG and .INFO has been completed. Previously, in these domain zones, the maximum possible cost of registration was set, but in 2019, contracts with the registries of these domains were renegotiated, and the clause setting price limits was removed from the new agreement.
It cannot be said that this came as a surprise: the ICANN org has repeatedly stated that it is not a price regulator and does not intend to perform these functions. She even initiated a public discussion of draft new contracts with .ORG and .INFO. However, most representatives of the domain community were in favor of maintaining the restrictions, fearing that their abolition could lead to an uncontrolled increase in prices, which would negatively affect registrants - especially in the .ORG domain, addressed mainly to non-profit and charitable organizations.
However, new contracts have come into force. This gave reason to say that ICANN ignores the opinion of the domain community. Other problems were also found: for example, a change in the terms of the contract had to be approved by the corporation's board, but there are no official documents confirming this in the case of the .ORG domain, and it is not known whether the board even considered this issue. Domain registrar Namecheap took note of these and other violations and initiated an IRP.
Its results, reported by the Domain Incite, can be considered half-hearted. On the one hand, the panel of independent experts acknowledged that the contract revisions were carried out in violation of ICANN's internal rules and policies. In addition, the panel drew attention to the abuse of confidentiality and the apparent lack of transparency in the decision-making process. At the same time, all decisions of the IRP are non-binding, but advisory in nature: ICANN is invited to analyze and discuss these violations. Thus, further actions depend on the corporation itself, and there is definitely no talk of returning price restrictions in the .ORG and .INFO domain zones at least in the near future.
However, Namecheap can still consider itself the winner of the dispute. If only because the panel of experts decided: ICANN will have to pay the costs of the IRP procedure. The amount is $841,894.76, of which $58,750 is reimbursement for expenses incurred by Namecheap.
