Internet Commerce Association (ICA), which represents the interests of domain investors and domain name registrants, has issued a statement in connection with the heated public debate regarding the increase in prices in gTLD .COM. As is known, the Cooperative Agreement between the US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and Verisign, which determines the procedure for managing the .COM domain, previously provided for a ban on price increases. It was canceled when President Trump came to power, and the registry received the right to increase prices for 4 of the 6 years of the new contract. Since then, Verisign has been regularly using this right, and in a few days, prices will increase for the fourth time in a row.
In July, several human rights organizations appealed to NTIA with a call not to renew the Cooperative Agreement with Verisign and to put the right to manage the .COM domain zone up for competition. The gist of their speech was that market mechanisms would either facilitate the arrival of a company that would not raise prices to manage the domain, or force the Verisign registry itself to moderate its appetites. Later, this position was partially supported by several members of the US House of Representatives. As a result, NTIA nevertheless extended the agreement with Verisign, but announced that it would initiate a discussion of pricing issues.
The ICA's voice in this discussion can have serious weight, and many were waiting for the Association to state its position. Now this has finally happened, and the position fully meets the expectations of domain investors and registrants. As reported by Domain Incite, the ICA has spoken out in favor of limiting prices in the .COM domain. “We believe that it in the absence of actual competitive market forces determining price, it is crucial that an economic study be conducted to determine what a reasonable price would be for .com registrations, having regard to the costs of operating the .com registry on behalf of ICANN while also taking into consideration the need to make a reasonable profit from the exclusive license. As a trade association focused on Internet commerce, although we are generally uncomfortable with determining prices by any method other than via a competitive marketplace, this method is the next best thing in the circumstances,” the ICA said in a statement.
