The annual in-person meeting of Regional Coordination Group for Universal Acceptance of the CIS and Eastern Europe was held on September 4 ahead of the start of the 17th International Conference of Registries and Registrars of ccTLD of the CIS, Central and Eastern Europe (TLDCON 2024). The meeting was attended by representatives of registrars and registries of IDN top-level domains (national and generic) of Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Russia (.РФ, .SU, .МОСКВА, СПБ.РФ, .ДЕТИ), an ICANN representative, and industry experts.
At the meeting, the participants discussed current issues of UASG (Universal Acceptance Steering Group) management, including changes in the activities of UASG and its structures that occurred in 2024. The group members made their proposals for organizing a regional conference and local events as part of the global Universal Acceptance Day next year (March - May 2025).
The meeting participants also focused on planning events to implement Universal Acceptance in software in the region: a software study to assess the level of support for IDN and EAI. The participants discussed the list of software selected for the study and details of the research methodology.
In addition, the meeting participants continued to work together on the draft document "Recommendations for Working with Various Stakeholders on Issues of Implementing Universal Acceptance."
"The group members are experts from different countries in our region, so we try to organize a face-to-face meeting once a year. This year, we chose the TLDCON platform, which brings together experts in different fields who are well acquainted with the domain topics and the problems of Universal Acceptance. During the face-to-face meeting, the group members exchanged information on the current state of affairs in the area of implementing support for domains and email addresses in their national languages in local software, shared achievements and plans for further promotion of universal acceptance in their countries, and outlined joint actions in this direction,” Maria Kolesnikova, Chair of the Regional Coordination Group for Universal Acceptance of the CIS and Eastern Europe, said.
