The independent objector designated by the ICANN has lodged 24 objections against new applied-for gTLDs before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

The role of this objector, impartial and independent, is limited to filing objections on the grounds of limited public interest and/or community objections. His role is not to act in favor of private interests.

A community objection must be backed by a significant portion of the community that the gTLD string explicitly or implicitly targets. Before filing such an objection, the independent objector has take various factors into consideration such as level of public recognition of the community, its length and the number of people it is composed of.

Regarding limited public interest objections, the concerned applied-for gTLD string must be contrary to generally accepted legal norms of morality and public order that are recognized under fundamental principles of international law, which are the following:

  • Incitement to or promotion of violent lawless action ;
  • Incitement to or promotion of discrimination based upon race, color, gender, ethnicity, religion or national origin, or other similar types of discrimination that violate generally accepted legal norms recognized under principles of international law ;
  • Incitement to or promotion of child pornography or other sexual abuse of children ;
  • Determination that an applied-for gTLD string would be contrary to specific principles of international law as reflected in relevant international instruments of law.

Here are the 24 objections

gTDL string Applicant
Community objections
.Amazon Amazon EU S.à r.l.
.アマゾン[Amazon] Amazon EU S.à r.l.
.亚马逊[Amazon] Amazon EU S.à r.l.
.Charity Corn Lake, LLC
.Charity Spring Registry Limited
.慈善 [Charity] Excellent First Limited
.Healthcare Silver Glen, LLC
.Hospital Ruby Pike, LLC
.Indians Reliance Industries Limited
.Med Charleston Road Registry Inc.
.Med Medistry LLC
.Medical Steel Hill, LLC
.Patagonia Patagonia, Inc.
Limited public interest objections
.Health Afilias Limited
.Health dot Health Limited
.Health DotHealth, LLC
.Health Goose Fest, LLC
.Healthcare Silver Glen, LLC
.Hospital Ruby Pike, LLC
.Med Charleston Road Registry Inc.
.Med DocCheck AG
.Med HEXAP SAS
.Med Medistry LLC
.Medical Steel Hill, LLC

The ICC will conduct an administrative review of each objection and the objector will be asked to correct any formal deficiency.

Each applicant will be notified by the ICC when an objection has been filed against its string. It will be invited to file a response. If an applicant, such as Amazon, faces several objections, it will have to file a response for each string, it will not be possible to file a single response for several objections. A non refundable tax of 5000€ applies when the response is filed. If the applicant does not reply to the objection, it will be in default and will automatically lose the case.

Then, the ICC experts will render their decisions. To be continued…