IDN Variant TLD Implementation

Communities using certain scripts, such as Arabic and Han, have identified that Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) labels may have variant labels. However, the ICANN Board resolved on 25 September 2010 that "no variants of gTLDs will be delegated ... until appropriate variant management solutions are developed." Subsequent work by ICANN organization and the community led to the identification of two issues: (i) there is no accepted definition for variant TLDs, and (ii) there is no 'variant management' mechanism for TLDs.

The first issue is addressed by the Root Zone Label Generation Rules (RZ-LGR) Project. To address the second issue, ICANN organization is working with the community to develop mechanisms for IDN variant TLD implementation.

ICANN organization has developed a set of recommendations and supporting documentation on mechanism for implementing IDN variant TLDs. These documents were finalized after the public comment and have been approved by the board.

1. IDN Variant TLD Implementation – Executive Summary
2. IDN Variant TLD Implementation – Motivation, Premises and Framework
3. IDN Variant TLD Implementation – Recommendations and Analysis
4. IDN Variant TLD Implementation – Rationale for RZ-LGR
5. IDN Variant TLD Implementation – Risks and their Mitigation
6. IDN Variant TLD Implementation – Appendices (A: Definitions, B: Use of ROID, C: Limiting Allocated Variant TLDs)

Please contact IDNProgram@icann.org for any inquiries about the variant management mechanisms for IDN variant TLDs.