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Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) Review

The Board took action on 12 June 2022 to defer the Third Review of the Country Code Names Supporting Organization. See the Board resolution here.

ccNSO Review Wiki Workspace Page
Find the latest status updates, recordings of past meetings, and opportunities to participate		 Introduction to Reviews
Learn more about Reviews, their purpose and process for conducting and opportunities to participate

The Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) is responsible for developing global policies for country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLD), promoting consensus within the ccNSO community and coordinating with other Supporting Organizations, committees and constituencies.  For more information on the ccNSO, click here.

ccNSO Organization Review

The goal of the review, to be undertaken pursuant to such criteria and standards as the Board shall direct, shall be to determine (i) whether that organization, council or committee has a continuing purpose in the ICANN structure, (ii) if so, whether any change in structure or operations is desirable to improve its effectiveness and (iii) whether that organization, council or committee is accountable to its constituencies, stakeholder groups, organizations and other stakeholders.

These periodic reviews shall be conducted no less frequently than every five years, based on feasibility as determined by the Board. Each five-year cycle will be computed from the moment of the reception by the Board of the final report of the relevant review Working Group.

The graphic below illustrates phases and status of each review - a  indicates that all activities within a given phase have been completed.  The chart that follows the graphic provides further details of key activities and milestones within each phase – you can view these details by clicking on each of the phases in the graphic.  The table also contains links to relevant documents.

ccNSO2

ccNSO2
PhaseActivityDescriptionStart DateDocuments
Plan ReviewReview DeferralPublic Comment to Defer Country Code Names Supporting Organization Review6 Apr 2017
Deferral of Second ReviewDeferral of the Second Review of the Country Code Name Supporting Organization (ccNSO)23 Sep 2017
Call for VolunteersCall for Volunteers for ccNSO Review Working Party Announcement19 Feb 2018
Initiate ReviewBoard Resolution Initiating the Second Review of the Country Code Names Supporting Organization15 Mar 2018
Request for Proposal for Independent ExaminerAnnouncement of Independent Examiner Request for Proposals26 Apr 2018
Conduct ReviewSelection of Independent ExaminerAnnouncement of selection of Independent Examiner31 Aug 2018
Review Survey Posted for Community InputSurvey launched to collect input from those who have interacted with ccNSO27 Nov 2018
Extension of Review Survey Deadline extended for ccNSO review survey for community input19 Dec 2018
Assessment Report Published Independent Examiner published Assessment Report of the ccNSO5 Apr 2019
Draft Final ReportDraft Final Report: ccNSO Review Assessment & Recommendations 14 Jun 2019
Public comment on Draft Final ReportDraft Final Report public comment of second review of the ccNSO17 Jun 2019
Final ReportFinal Report: ccNSO Review Assessment & Recommendations 29 Aug 2019
Board receipt and action on the Final ReportAcceptance of the Final Report on the Second Organizational Review of the ccNSO and Initiation of Bylaws Amendment Process28 Oct 2021
Plan ImplementationFeasibility Assessment & Initial Implementation PlanccNSO Review Feasibility Assessment & Initial Implementation Plan7 Jul 2020
Request for InformationLetter from OEC to ccNSO Chair requesting additional information9 Dec 2020
Response to Request for InformationLetter from ccNSO Chair responding to the OEC's request for additional information26 Feb 2021
Response to ccNSOResponse to Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) Council Letter from 26 February 202113 May 2021
Implement ImprovementsBoard Accepts Feasibility AssessmentBoard accepts Feasibility Assessment, acknowledges the implementation work and accepts the status of implementation of recommendations28 Oct 2021
Standard Operating ProceduresDeferral of Third ccNSO ReviewDeferral of the Third ccNSO Review (ccNSO3)12 Jun 2022

ccNSO1

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Domain Name System
Internationalized Domain Name ,IDN,"IDNs are domain names that include characters used in the local representation of languages that are not written with the twenty-six letters of the basic Latin alphabet ""a-z"". An IDN can contain Latin letters with diacritical marks, as required by many European languages, or may consist of characters from non-Latin scripts such as Arabic or Chinese. Many languages also use other types of digits than the European ""0-9"". The basic Latin alphabet together with the European-Arabic digits are, for the purpose of domain names, termed ""ASCII characters"" (ASCII = American Standard Code for Information Interchange). These are also included in the broader range of ""Unicode characters"" that provides the basis for IDNs. The ""hostname rule"" requires that all domain names of the type under consideration here are stored in the DNS using only the ASCII characters listed above, with the one further addition of the hyphen ""-"". The Unicode form of an IDN therefore requires special encoding before it is entered into the DNS. The following terminology is used when distinguishing between these forms: A domain name consists of a series of ""labels"" (separated by ""dots""). The ASCII form of an IDN label is termed an ""A-label"". All operations defined in the DNS protocol use A-labels exclusively. The Unicode form, which a user expects to be displayed, is termed a ""U-label"". The difference may be illustrated with the Hindi word for ""test"" — परीका — appearing here as a U-label would (in the Devanagari script). A special form of ""ASCII compatible encoding"" (abbreviated ACE) is applied to this to produce the corresponding A-label: xn--11b5bs1di. A domain name that only includes ASCII letters, digits, and hyphens is termed an ""LDH label"". Although the definitions of A-labels and LDH-labels overlap, a name consisting exclusively of LDH labels, such as""icann.org"" is not an IDN."