.nrw Pre-Register Domain - .nrw Domain Information

Mission
The Internet name space is becoming increasingly overcrowded and reasonable or relevant domain names for registrants and registrants' businesses are scarce goods. Germany especially, as one of the healthiest economies worldwide, will profit from the expansion of the gTLD market, as the German ccTLD, .DE, is the most sought-after top-level domain of its kind (www.denic.de/en/background/statistics/international-domain-statistics/). Almost 15 million domain names are already registered under the .DE top-level domain, meaning most of the desired domain names are already registered or priced at levels unaffordable for most. The new geographic top-level domain .NRW for the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia will cater to the need for a stronger online presence of the region for the benefit of its population and businesses.
The goal of the .NRW top-level domain is to establish itself as the recognized choice for registrants who want to market and promote themselves and their websites to, and reach, the Internet-using public, for business, political, personal or any other purpose, through an association with the state of North Rhine-Westphalia; and, as the recognized top level domain name for Internet consumers to look for, to know which people, businesses, information sources or other online resource associates themselves with North Rhine-Westphalia or are trying to communicate with them.

DEMOGRAPHICS AND KEY FIGURES
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populated and, at the same time, most densely populated state in Germany, with 17,8 million inhabitants. 36% of Germany's large cities (29 out of 80) are located in the region of North Rhine-Westphalia. North Rhine-Westphalia has the highest GDP--543 billion in 2010--in Germany and therefore is one of the economic and industrial centers of the nation (http://www.nrwinvest.com/NRW_at_a_glance/index.php). This number accounts for more than 20% of Germany's total GDP. North Rhine-Westphalia's purchasing power also ranks amongst the highest in Germany, which makes it a highly desirable place for business (http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article13763660/Hier-leben-die-kaufkraeftigsten-Deutschen.html).

74,4% of North Rhine-Westphalia's population (as of 2011) uses the internet on a regular basis, with a strong upward tendency, making a geographic top-level domain for the region, such as .NRW, ever more important (www.initiatived21.de/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/NOnliner2011.pdf).

PURPOSE & MISSION
The company aims to offer the people, businesses and organizations of North Rhine-Westphalia, as the most populated state in Germany, the chance to associate themselves, their products or services with North-Rhine Westphalia.

The specific purpose of the .NRW gTLD is to:

- Provide all those interested, who are from or have any relation to North Rhine-Westphalia, with a convenient and recognizable domain name that associates them and/or their information with the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

- Provide all those interested, who are from or have any relation to North Rhine-Westphalia, a means of disseminating or seeking information about the issues, news, culture, lifestyle, entertainment, sports or any other topic having to do with North Rhine-Westphalia.

- Assist all those interested, who are from or have any relation to North Rhine-Westphalia, in selling or purchasing goods or services of any kind, or providing information, with a convenient and recognizable domain name that associates them and/or their goods or services with North Rhine-Westphalia.

- Provide a top-level domain name that provides an identifiable means of communicating with people, organizations and businesses that associate or identify with North Rhine-Westphalia.

- Provide the Internet-using individual, who is from or has any relation to North Rhine-Westphalia, with an additional choice of available domain names at a competitive price.

The mission of .NRW is:

- The promotion of North Rhine-Westphalia, its issues, causes, interests, perspectives, positions, policies, supporters and admirers by making domain names ending in .NRW available to all those who are from or have a relationship to North Rhine-Westphalia, who may want to use such .NRW domain names for their own political, business, personal or other legal purposes.

- The promotion of North Rhine Westphalia by having information of any and all types and for any and all legal purposes available and disseminated from websites and email addresses ending in .NRW for the registrants' and users' own purposes having a relationship to North Rhine-Westphalia.

- The promotion of North Rhine-Westphalia by allowing businesses, not-for-profits and individuals with a relationship to North Rhine-Westphalia to associate their products, services, information and selves with North Rhine-Westphalia.

- To allow people and organizations from or with a relationship with North Rhine-Westphalia, to promote their association or identification with North Rhine-Westphalia on the Internet and in emails.

- To provide an identifiable means for people, organizations and businesses from or with a relationship to North Rhine-Westphalia, to communicate with those who associate or identify with North Rhine-Westphalia.

- To increase the number of people and organizations from or with a relationship to North Rhine-Westphalia that publicly identify themselves via the Internet with North Rhine-Westphalia through their use of .NRW domain names and email accounts by making such .NRW domain names affordable and readily available (subject to compliance with the rules governing .NRW discussed elsewhere in this Application).

PUBLIC BENEFIT
.NRW will be of high social and economic relevance for the region of North Rhine-Westphalia, and hence create value for the state's strong economy and population. It will also provide transparency for Internet users about .NRW domain holders' relationship to the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The .NRW top-level domain will create a common online identity for North Rhine-Westphalia and its metropolitan regions and large cities, whilst promoting the state in a positive manner.

The implementation and operation of the .NRW top-level domain will take place in accordance and cooperation with government of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The government of North Rhine-Westphalia fully supports the implementation and operation of the .NRW top-level domain. The government, like us, strongly believes in the benefits of the .NRW top-level domain, for the population as well as the economy of North Rhine-Westphalia. Therefore the government endorses our application to manage and operate the .NRW top-level domain in all respects. The implementation of the .NRW top-level domain shall be carried out in close cooperation with the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

REGISTRANT BENEFIT
Over the past decade, the market for domain name registrations has grown at a tremendous pace. From 2000 to 2010 domain name registrations increased from 40 million to 200 million domain names registered globally. 2011 experienced a growth of approximately 9%, significantly higher than the previous year's 6% growth, ending third quarter 2011 with approximately 220 million domain names registered globally. Approximately 60% of these are gTLDs, while the remaining 40% are comprised of ccTLDs. More specifically, gTLD growth was approximately 8% in 2011, while ccTLD growth exceeded 11%.

Taking into account the new opportunities available with new gTLDs, growth is expected to continue in all sections of the domain name industry. It will allow registrants to reach more targeted audiences and increase their web presence. Additionally, it will allow registrants to more closely identify with a particular market segment.

Existing TLDs, such as .COM and .NET, do not provide adequate solutions for many registrants. Domain names that relate to the registrants' business, interests, or associations are often already registered, priced exorbitantly high, or available options are unsuitable. Additionally, other options, such as ccTLDs, do not provide adequate alternatives, as a registrant may not have any geographic relation or meet the criteria associated with other gTLDs such as .MUSEUM or .AERO. Therefore, the only available opportunity to pursue a relevant and useful domain name registration may be through a brand new registration of a gTLD.

At present, no specific NRW domain name, or useful top-level alternative domain name, exists for the people, organizations and businesses that associate themselves with North Rhine-Westphalia, or people, organizations and business that want to communicate with them. Those wanting a domain name that indicates some level of association with or recognition of North Rhine-Westphalia could seek a second level domain name such as ".COM," ".DE" or ".INFO," but such domain (or similar names) are not readily available under the limited number of existing gTLDs, and more importantly only provide a secondary (at best) or weak (at worst) relationship between the domain name and North Rhine-Westphalia, which we believe would be the primary goal of registrants of such North Rhine-Westphalia-related names. From a competitive perspective, registrants that want a domain name that effectively and efficiently shows an association with North Rhine-Westphalia, or registrants that want a domain name that allows them to identifiably communicate with people who associate or identify with North Rhine-Westphalia, face a domain name marketplace that provides them with few if any options for their purposes. The .NRW top-level domain will resolve this problem by providing registrants with an efficient, effective, prominent, instantly understood way of showing their association with the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and provide those registrants who desire it a domain that can effectively communicate information to Internet users in an identifiable way, while at the same time providing competition with the existing TLDs and new gTLDs that will be approved by ICANN, thereby increasing consumer choice.

We believe that the .NRW top-level domain will add significantly to the competition and differentiation in the top-level domain space, both for registrants and Internet consumers. With respect to competition, registrants are presently extremely limited in their choice of domain names that allow them to efficiently and effectively associate themselves with North Rhine-Westphalia. The availability of useful, effective, straight-forward domain names on existing top-level domains, such as .COM, .NET and .ORG, are few and far between, or may be for sale at prices that are out of reach for most. .NRW will allow registrants to obtain useful, effective, straight-forward domain names rather than be forced to purchase, for example, their fifth, sixth or even later choice .COM or .NET name, which may well barely relate to the registrant's purpose or use of the domain name and/or may be confusingly similar with numerous other .COM or .NET domain names. In addition, some existing generic top-level domain names, though newer, such as .XXX, may be inappropriate for most registrants for content associational reasons, while country-code top-level domains, though numerous, are not useful or appropriate for many registrants for geographical associational reasons. Thus, .NRW will increase competition for registrants that are from or have a relationship to North Rhine-Westphalia who want a domain name that clearly, effectively and efficiently associates them with North Rhine-Westphalia for their domain name purposes as well as for those registrants who want to reach Internet users who identify with North Rhine-Westphalia.

.NRW will also increase pricing competition in the top-level domain name space by assuring that .NRW domain names are priced at levels that are appropriate to the vast majority of potential registrants to whom .NRW is targeted.

INTERNET USER BENEFIT
Internet consumers benefit from this increase in competition, as less confusing .NRW domain names will make it easier for them to know that the owner of the second-level domain name is from or with a relationship to North Rhine-Westphalia.

Likewise, .NRW will significantly help increase differentiation in the top-level domain space. Existing leading generic top-level domains names, such as .COM, .NET and .ORG no longer require and no longer represent any real differentiation in association, purpose or content. Newer top level domains, such as .XXX, .AERO and .MUSEUM, do represent differentiation, but are either inappropriate or unavailable to most prospective registrants at whom .NRW is targeted. .NRW will further increase differentiation by allowing registrants to be associated, and consumers to know that the registrant is associated with North Rhine-Westphalia.

The goal of .NRW is to provide users with a top-level domain name that easily allows them to recognize that the registrant seeks to have its second-level domain name (and content) associated with North Rhine-Westphalia. We believe this will be of substantial benefit to the Internet user community, as it will allow them to more easily and more readily understand the purpose or motives of the registrant's website or email, allowing for better, more efficient and more effective use of their time online.

OUTREACH AND COMMUNICATIONS
Outreach to targeted potential registrants will be important to .NRW achieving its projected benefits by allowing it to cost-effectively and quickly market to the most likely potential registrants, and to promote the ways in which .NRW will allow them to associate themselves with the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and how their association with .NRW helps further their interest and that of North Rhine Westphalia. To achieve this outreach, we intend to leverage our existing relationships with groups with an association with North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as engage in advertising, promotion, social media outreach, and other methods of reaching potential registrants, that are from have a relationship with North Rhine-Westphalia. .NRW believes that outreach to people and organizations that already identify with North Rhine-Westphalia will give it the best chance of launching the top-level domain as strongly as possible, giving it the best chance of long-term viability, and thus the best chance of providing its projected benefits to registrants of a positive association with North Rhine-Westphalia, while at the same time promoting North Rhine-Westphalia.

Communications will help .NRW keep in touch with its registrants, to understand how they would like to see .NRW develop, and to understand how we can improve our policies, registration rules, or other aspects of our operations or administration.

We plan to minimize social costs primarily through clearly written, widely disseminated, and easy-to-understand policies. Our Acceptable Use Policy clearly delineates unacceptable behavior and prohibited content by registrants using domain names in the .NRW zone.

This applicant, like most organizations, takes its good reputation seriously. We are fully cognizant, for example, that artistic, political, economic and social issues, all of which can be associated with .NRW, often provoke heated debate and are at times controversial. However, we recognize and support the free speech rights of both registrants and Internet users as fundamental rights, and believe that such free speech rights are important to the success of the .NRW business plan. We also acknowledge that any plan to stifle free speech would be more harmful to .NRW's reputation and business success than any attempt by us to govern speech. That said, to protect .NRW's reputation and the associational benefits it offers registrants and Internet consumers, we will actively promote and enforce our Acceptable Use and Abuse Prevention policies and procedures, which we believe will effectively combat improper or unlawful unprotected speech and online conduct. We believe that these mechanisms will be effective in assuring the reputation of the .NRW top-level domain, its registrants, and Internet Users, as well as the public.

The company will implement a registration policy for the .NRW top-level domain in the interest of the North Rhine-Westphalian population and its government. Only Internet users from or with a relationship to North Rhine-Westphalia (e.g. a place of business or residence) can register their own .NRW top-level domain. The .NRW top-level domain is targeted solely at the North Rhine-Westphalian business community and population. Nevertheless the registration procedure will be done in a transparent and non-discriminatory way.

This intention ensures the accomplishment of our goal to support the population, organizations and businesses of North Rhine-Westphalia. At the same time, Internet users will gain the certainty that the content, product or service offered on the website has a close relationship to North Rhine-Westphalia.

Another goal of .NRW in terms of user experience is to protect third-party rights and to prevent abusive uses. We intend to achieve this goal by crafting our Naming Policy, Acceptable Use Policy, and other policies to be readily understandable and easily accessible, and by making sure that our mechanisms for enforcing rights and preventing abuse (such as our Complaint Resolution Service) operate effectively, efficiently, and fairly, as well as by ensuring that they work symbiotically with other ICANN-mandated rights protection mechanisms such as the UDRP.

We have crafted a draft framework for registration of .NRW domains that fully support the goals, mission and purposes set forth above. Our draft registration framework is based on advice from ICANN, WIPO, applicable laws, and a variety of other expert sources. Specifically, the .NRW draft framework includes these interrelated sets of agreements setting forth our policies and regulations, all of which registrants must agree to be bound by:

- The Registrant Agreement, which registrars contracted with .NRW must present to registrants, is a collateral agreement to the Registrar Registry Agreement (detailed below), and will bind registrants to .NRW's Acceptable Use Policy (as detailed below), .NRW's Privacy & Whois Policy (detailed below), ICANN-mandated rights protection mechanisms (including the Universal Dispute Resolution Policy ("UDRP"), and the Complaint Resolution Service;
- The Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP"), which details the proper use of domain names that end in .NRW, which is incorporated by reference in the Registrant Agreement that registrants must agree to;
- The Privacy and Whois Policy, which describes how a registrant's personal data is to be used, which is also incorporated by reference in the Registrant Agreement;
- The Registrar-Registry Agreement, which is the contract between .NRW and its ICANN-accredited registrars which sets forth, inter alia, the duties and obligations of the registrar with respect to .NRW registrants and the .NRW registry; and
- The Naming Policy, which sets out .NRW's policies governing prohibited, blocked or reserved domain names.

These agreements and policies are designed to ensure transparent and non-discriminatory policies for the registration of .NRW names; fair and competitive pricing; protection of personal data and privacy; adherence by registrars and registrants to the AUP; protection of trademarks, the names of natural and legal persons and other property rights; prevention of the registration of illegal terms; and the prevention violations of the law. Moreover, our policies promote competition among registrars, combat abuse of the DNS, address cybercrime, protect intellectual property rights, and align the .NRW top-level domain with applicable regulatory and legislative environments and Internet registry best practices.

These policies will effectively support the key mission, purposes and goals of the .NRW top-level domain, which is to allow registrants that are from or have a relationship to North Rhine-Westphalia and who want to associate themselves with North Rhine-Westphalia, while at the same time protecting third-party rights and preventing abuse.

The .NRW top-level domain will be marketed to registrants that are from or have a relationship to North Rhine-Westphalia who want to associate themselves, their products, services, thoughts, ideas or anything else in a positive way with the .NRW, as well as to those who want to communicate with them in an easily identifiable way. Therefore, we believe that the great majority of registrants who apply for a .NRW domain name will do so because of its association with North Rhine-Westphalia or because they want to reach those who associate with North Rhine-Westphalia, and not for other reasons. In these ways, the .NRW top-level domain will bring a special association with North Rhine Westphalia to the top-level domain name space.

With respect to protecting registrant privacy and confidential information, we will comply with applicable ICANN rules, including Whois policies, and all applicable laws, rules and regulations of appropriate jurisdictions. Registrant privacy and use of confidential information are set forth in our Privacy & Whois Policy. Information concerning updates and changes to the Privacy & Whois Policy will be promptly and prominently displayed on the .NRW web site.

Our rules concerning applications for the same domain name establish clearly delineated rules, and will be published well in advance. They provide adequate safeguards for the rights of all participants as well as expeditious and cost-effective challenge procedures in the event of disputes.

During the Sunrise period and Landrush periods, multiple applications for the same name will be resolved by auction. UDRP or URS will be used if there are disputes as to rights to a name.

After Sunrise and Landrush, domain names will be allotted on a first-come, first-serve basis. All domains are subject to UDRP and URS challenges.

At all times, .NRW's Complaint Resolution Service will be available to registrants as well as to the public in the case of alleged prohibited use or content.

.NRW does not envision special discounts for different classes of registrants, but may consider such offers in the future. We may offer introductory discounts for first-time registrants in .NRW. Bulk registration discounts are not being considered at this time.

.NRW plans to make contractual commitments to registrants regarding the magnitude of price increases. .NRW will contract with its registrars that any percentage increase in renewal and first registration fees will be applied uniformly across all registrations, and that notice of any price increases will be provided on the registrar's website and by the registrar to registrants via email six months or more in advance.

.NRW's back-end registry services provider will also be required to employ industry standard procedures to prevent the unauthorized or illegal access of registrant privacy or confidential information.

With respect to users, .NRW's Registration Agreement will require that all registrants must comply with any and all applicable laws, rules or regulations concerning user privacy and confidential information for applicable jurisdictions, and that failure to do so may result in suspension or loss of their .NRW name, and may in addition result in legal actions by appropriate authorities.

--PROPOSED MEASURES FOR PROTECTION OF GEOGRAPHIC NAMES AT THE SECOND AND OTHER LEVELS IN THE APPLIED-FOR GTLD--

We have accepted the advice of the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) that we should adopt appropriate procedures to block names with national or geographic significance at the second and other levels, and will do so in the manner described below:

The country and territory names contained in the following internationally recognized lists will be initially reserved at the second level, as follows:

The short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, as updated from time to time, including the European Union; on the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardization of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of the World; and on the list of United Nations member states in the six official United Nations languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names.

Procedurally, the geographical names contained in these lists, as described in Specification 5 of the New gTLD Agreement, will be added to the registry software system "prohibited word" function. This function, part of Espresso, our registry platform, allows strings to be blocked from registration. Upon an attempt via the EPP or web interface, the registration will not be allowed. Any attempt to register a domain containing those geographical names will be automatically denied, as they were similarly blocked in the .INFO TLD. If a Government or public authority decides to register a geographic name which has been blocked by the process describe above, the .INFO procedure for notice, authentication, and registration will be substantially adhered to, as follows:

1. The Government or public authority concerned informs the GAC Secretariat of their request to register the name, and the designated beneficiary.
2. The GAC Secretariat authenticates the request and transfers it to the ICANN staff and to the registry operator.
3. The registry operator verifies the availability of the name and issues an authorization number that is transmitted directly to the designated beneficiary in the country concerned.
4. The designated beneficiary (the Registrant) registers the name, paying the normal fee, with an ICANN-accredited registrar contracted with the registry operator using the authorization number as their authority.

The registry operator may at some point seek agreement with the applicable governments to release these reservations, subject to review by ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee and approval by ICANN.

For protection of geographic names at other levels, we have a complaint mechanism in place and any geographic entity may register a complaint if they feel their national rights have been violated.

We believe that the measures outlined above incorporate GAC's advice and serve as a pledge to block, at no cost to governments, geographically significant names and allow a means of challenging any abuse of the use of a geographically significant name.