.paris Pre-Register Domain - .paris Domain Information

Under Article 72 of the French Constitution, the City of Paris is a ʺCollectivité Territorialeʺ and as such, is governed by its own local government. The current head of that government is the Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë. The ʺCode general des collectivités territorialesʺ (Articles 25-11-1 & s.) is the French national jurisdiction that specifically describes the legal status of the City of Paris (see attached extract of this legal code).

The applied-for string will serve as the TLD for the City of Paris, Capital city of France. Paris is world famous as a center of arts, science, technology, culture, fashion, design and cuisine... The TLD is being applied for by the City of Paris, the public authority for Paris.

Through the TLD .PARIS, the City of Paris intends to provide specific content to Internet users from all over the world. The Internet today appears as a global medium where local parameters are not always clear or easy to identify. Estimates from major search engines place local search at around 30% of the total amount of search queries they handle. For the City of Paris, .PARIS is a way to help Internet users pinpoint Paris-specific content more easily, thereby improving their user experience.

The latest figures available (2010) show that 2.2 million people live in Paris and a total of 11.6 million inhabit the Greater Paris area. Paris is also home to 350,000 companies and 30,000 shops. Around 28 million people visit Paris every year (making Paris the number one tourist destination in the world), including some 17 million tourists from outside France. France remains the worldʹs leading tourism destination with 76.8 million visitors in 2010 according to the UNʹs World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).In 2011, Roissy and Orly airports received 88.1 million passengers. In 2010 there were 13.6 million visitors to Notre Dame, 10.5 million at Sacré Coeur Montmartre, 8.4 million to the Louvre, 6.6 million to Eiffel Tower and 3.5 million at Centre Pompidou.
In the Greater Paris area (The bulk of Paris Area belongs to the French administrative Region "Île de France", composed of 8 départements), there are 18 convention centers and exhibition grounds where 959 congresses and 384 exhibitions took place in 2010.

The Greater Paris area has more than 71,000 companies whose businesses rely primarily on tourism. These companies account for 500,000 salaried jobs, including 47% in Paris, with growth of 2 to 3% per year in job creation. Tourism consumption is estimated at 16.7 billion euros for the greater Paris area (Ile de France).

Paris is referenced in billions of web pages, as shown by a search on the string ʺparisʺ carried out using any of the leading search engines.

There are more than 100,000 domain names registered in the leading gTLDs (COM, NET, ORG, INFO and BIZ) containing the word Paris.

According to figures released by the City of Paris, 80% of the Paris population are regular users of the Internet (versus 71% for France as a whole) and 45% surf using mobile devices (35% for France).

The .PARIS TLD aims to service both this local, national and international user base by providing a clearly identified domain on the Internet for the city.

The .PARIS TLD is intended as an open TLD with registrations rules that guarantee widespread usage by all Internet users, be they from Paris, or elsewhere. This TLD is designed as a highly attractive TLD, with projections in the order of 35,000 registrations in the first years of operation.

.PARIS has several goals:
* To facilitate digital communications from, to and within the Paris Community.
* To provide a platform for the urban development of the Paris Community in the digital space, including local digital services
* To strengthen the image of Paris online.

The City of Paris intends to achieve these goals by:
* Actively designing and developing the .PARIS TLD name space with a focus on the needs of the Paris Community, by involving cultural, welfare, business and public stakeholders.
* Allowing registrations of second-level domains in the .PARIS TLD by individuals and organizations with a bona fide nexus to the Paris area.
* Operating the .PARIS TLD under the stewardship of the City of Paris in consultation with the local public authorities of the Greater Paris area and private sector stakeholders.

(b) (i)

The .PARIS TLD is planned as the national and international digital territory for the City of Paris. The goal of .PARIS in terms of specialty is to focus on the needs of the Paris community. Service levels will match or exceed the high end of currently existing TLDs. The .PARIS registry will vigorously build and defend the reputation of .PARIS as a well-managed, orderly and progressive TLD for the Paris community.

(b) (ii)
The current Internet namespace has no City names, either as a gTLD or as a ccTLD. The .PARIS TLD is therefore innovative as it aims to bring the Paris identity to a unique web identifier. This is the first time a Capital city will have the opportunity of running a dedicated TLD and providing users with a unique area on the Internet. Currently, Paris only exists on the web as a subdomain of the French ccTLD Dot FR. Users do not have a clear defined area which they can link to Paris. The .PARIS TLD aims to remedy this.

As a name space specific to a metropolitan area with 12 million inhabitants and considerable economic and cultural significance, the .PARIS TLD fills a large gap in terms of consumer choice. From a competition standpoint, it creates a level playing field with respect to the market power of large unspecific TLDs. It is naturally differentiated from other TLDs both by its scope, by its governance model and by its intrinsic meaning. Innovation is greatly enhanced by the proactive structured development of the name space. The development of the TLD involves an open process with calls for proposals for purpose-built localized services based on designated portions of the .PARIS name space. This approach helps leverage the innovative potential that exists worldwide for the benefit of the Paris community and for the advancement of the global Internet.

(b) (iii)

The TLD, operated by a public body for the common interest of Parisians and visitors/lovers of Paris worldwide, will offer the following advantages.

= Social =

* Clearly identify the Paris community on the Internet.
* Create a single, easily recognisable identity for Paris on the Internet.
* Existing and new services can be tailored to fit local requirements and supervised by the City of Paris to ensure the public interest is upheld.
* As the use of the Internet through mobile devices is already widespread in Paris, specific services aimed at this type of use can be introduced and clearly labelled under .PARIS. Mobile use of the Internet is a key factor in increasing the quality of access to services and information provide by a key tourist destination such as Paris.
* Allow users to access these new services or create new services of their own through their operation of .PARIS web addresses.

= Image =

* Running its own TLD strengthens Parisʹ image as a technology leader.
* The .PARIS TLD is positioned as the official entry point on the Web for anything Paris-related, both for Parisians, local users and tourists.
* The decision, by a major city, to operate its own TLD also sends a clear signal to the national and international business community that Paris is extremely technology friendly, thus helping to boost the regionʹs economic development.

= Security =

* Operating its own TLD will give the City of Paris greater control over the use of the term ʺParisʺ on the Internet, as it pertains to the French Capital.
* Technical and security evolutions can be taken into account in a timely manner on the Dot Paris platform.

= Citizenship =

* Parisians will be able to signal their place of residence with a .PARIS domain name or email address.
* Local businesses will also be able to make their geographic location clear.
* Internet users with close links to Paris, be they business or personal, can reinforce them through a .PARIS domain name.

= Investment =

* Operating the TLD may generate revenue for the City of Paris. As a public body, the City of Paris would use this revenue for the common interest of its citizens, as the profits generated are reinvested in the public services the city oversees.
* The City of Paris has set a low registry price for .PARIS domains in the hope that registrars will sell .PARIS domains name registrations at a price that puts them within financial reach of the highest number of potential users.
* Due to its intended low registration price, users of a .PARIS domain name would benefit from quick and easy ROIs in terms of image (link to Paris) and SEO indexing (increased visibility for their .PARIS web addresses).

= Legal =

* As the name of a Capital city, Paris is a valuable term that needs to be protected in the interest of local citizens and visitors to the city alike. By operating its own TLD, the City of Paris would be able to monitor the use of the term Paris, as it pertains to the Capital of France, on the Internet.
* The City of Paris would be better equipped to defend its intellectual property rights through its management of a dedicated TLD. One example of this is the definition of reserved names by the City of Paris as a registry operator, thereby precluding the rogue use of certain infringing terms which it is powerless to do under existing TLDs which are operated outside of its control.

Compared to most existing TLDs, the .PARIS user experience will bring domain names that are more predictable to users in terms of content and easier to remember. The community-based focus, the orderly launch process and strong intellectual property support ensure that users will generally find the services they are looking for under the names they intuitively tend to use for them. Users will also gain greater comfort when using variants. Users in the Paris community will be able to get accustomed to the predictability of .PARIS domain names. As a result, they will also be better equipped to avoid being tricked by typosquatting, pay-per-click or domain-for-sale pages.

(b) (iv)

The registration policies are differentiated between the pre-launch, launch and general availability phases.

During pre-launch, projects and content provision commitments are actively sought and negotiated, especially for key public-interest portions of the name space. All potential registrants and mandate holders are subject to screening and thorough pre-validation.

During the launch phase, all registrations are pre-validated; launch phase pre-validation depends on priority status (public service, trademark, no prior rights) but will always involve community nexus.

At general availability, community nexus is subject to post-validation by way of an extensive compliance program. The ongoing compliance program will regularly be adapted to current needs based on experience and audit findings. Community nexus validation combined with strong protection of trademarks helps stamp out cybersquatting and abusive registrations.

(b) (v)

The protection of privacy and confidential information of registrants and users will comply with French Law and the European Data Protection Directive, as well as the ICANN standards. Within the bounds of applicable regulations, the registry will implement anti-data mining measures by way of rate limitation, authenticated access or white-listing/black-listing, as well as tools to prevent unauthorized recourse to repetitive automated access.

= Outreach =

A full PR and communications campaign was initiated as soon as the City of Paris announced its intention to apply for .PARIS. Paris was the first major city to commit to ICANNʹs new gTLD program in June 2008, as the ICANN Board approved the GNSOʹs PDP on new gTLDs.

Media and PR campaigns have helped raise awareness of .PARIS, making the TLD one of the best known potential new gTLDs set to come out of ICANNʹs program.

In 2010, a dedicated website was launched to explain .PARIS to the community. The website is at http://SoutenonsPointParis.fr (support .PARIS) and features an online support page where Internet users can sign up to show their support for the TLD.

Dedicated Twitter, Facebook and Flickr accounts have also been opened.

A special event has already been hosted at the Paris town hall, personally attended by the Mayor of Paris Bertrand DELANOE, in support of the .PARIS TLD.

The .PARIS TLD has outreach programs tailored to each of its launch phases.

Pre-launch will involve calls for projects by innovators and pioneers aimed at increasing the usability of the .PARIS TLD with a focus on the needs of the Paris community. Once these domain names are active, they become an outreach mechanism in their own right, because they establish the touch-and-feel of the .PARIS TLD in the minds of the users.

The launch phases will involve outreach mechanisms that specifically leverage participation by the local public services, locally relevant trademarks and local actors.

Promotion codes distributed through community-specific channels are a form of outreach available at any time. They are also a low-cost method to achieve community nexus and to prevent abusive registrations.

(c)
The pre-launch, launch and ongoing registration phases of the .PARIS TLD are designed to minimize social costs and negative externalities. They protect registrants and potentially affected parties while maximizing the value of the name space to its registrants and users.

This approach is based on the premise that extensive screening efforts by the registry in the early stages will create a fair and orderly name space with lower compliance costs in the long term.

In phases and areas where the first-come-first-served principle tends to yield perverse results, alternative modes are used. These include:

* A pioneer name program and name space mandate program.
* A long launch phase based on domain applications and contention resolution.

Pioneer name program and name space mandate program

These programs adjudicate domain names based on an open and transparent project selection process. This process is highly economical in terms of social costs and yields substantial external benefits.

The pioneer name and name space mandate programs are part of the .PARIS outreach program. It begins before delegation of the TLD. In terms of workload, it mainly affects proposers who themselves are required to demonstrate support for their projects. Support will be required to come from the segment of the community concerned with the respective portion of the name space. Given the high value of the resulting online resources for the community and the public interest, and given the economic benefits that can be derived from their operation, the administrative effort is largely justified.

To further protect affected parties, all adjudications in name space mandates have a safety-valve clause, allowing for later adjustments based on community input. The principle of the safety-valve is that affected parties can obtain adjustments to a component of a mandate if they propose (and commit to) an improved use of the underlying domain names from a public interest perspective.

= Launch phase =

The launch combines the so-called "sunrise" and "landrush" processes simultaneously in one phase. The use of domain applications instead of domain registrations means that the registry accepts multiple applications for the same domain name (by contrast, only a single registration can exist for a given domain.) In this way, contention resolution can take place without time pressure in a transparent, fair and orderly manner.

During the launch phase, the time stamp of domain application is not relevant for priority. Adjudication is based on priority differentiation and, in case of equal priority, through a largely automated, multi-step contention resolution process. This mechanism has the lowest aggregate social costs and the highest aggregate public benefits while individually protecting each stakeholder from the risk of an excessive burden.

All applications are published on the Whois service. Applicants mark their prior rights, if any, in the application. There are three fundamental classes of priority: public service (highest), trademark (second), and no-prior-right (third).

For a given domain, the highest priority applications will be validated with respect to the claimed priority right. If there is more than one application for the same domain in that priority class, a contention resolution process begins. The contention resolutions process allows agreement between contenders (withdrawal and refund of application), random selection (if all contenders agree), mediation and arbitration and, as a tie-breaker of last resort, auction.

In most circumstances, the agreement or auction are the cheapest solution for affected parties and are likely to be selected. It is possible, however, for a party to avoid auction by requesting arbitration panel decision. An arbitration panel decision will involve in-depth analysis, the cost of which is borne by the requesters. Unless prior rights provide sufficient grounds for a panel adjudication, the key criterion is the applicant's contribution to the value of the .PARIS name space in the public interest.

The options available to a contender are thus designed to promote quiet resolution by way of withdrawal, mediation or auction. Thanks to automation this minimizes efforts for all parties.

= Ongoing registration phase =

Registrations are checked in a post-validation process and subject to an enforcement program based on statistically targeted random investigation and complaint follow-up. This program minimizes both costs to registrants and third parties. In particular, it strongly diminishes the attractiveness of rights violations, abuse or malignant behaviour. Having been preceded by a controlled launch phase, the validation and enforcement workload faces no resource bottleneck and thus achieves a high degree of credibility, further dissuading abuse from the start. This mode of operation has a strong positive side effect in the interest of trademark holders.

(c)(i)
As described above, during pre-launch and launch phases, the first-come-first-served principle is NOT applied. Adjudication by auction is one of the solutions available to the parties in the context of the contention resolution process.

(c)(ii)
The focus of the .PARIS TLD is the bottom-line cost to registrants and stakeholders. This takes into account all burdens, including the effort needed to register or the potential alternative cost to obtain a name on the secondary market. The direct per-unit cost is merely a component of the bottom-line cost.

The bottom-line cost is greatly reduced by avoiding contention between legitimate community-based applicants and speculators. Community-specific promotion code programs are used offer registrations at low cost. This is a way to avoid perverse effects of low prices, such as speculation with ultimately high costs to registrants, large-scale confusion and waste of the name space, or cybersquatting.

The name space mandate programs have special terms in order to ensure that key portions of the name space are used in the public interest.

(c)(ii)
The .PARIS TLD will not be based on contractual clauses regarding price escalation between the .PARIS Registry and its registrars.

The .PARIS business plan is designed to avoid any future necessity to increase registry price in real terms. The fundamental principle is prudence: starting from conservative price levels and gradually lowering them. This method ensures sufficient financial reserves, favours optimal allocation of domain names, helps prevent misuse and supports an orderly registration process.

The .PARIS TLD belongs to the Paris community. The following clauses (A), (B) and (C) describe the delineation of the Paris community and corresponding policy principles of the .PARIS TLD (A) The Paris community comprises individuals and legal entities with a bona fide presence, direct or indirect, in the Paris area or in Paris as the capital of France. The Paris area is the metropolitan area of Paris and its geographic environment. A bona fide presence in the Paris area may be: * residence in the Paris area, or * the pursuit of lawful business activities in the Paris area, or * the pursuit of cultural activities in the Paris area, or * any other kind of direct or indirect presence that is generally accepted as legitimate for, and conducive to the welfare of, the Paris area. (B) Registration of domain names under the .PARIS TLD is restricted to members of the Paris community and subject to the further requirement that the domain name registrant's presence in the Paris area and the registrant's use of the domain name must be: * of a kind that is generally accepted as legitimate and * conducive to the welfare of the Paris area and * of commensurate quality to the role and importance of the respective domain name and * based on good faith at the time of registration and thereafter. (C) The City of Paris acts as the central representative organization for the Paris community with regard to the .PARIS TLD, in consultation with the stakeholders of the Paris area and of Paris as the capital of France. * How the community is delineated from Internet users generally. The Paris Community relates to the geographic area commonly referred to as Paris or the Paris area, a described in above. The Paris area comprises the geographic urban areas of Paris, France. It is clearly recognizable by urban infrastructure, such as the local transport network in and around the City of Paris. The delineation described under (A) above matches the reality of the Paris community as it has existed since the advent of Paris as a modern metropolis. The term "Paris area" refers to the geographical area of Paris and its surroundings, as in the popular meaning of the expression "région parisienne" in French or "Paris area" in English. Equivalent expressions are "Paris metropolitan area" in English or "région urbaine de Paris" or "agglomération parisienne" in French. The urban area has grown over time: the city grew beyond its fortifications and customs controls at its gates were abolished. The modern Paris area includes, but is not limited to, the territory of the City of Paris, and is largely (but not entirely) situated within the boundaries of the Île de France administrative region. As any modern metropolitan area, the Paris area is defined by practical realities of urban life rather than administrative borders. It comprises the places associated with Paris in the popular use of the name for cultural, economic, geographic, political and other generally accepted purposes. (For instance, an airport or university campus is generally accepted as being part of Paris even if located outside of the city territory.) A Paris community has existed for time immemorial. For as long as it has existed, those who belonged to it were those who had a bona fide presence in the urban area. With the advancement of civilization, new forms of presence (such as business or culture) have become generally accepted. A bona fide presence in the Paris area may be direct or indirect, on the basis of domicile, activity, cultural links or any other constructive commitment to the Paris area. It may be emanating from the area or be directed to the area. Given the vast scope of a modern metropolitan community, community membership always depends on context. This is why, for the purpose of domain registrations, the strength and quality of the registrant's nexus must be commensurate to the role and importance of the domain name to the Community. In other words, a bona fide presence in the Paris area (and thus community membership) is a necessary condition, NOT in itself a sufficient condition for the right to hold any imaginable .PARIS domain name. As the policy principles under (B) above description show, there are additional requirements specific to the intrinsic role and importance of the domain name in question. They concern in particular the nature of the registrant's presence in the Paris area and the registrant's use of the domain name. The wish to hold a .PARIS domain name is not in itself a sufficient indication of a bona fide presence in the Paris area. Furthermore, if a person has been able to register a domain name in .PARIS, this does not in itself entitle that person to register any imaginable other .PARIS domain name. = How the community is structured and organized = As any other modern metropolitan area, the Paris community is very organized. The Paris area belongs to a single, highly integrated community. Because of if its importance and size, the community's organization involves a number of public bodies and authorities on several levels (such as régions, départements and arrondissements), treaties between public bodies, joint investments in public infrastructure companies, public-private partnerships, coordinated policies and legal frameworks that define the duties and prerogatives of each body. The public bodies are established by law and their representatives are democratically elected by universal suffrage. It goes without saying that private companies and cultural or welfare organizations also belong to the organization of the community. The bulk of the Paris Area belongs to the French administrative Region "Île de France", composed of 8 départements. Certain parts of the Paris area extend beyond the administrative boundaries of the Île de France Region. = When the community was established = The City of Paris (and therefore the Greater Paris Area) has existed as an organized community since antiquity, having grown naturally over time. It has been known as by the name of Parisii or Paris since the late stage of the Roman Empire. As described above, the Paris area in the generally accepted sense extends beyond the territory of the City of Paris. The establishment of the public bodies of Paris community is not the result of a single formal act, but multiple steps including many formal acts and gradual developments defining their current form and their relationship with community members and between each other. Formally, their establishment defined in the French Constitution and in French law as described under Question 8. The activities of the Paris community are: * the shared concerns and pursuits of the residents and stakeholders of the Paris area (along with their organizations or public bodies) * the shared use of the infrastructure and services of the Paris area, such as transport, telecommunications, as well as culture, education, welfare and leisure, * the role of Paris as national capital of France. The Paris community includes extensive activities in the digital world specific to the Greater Paris Community, both in the form of e-government services and public authorities' contributions to the development of information society. The .PARIS TLD is designed to be directly related to the activities of the Paris community. = The current estimated size of the community, both as to membership and geographic extent: = The population of the Paris area is in the order of 12 million inhabitants. The geographic extension of the Paris area is estimated at 12,000 square kilometers.

The applicant is the City of Paris itself. The City of Paris is the central legitimate authority for the name of Paris. Its democratically elected local government has the duty to make key decisions regarding the use of the name of Paris in the interest of all community stakeholders. = Relations to any community organizations: = As the Paris area extends beyond the administrative borders of the City of Paris. The generally accepted meaning of the name comprises the entire Paris area. The Paris area and the name of Paris have a natural focus on the center of the area, the City of Paris. The City of Paris has a special responsibility towards the entire Paris area with respect to the use of the name of Paris. For this reason, the City of Paris assumes the stewardship of the .PARIS TLD in consultation with public authorities and private sector stakeholders of the Paris area. In doing so, the City of Paris builds upon established and proven relationships between the respective public bodies, defined by law and/or developed over time for the management of the vast public infrastructure jointly operated and developed by them. = Relations to the community and its constituent parts/groups: = The City of Paris and the other départements of the Greater Paris Area collaborate with a wide array of community organizations for economic development, welfare, culture, education and leisure. This includes community organizations that specialize in the development of the digital economy, e-government and information society. The City of Paris will build upon existing relationships to set up an effective and transparent governance process for the .PARIS TLD. = Accountability mechanisms of the applicant to the community: = The local government bodies of the City of Paris are democratically elected by their residents. The governance process for the .PARIS TLD is rooted in the public accountability mechanism of the City as defined by the Law. In addition, the .PARIS TLD will have specific policy-oversight and consultation mechanisms. As the Mairie de Paris (City Council) itself assumes the stewardship of the .PARIS TLD, the ultimate line of accountability from the .PARIS governance body goes through the office of the elected Mayor and Deputy Mayors to the electorate. Additional lines of institutional accountability exist through the Regional Council of Île de France, itself elected by universal suffrage.

As described under Questions 18(a), the purpose of the .PARIS TLD is to: * facilitate digital communications from, to and within the Paris Community; * provide a platform for the urban development in the digital space of the Paris Community. * strengthen the image of Paris in the on-line world. = Intended registrants in the TLD: = The intended registrants of the TLD include the residents of the Paris area, businesses active in the Paris area, contributors to the cultural life of the Paris area as well as any other legal entities or individuals who contribute to the welfare of the area. = Intended end-users of the TLD: = The intended end-users include the general public with an interest in Paris. This comprises one the one hand the public in the Paris area and on the other hand the public world-wide with an interest in Paris. = Related activities the applicant has carried out or intends to carry out in service of this purpose. = All the activities of the City of Paris are related to .PARIS TLD serve the community-based focus of the TLD. They involve the active development of the name space and other activities to support community-based eligibility and name selection processes described under Question 20. = Explanation of how the purpose is of a lasting nature: = The purpose of the .PARIS TLD if of a lasting nature because it exactly matches the popular use and generally accepted meaning of the name ʺParisʺ. The lasting nature of City of Paris, of the Paris area and of the Paris community are established beyond and doubt, as is their intimate association with the name of Paris.

The .PARIS TLD serves the Paris community. The Paris community comprises persons and legal entities with a bona fide presence in the Paris area. The Paris area is the urban area of Paris, France. = Relationship to the established name of the community: = The TLD string ".PARIS" matches the name of the community, Paris, in the generally accepted sense of the word, in French, English and all other internationally used languages. = Relationship to the identification of community members: = The identification of community members is based on the Community delineation described in the response to Question 20(a), namely clause (A) as follows: (A) The Paris community comprises individuals and legal entities with a bona fide presence, direct or indirect, in the Paris area or in Paris as the capital of France. The Paris area is the metropolitan area of Paris and its geographic environment. A bona fide presence in the Paris area may be: * residence in the Paris area, or * the pursuit of lawful business activities in the Paris area, or * the pursuit of cultural activities in the Paris area, or * any other kind of direct or indirect presence that is generally accepted as legitimate for, and conducive to the welfare of, the Paris area. Community membership is a necessary condition for the right to hold a .PARIS domain name, but is not in itself a sufficient qualification, as is also described in the response to Question 20(a), namely the policy principles in Clause (B) as follows: (B) Registration of domain names under the .PARIS TLD is restricted to members of the Paris community and subject to the further requirement that the domain name registrant's presence in the Paris area and the registrant's use of the domain name must be: * of a kind that is generally accepted as legitimate and * conducive to the welfare of the Paris area and * of commensurate quality to the role and importance of the respective domain name and * based on good faith at the time of registration and thereafter. = Any connotations the string may have beyond the community: = The word "Paris" does have minor other meanings or connotations. None of them have any remotely comparable significance to that of Paris referring to the urban area of Paris, France. The fact that "Paris" was also the name of a character in Greek mythology has cultural importance but no comparable practical significance in modern life. The string "paris" is the plural form of the French word "pari" (meaning wager, bet or gamble). It has no comparable significance to that of Paris denoting the metropolis. There are smaller places in the World by the name of "Paris". All of them bear their name in reference to the Paris metropolis in France. Depending on the context, the word Paris can designate a wider or smaller area (ranging from central Paris to the entire metropolis), as is the case with any place name. This has no practical consequence because these usage variants of the word all point to a key aspect of the same community.

As described in the response to Questions 20(a), two types of conditions must be fulfilled for the right to register a .PARIS name. These are: (A) community membership (bona fide presence in the Paris area) and (B) the additional requirements that * the presence in Paris area and use of domain are generally accepted as legitimate; * the presence in Paris area and use of domain are conducive to welfare of the Paris area; * the presence in Paris area and use of domain are commensurate to role and importance of domain; * presence in Paris area and use of domain are based on good faith at registration and thereafter. These conditions must always be fulfilled. The strength of the validation is kept in line with the importance of the underlying domain name base on the assumption that a typical user would reasonably make. Registrants are required to have an administrative contact in the Paris area. This is verified in part automatically (through the postal code in the administrative contact record and by a human eyes review pre-validation or post-validation. The administrative contact may be any person or entity having received and accepted the mandate to act as such for the respective domain. (The registrar may act as administrative contact.) Any communications addressed to the administrative contact are deemed to have been brought to the attention of the domain holder. Validation checks include machine and human verification of address accuracy. The validation may be assisted through pre-identification of potential registrants using existing community channels, in particular through promotion codes. After the launch phase, the validation mode goes from pre-validation to post-validation and later to statistically targeted random validation, backed up by an ongoing enforcement program. Validation will include checks about the registered domain name actual or intended use. As far as intended use would be declared by the registrant, a false statement of intended use is an indication of bad faith and can be the basis for the suspension of the domain name. The validation and enforcement program are supported by an integrated issue tracking system. This system allows validating agents and personnel to cooperate and interact with the registrant. The system keeps track of decisions made by the agents and stores supplemental documentary evidence that may be supplied by the registrants. = Name selection: what types of second-level names may be registered in the gTLD? = The fundamental rule on which name selection is based is part of the policy principles: the registrant's presence in Paris area and use of domain must be commensurate to role and importance of domain registered. The role and importance of the domain name is based on meaning an average user in would reasonably make in the context of that domain name. This criterion also applies to the strength of the documentation or proof required of the registrant. Pre-defined of the name space, especially names with significance for Paris area from a public service or public interest standpoint, is developed through special programs with strong selection processes, based on proposals made by parties interested in providing content on such domain names. This process not only cover the identity and legitimacy of the party entrusted with the operation of the domain(s), but also a defined obligations with respect to the content to provide for the benefit of the public. = Content/Use: what restrictions, if any, the registry operator will impose on how a registrant may use its registered name? = As described in the response to Question 20(a), not only the registrant's Paris presence but also the use of the domain must be: * generally accepted as legitimate * conducive to welfare of the Paris area. * commensurate to role and importance of domain. * based on good faith at registration and thereafter. This is verified on the basis of: * the intended use statement supplied by the domain registrant * the ongoing enforcement program. = Enforcement: what investigation practices and mechanisms exist to enforce the policies above, what resources are allocated for enforcement, and what appeal mechanisms are available to registrants? = The purpose of the enforcement program is to protect the credibility of the .PARIS TLD for its local in international public. In particular, upholds the community-based purpose of the .PARIS TLD and helps prevent misuse or malicious behaviour. The enforcement program is based on statistically targeted random investigations and on a complaint follow-up process. The statistical targeting is strongly automated and involves the use of search engines and the analysis of registry data related to behaviour of registrants. Depending on the type of misuse to be investigated, web site content or content sent to victims of abuse will reviewed and analysed by investigators. Enhanced investigation takes place if the registrant has a bad track record in terms of compliance with the rules of the .PARIS TLD. Other violations of public record (such as UDRP or URS cases) will also be taken into account. If the actual or intended use cannot be deemed legitimate or has a negative impact on the welfare of the Paris area, the registration is rejected. If content or use of an existing .PARIS domain demonstrates that the registrant has shown bad faith, the domain name is suspended. If a registrar is complicit with systematic violations of the .PARIS policies or causes an unacceptable burden for the validation and enforcement program by negligence, the registry can restrict that registrar's access to the new registrations, subject its inventory of .PARIS domains to enhanced investigation and require it conduct its own post-validation program. An appeals process is available for all administrative measures taken in the framework of the enforcement program. The first instance of the appeals process is managed by the registry service provider. The City provides the second and last instance of an appeals process by itself or entrusts it to an alternative dispute resolution provider. The charter of the appeals process is promulgated by the City of Paris.

-Rules applicable to the protection of geographic names at the second and other levels in the applied-for gTLD :

In accordance with GAC advice on geographic names at the second level, the registry operator will put the following names on the reserved list:
-The short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, including the European Union, which is exceptionally reserved on the ISO 3166-1 List, and its scope extended in August 1999 to any application needing to represent the name European Union:
http://www.iso.org/iso/support/country_codes/iso_3166_code_lists/iso-3166-1_decoding_table.htm#EU
-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. This lists the names of 193 independent States generally recognized by the international community in the language or languages used in an official capacity within each country and is current as of August 2006:
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/ungegn/docs/pubs/UNGEGN%20tech%20ref%20manual_m87_combined.pdf
-List of UN member states in 6 official UN languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the standardization of Geographical Names:
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/9th-UNCSGN-Docs/E-CONF-98-89- Add1.pdf

However, the registry operator recognises that there may be cases where a request to register and use a geographic name at the second level should be considered valid.

Examples of such cases are:
-The City of Paris itself may wish to register a 〈geographic-name〉 .PARIS domain for its own use as part of an official event organised in Paris and referencing the geographic region in said domain name. For example, Paris is often host to celebrations of the culture and language of another country.
-Cultural centers located in Paris may wish to highlight their links to the geographic region they represent (e.g.: the Chinese cultural center in Paris - http://www.cccparis.org/).
-The geographic regionʹs public authority wishes to register the domain name for its own use.

In all cases, whether it is the registry operator wishing to register a geographical name for official or public service use, or whether it is an individual applicant, the City of Paris is committed to obtaining the approval of the relevant authority.

For registration requests from the relevant public authority, the registry operator will put in place the procedure agreed between the GAC and Afilias for the Dot INFO gTLD as referenced in the letter written by Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi, GAC Chair, on Sept 9, 2003.

For any other request to register a geographic name, the applicant will need to provide registry operator with proof of non-objection or support from the relevant public authority. Once this has been submitted and verified, requests of this kind will be handled on a case-by-case basis only by registry operator.

Registry operator does plan to monitor use of geographic names below the second level (i.e. subdomain used by a .PARIS domain name registrant), as the procedures that would be needed to monitor this are considered too complex and expensive. Traditional dispute resolution procedures or legal procedures exist to address such cases.

-Technical implementation of the protection of geographic names:

Technical protection of terms:

The registry uses its own reserved terms database. The purpose of this database, in addition to protect the defined set of terms, is to allow actions (creations, updates, deletions), user rights (consult or edit) and traceability (history of actions) for each terms it contains.

During the registration of a domain name, the checker placed on the Shared Registry System (SRS) uses two types of checks on the requested terms. The first type of checks is based on syntax, the second one, is based on semantics. The reserved terms database is part of the second type of tests, based on semantics.

The reserved terms database is used in the Shared Registry System (SRS) during its semantics checks only if the domain name request has successfully passed the syntax checks.

The database table allows to classify the terms is contains by categories. The categories allow the registry to identify different types of terms (geographic names, religious terms, cultural...). In the case of geographic names the categories in the database allow subclassifications such as country names or city names.

The checker placed on the SRS applies the semantics checks to a domain name request using the registry's policies translated into technical rules. The SRS checker uses the reserved terms database to verify the presence or not of the term in its table and acts accordingly. If the term and its category are present in the database the SRS checker will apply the registry's policy of blocking the registration unless a valid authorization code is presented.

E.g: If "france" is requested by a registrar for registration without a valid authorization code the SRS checker will verify if the term and its category are present in the reserved terms database. The database will indicate that "france" is present in its tables under the "country" category. The SRS checker will then reject the creation request.

Unblocking a reserved term through an authorization code mechanism:

In order to create a domain name containing a reserved term for a registrant, registrars must fill out an online form protected by a captcha code. This form requires the registrar to fill out the requested domain name, the registrant information (nic-handle) and the reason or legitimate interest within a maximum of 4000 characters.

The reserved term request will automatically be sent to the registry's back office into a queue for human validation by one of the registry's validation agents. If the legitimate interest of the domain registrant is enough evidence that the domain creation complies with the registry's policies the validation agent will generate an authorization code that will be sent by email to the registrar that made the request.

For security reasons the registrar's email address on which the authorization code is sent to is the one defined as the NOC email address.
For additional security reasons the registry has decided that this authorization code is valid on the SRS for a maximum of 15 days. After 15 days the authorization code will expire and a new request will be necessary to retrieve a new authorization code.
The code generated by the registry's validation agent can only be used for a domain name creation of the requested term for the requested registrant by the requesting registrar. Meaning that an authorization code cannot be used by another registrar or for another holder (identified by its nic-handle).

In case the request does not comply with the registry's policies or if the given information is not sufficient to generate an authorization code, the validation agent will ask the registrar for complementary information. The registrar has 15 days to answer and provide sufficient information and or complementary documentation to the registry's validation agent. After 15 days without sufficient information or documents, the authorization code request is abandoned.

Once the registrar receives an authorization code from the registry's validation agent, the registrar has 15 days to initiate a creation operation on the requested reserved term. This authorization code is fully compatible to the registry's EPP interface and is used during a creation operation as the auth_info code (see question 24 on EPP).

When the domain name creation operation with the valid authorization code is initiated by the registrar the SRS checker will automatically verify the code, the holder and the requesting registrar with the information contained in the registry's back office. If the data is correct the creation operation will be processed like any regular domain name creation.