On December 3, the United States Department of Commerce (Doc) provided comments to ICANN after a review of the RFP by the US Department of Justice. In the comments, Assistant Secretary Meredith Baker stressed that ICANN address a number of concerns prior to moving forward with any new gTLDs. Ms. Baker’s letter also included the Dept of Justice memorandum that enumerated many of the concerns that have been expressed by the business community regarding the process, and associated cost.

Given that ICANN will need to address a number of points to have the support of the US DoC it is likely the current proposed timelines for rolling out the process will be modified. Look for more information on this as it becomes available.

Click Here to view the Department of Commerce letter.