ICANN's GNSO Council approved by a super majority vote a motion to discourage use of the current "add grace period" (AGP), where domains can be returned within five days without cost, for "domain tasting" purposes. The motion is pending Board approval, would prohibit any gTLD operator that has implemented an "add grace period" (AGP) from offering a refund for any domain name deleted during the AGP that exceeds 10% of its net new registrations during that month, or fifty domain names, whichever is greater. An exemption could be granted based on extraordinary circumstances, as detailed in the motion.

ICANN's GNSO Council approved by a super majority vote a motion to discourage use of the current "add grace period" (AGP), where domains can be returned within five days without cost, for "domain tasting" purposes. The motion is pending Board approval, would prohibit any gTLD operator that has implemented an "add grace period" (AGP) from offering a refund for any domain name deleted during the AGP that exceeds 10% of its net new registrations during that month, or fifty domain names, whichever is greater. An exemption could be granted based on extraordinary circumstances, as detailed in the motion.

"Domain Tasting" refers to a situation where an entity registers a domain name and then tests to see if the name has sufficient traffic to provide more income than the annual registration fee (usually through pay-per-click advertising). If the name is profitable, it is kept. If not, the AGP is used to return the domain at no cost to the registrant. Recently, there has been a significant increase in the number of domain names registered and returned within the AGP.

In October 2007, the GNSO Council launched a policy development process (PDP) on domain tasting and produced an Initial Report for public comment that outlined the possible actions to be taken, and the arguments for and against such actions. Public comments were incorporated into a draft Final Report (posted 8 February) for GNSO Council review and action.

The public is invited to comment on this motion before final consideration by the Board.

ICANN's announcement on the above proposal is available from http://icann.org/public_comment/#dt-motion-21may08 along with details on how to lodge comments.