ICANN Board of Directors voted to allow new gTLD registries to buy registrars.ICANN will also allow registrars to apply for or operate new gTLD registries.

      Factors taken into consideration while making this decision were expert economic advice, community comments and many others.
      "In the absence of existing policy or new bottom-up policy recommendations, the Board saw no rationale for placing restrictions on cross-ownership.Any possible abuses can be better addressed by properly targeted mechanisms. Co-ownership rules are not an optimal technique in this area.", said Peter Dengate Thrush, Chairman of the Board.

The new gTLD registry agreements include the following :

(1) a Code of Conduct prohibiting any misuse of data or other abusive conduct arising out of registry-registrar cross-ownership; (2) robust auditing requirements;(3) graduated sanctions up to and including contractual termination and punitive damages; and (4) ICANN's right to refer competition issues to appropriate government competition authorities.

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