.JOBS Charter Compliance Coalition Today Welcomed the ICANN Board's Adoption of the Detailed Recommendation of the Board of Governance Committee Regarding .JOBS Expansion

HUNT VALLEY, Md., Dec. 13, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The .JOBS Charter Compliance Coalition today welcomed the ICANN Board's adoption of the detailed recommendation ("Recommendation") of the Board Governance Committee ("BGC") resulting from the reconsideration process that was initiated by the Coalition in August 2010 and concluded last week at the ICANN international meeting in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.  The Coalition filed its reconsideration request because statements in Employ Media's proposal for the Phased Allocation Program, as well as other public statements about its plans, signaled Employ Media's clear intent to use the Phased Allocation Program to circumvent the .JOBS Charter.  The Coalition is highly confident that its concerns have been addressed through the reconsideration process.

ICANN's Decision Represents a Victory for the Coalition

Although the Board denied the Coalition's reconsideration request, the Board's adoption of the BGC Recommendation fully achieves the goals of the Coalition in submitting its reconsideration request.  The Recommendation confirms that the Board's approval of Employ Media's Phased Allocation Program was not an approval of Employ Media's plans to expand the universe of those eligible to register in .JOBS.  Rather, the Board has expressly confirmed that ICANN will not permit Employ Media to implement the Phased Allocation Program in a manner that would violate the .JOBS Charter.

In fact, in response to the Coalition's concerns, the ICANN Board committed to devote heightened awareness to Charter compliance, directing the ICANN CEO and General Counsel to ensure that ICANN's Contractual Compliance Department "closely monitor" Employ Media's compliance with its Charter.  This direct oversight by ICANN addresses the Coalition's concerns that the question of Charter compliance had not received the appropriate level of scrutiny.

Employ Media Has Already Withdrawn Its Plan for Non-Compliant "Self-Managed" Domains

In a proposal submitted to ICANN in June 2010, Employ Media outlined its plans to solicit proposals under the Phased Allocation Program for the creation of "a self-managed class of domains registered in Employ Media's name."  In a telling move, when the Coalition's reconsideration request raised questions about the so-called "self-managed" class of domains, Employ Media simply withdrew the potential implementation mechanism, highlighting its failure to take Charter compliance into account when formulating the Phased Allocation Program.  The BGC cited this withdrawal as an example of Employ Media's failure to adequately describe its implementation plans, and concluded that it was "not at all clear that it has a full picture of how Employ Media intends to implement the Phased Allocation Process."

Independent Job Site Operators Will Not Be Permitted to Violate the Charter

In its June 2010 proposal, Employ Media had suggested that "independent site operators" could utilize the Phased Allocation Program to "enable an expansion of their product and service offerings in new/innovative ways."  Although the BGC determined that there was no concrete evidence yet that Employ Media was using the Phased Allocation Program to allow independent job site operators and employment service providers to register and use .JOBS domain names in violation of the Charter, the BGC confirmed that the proposal language "does not suggest that independent job site operators who do not qualify for registration under the .JOBS Charter will be allowed to take advantage of the .JOBS 'expansion' opportunities.  If implementation of the Amendment causes Employ Media to violate its contractual requirements set out in the .JOBS Charter, that is something that ICANN's Contractual Compliance Department must address."

Given the Board's commitment to aggressively monitor Employ Media's implementation of the Phased Allocation Program, the Coalition is highly confident that ICANN will not permit Employ Media to register domain names to "independent job site operators" for purposes of operating job sites.  In particular, the Coalition views the Board's approval of the BGC Recommendation as confirming that DirectEmployers Association's proposed operation of a "Dot Jobs Universe" is not permitted under the .JOBS Charter.

John Bell, Chairman of the .JOBS Charter Compliance Coalition, stated "The Coalition is gratified that its efforts have resulted in heightened awareness of the significant Charter compliance concerns raised by Employ Media's proposed implementation of its Phased Allocation Program.  We would like to thank ICANN and the BGC for giving this matter the careful consideration it deserves.  The BGC's detailed Recommendation makes it clear that while the BGC did not find concrete evidence that Employ Media has used the Phased Allocation Program to violate the Charter, ICANN will ensure that such violations do not occur in the future.  Given the Coalition's expertise and familiarity with the human resources industry-specific .JOBS Charter limitations, we look forward to working with ICANN to develop appropriate policies and procedures to ensure ongoing compliance with the Charter.

Contact

John Bell, Chairman of the Coalition, (410) 584-2986, [email protected]

About the .JOBS Charter Compliance Coalition

The .JOBS Charter Compliance Coalition was formed to address concerns that Employ Media LLC's planned Phased Allocation Program would violate the terms of the .JOBS Charter.  The members of the Coalition include: 1) AHA Solutions (American Hospital Association); 2) the American Society of Association Executives; 3) the American Staffing Association; 4) CareerBuilder, LLC; 5) the International Association of Employment Web Sites; 6) eighteen individual members of the International Association of Employment Web Sites; 7) Monster Worldwide, Inc.; 8) the Newspaper Association of America; and 9) Shaker Recruitment Advertising & Communications.

SOURCE .JOBS Charter Compliance Coalition