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Competition, Consumer Trust and Consumer Choice Review (CCT)

Under the Bylaws (Section 4.6(d)), ICANN is committed to a review of the extent to which the expansion of generic top-level domains (gTLDs) has promoted competition, consumer trust, and consumer choice. The Competition, Consumer Trust, Consumer Choice (CCT) Review also serves to assess the effectiveness of the New gTLD Round’s application and evaluation process, as well as the safeguards put in place to mitigate possible issues arising from the New gTLD Round.

To date, ICANN org has conducted one iteration of the CCT Review and is in the process of implementing CCT recommendations approved by the Board in March 2019 and October 2020. 

On 19 May 2025, the Board directed ICANN org to initiate work to design a review program that is fit for the intended purposes of enhancing ICANN’s accountability, transparency, and effectiveness. The Board identified a community dialogue to develop a shared understanding of the areas and issues for which reviews will enhance ICANN’s accountability, transparency and effectiveness as a first step.

For more information on the community dialogue, refer to the Review of Reviews Cross Community Group work space.

Status of CCT Recommendations

8 September 2018 - CCT Final Report - 35 Recommendations Produced

Board Action

Approved (in full or in part*)

Passed Through to Community Groups (in full or in part*) 

Pending Board Consideration (in full or in part*)

Rejected

1 March 2019

6

Board approves Recs 1, 17, 21, 22, 30 and 31

14

Board passes through Recs 9, 10, 12, 16*, 19, 20*, 25, 27, 28, 29, 32, 33, 34 and 35

17

Boards puts in pending Recs 6, 7, 8, 11, 13, 16*, 18, 20*, 23, 24 and 26

0

22 October 2020

17

Board approves Recs 6, 7, 8, 11, 13, 16*, 18, 20*, 23, 24 and 26

14

6

0

10 September 2023

17

14

4

2

Boards rejects Recs 14 and 15

29 July 2024

17

14

0

6

Board rejects Recs 2, 3, 4 and 5

Implementation Status of CCT Recommendations

17 Board Approved Recommendations (in whole or in part): 

Implementation Status
Complete
In Progress     
  • Data collection model: 1
  • Data collection/studies: 6, 7, 8, 11, 13, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26
Not Started N/A

Implementation status of recommendations should be understood as follows:

  • Complete: a recommendation's intent which is considered implemented or addressed.
  • In progress: a recommendation for which work has started to address deliverables identified during the implementation design. Implementation design is the preparatory phase for implementation during which a cross-functional project team develops guidelines that include deliverables for implementation, costing out resources, risk assessment, as well as an inventory of existing work etc.
  • Not started: Work has not started due to, for instance, a dependency on another recommendation and/or process.

Quarterly Updates on Specific Reviews Recommendations

Review Progress and Milestones

The graphic below illustrates phases and status of each review - a  indicates that all activities within a given phase have been completed.  The chart that follows the graphic provides further details of key activities and milestones within each phase – you can view these details by clicking on each of the phases in the graphic.  The table also contains links to relevant documents.

Competition, Consumer Trust and Consumer Choice

Competition, Consumer Trust and Consumer Choice
PhaseActivityDescriptionStart DateDocuments
Conduct ReviewCall for Volunteers ExtensionExtension of call for volunteers to submit application2 Nov 2015
ApplicationsApplications Received for CCT16 Nov 2015
Appointment of review team membersAppointment of review team members based on AoC requirements23 Dec 2015
Terms of ReferenceDocument outlining the scope of work adopted by the review team23 Mar 2016
Call for VolunteersCall for Volunteers1 Oct 2015
CCT Draft ReportDraft report published for public comment7 Mar 2017
CCT Issues New Sections to Draft Report RecommendationsCall for input on new sections to the draft report. 27 Nov 2017
CCT Final ReportCompetition, Consumer Trust, and Consumer Choice Review Final Report8 Sep 2018
CCT Final Report Executive SummaryExecutive summary of the CCT Final Report8 Sep 2018
Board Action*Board receipt of the Final ReportBoard receipt of the Final Report5 Oct 2018
Public comment on Final ReportFinal Report & Recommendations posted for public comment8 Oct 2018
Extension of Public CommentAnnouncement of extension of public comment on CCT Final Report29 Nov 2018
Board Action on Final ReportBoard resolution taking action on 35 recommendations1 Mar 2019
Board Action on Pending RecommendationsBoard resolution approving 11 pending recommendations22 Oct 2020
Board Action on Pending RecommendationsBoard resolution rejecting two pending recommendations10 Sep 2023
Board Action on Pending RecommendationsBoard resolution rejecting four pending recommendations29 Jul 2024
PlanningPlan for Implementation and Next StepsAccepted Recommendations - Plan for Implementation and Next Steps11 Sep 2019
Board Action on Plan for ImplementationBoard resolution on implementation of six accepted recommendations26 Jan 2020

Domain Name System
Internationalized Domain Name ,IDN,"IDNs are domain names that include characters used in the local representation of languages that are not written with the twenty-six letters of the basic Latin alphabet ""a-z"". An IDN can contain Latin letters with diacritical marks, as required by many European languages, or may consist of characters from non-Latin scripts such as Arabic or Chinese. Many languages also use other types of digits than the European ""0-9"". The basic Latin alphabet together with the European-Arabic digits are, for the purpose of domain names, termed ""ASCII characters"" (ASCII = American Standard Code for Information Interchange). These are also included in the broader range of ""Unicode characters"" that provides the basis for IDNs. The ""hostname rule"" requires that all domain names of the type under consideration here are stored in the DNS using only the ASCII characters listed above, with the one further addition of the hyphen ""-"". The Unicode form of an IDN therefore requires special encoding before it is entered into the DNS. The following terminology is used when distinguishing between these forms: A domain name consists of a series of ""labels"" (separated by ""dots""). The ASCII form of an IDN label is termed an ""A-label"". All operations defined in the DNS protocol use A-labels exclusively. The Unicode form, which a user expects to be displayed, is termed a ""U-label"". The difference may be illustrated with the Hindi word for ""test"" — परीका — appearing here as a U-label would (in the Devanagari script). A special form of ""ASCII compatible encoding"" (abbreviated ACE) is applied to this to produce the corresponding A-label: xn--11b5bs1di. A domain name that only includes ASCII letters, digits, and hyphens is termed an ""LDH label"". Although the definitions of A-labels and LDH-labels overlap, a name consisting exclusively of LDH labels, such as""icann.org"" is not an IDN."