Contracted Parties Summit – Paris 2024

The Contacted Parties Summit (CPS) for 2024 will be held in Paris next month between 6-9 May. The CPS is different to regular ICANN meetings, as it focuses just on the mutual concerns and interests of contracted parties, i.e. registry operators and registrars. It is intended to have an operational, rather than a policy, focus, albeit that there is not always a bright line between the two. ICANN Staff will also be available for one-on-one meetings on the afternoon of 6 May, and day of 9 May.

The last CPS was held in Los Angeles in November 2022. At the time, the Registration Data Policy was yet to have an implementation date, negotiations had yet to be initiated by registries and registrars with ICANN for DNS Abuse amendments, and the Implementation Review Team (IRT) for the next round of new gTLDs was not yet formed.

Since then, the DNS Abuse amendments have not only been negotiated, but have also entered into force. The Registration Data Policy now has an effective date, 21 August 2025, and registries and registrars are hoping to use the CPS to help coordinate their implementation. Work in the IRT for the next round has been ongoing for nearly a year and has managed to put draft materials out for public comment.

This progress is reflected in the sessions and topics on the agenda. ICANN Global Domains & Strategy (GDS) Staff will be providing updates with opportunities to ask questions on the Registration Data Policy, IDNs, progress on the next round, and the proposed IGO Notification System (intended to alert IGOs to domain registrations at the second level).

There is also going to be a workshop on geopolitical, legislative, and regulatory developments, which will also include consideration of WSIS+20. Additionally, there is time set aside to discuss the implementation of the European NIS2 Directive as it relates to domains, and the potential impacts on registrant verification.

For dotBrands, there will be two dedicated sessions. One session will look at some of the technical and security-focused uses that brand owners have adopted – confirmed speakers for this session include Microsoft. The second session will be a discussion on outreach specifically to brand owners for the next round.

The CPS will culminate in a workshop on 9 May which will focus on combatting DNS Abuse. This workshop will be led by the DNS Abuse Institute and ICANN.

If you plan to attend any of the sessions either virtually or in person, it is important that you register here before the event. The full agenda and more details about the CPS are available here.

As always, the Com Laude team will be attending. If you would like to meet with us or to discuss the representative work we do at ICANN, please get in touch.