UNIFORUM ‘s Objections against DotConnectAfrica’s .africa Application reported Unsuccessful
In his response to the .africa, a gTLD that we have been following closely, the ICANN IO concluded he would not object to DCA’s application and we note some of the key exchanges between the IO and applicant below.
The IO noted as a “preliminary point, the applicant, DotConnectAfrica Trust (DCA Trust), argued that the IO can lodge objections in cases where no other objection has been filed.” and concluded that “Therefore (the IO’s) intention to also file an objection against DCA’s application on community grounds is clearly unwarranted and would be considered superfluous against the backdrop that (he has) already noted in (his) initial assessment “that 17 early warnings have been issued by representatives of the ICANN’s governmental Advisory Committee (GAC)”.
A case of impartialiy and independence
However giving a rider that “The applicant DotConnectAfrica Trust deemed it useful to put into doubt my impartiality and independence. I wish to make clear that my inclination not to lodge an objection to their application is by no means the result of what can be seen as an attempt to intimidate me.”
This may all mean that the fact that the IO has already reached the conclusion that he will not object to DCA’s application, thereby frustrating the plans of those who were pushing him to do so. The IO may have also appeared to be overreaching his mandate predetermining DotConnectAfrica’s case before hand.
Read whole report from the source