.corsica Pre-Register Domain - .corsica Domain Information

The .corsica TLD will be a community-based TLD aimed at the population of Corsica, the Diaspora of Corsicans around the world, and the wider community of individuals and business owners, wherever they may be, who feel an attachment to the island of Corsica, its culture, heritage or language. In total, the global community of individuals and business owners with a direct attachment to and/or interest in a Corsican identity is estimated to be close to 1 million.

The purpose of the .corsica TLD can be summarized as follows:

- To give Corsicans a new means of identifying and promoting their activities via the Internet under a top-level domain which has a clear significance to them.

- To promote the development of email services under the .corsica TLD aimed at anyone who may have an affinity with the island of Corsica.

- To boost the visibility and promotion of this region of the Mediterranean Basin and all that it has to offer in terms of its cultural and economic via the Internet.

- To respond to the public desire to create a repository of Corsica's immaterial cultural heritage on the Internet.

- To pursue the region of Corsica's multi-year strategy to centralise Corsica's presence on the Internet initiated with the acquisition of the cors.fr, corsica.fr and corsica.eu domain names.

The island of Corsica is very much part of France, yet it is a region with a history, linguistic tradition and unique cultural heritage that make it quite unique. Located in the Mediterranean Sea, southeast of mainland France, west of Italy and north of the Italian island of Sardinia, Corsica has an ancient history stretching back to the Mesolithic period, and its cultural heritage is the product of successive periods of colonization over the centuries, by the Greeks, Romans, the Genonese and the Franks.

For modern-day Corsicans, cut off as they are from the mainland France and Europe, the Internet has become a critical means of exchange and trade with the rest of the world. Investments from the Regional Government of Corsica, the French Government and the European Union have served to build up critical Internet infrastructures and ensure that the population of Corsica, which includes remote mountain communities, is almost entirely ADSL connected.

The current application for the .corsica TLD is viewed by the Regional Government of Corsica as the logical continuation of a strategy to harmonize the naming policies of the main public administrations of the island, and offer the people of Corsica a new TLD with which they can clearly identify.

A tool for organising ‘Corsican' content on the Internet

There is a sizeable volume of information on the Internet containing the words ‘Corsica' or ‘Corse'. A simple search using Google will typically result in 30 to 40 million pages. It is also clear that interest in the subject of Corsica remains constantly high with an annual pattern of searches peaking during the summer months and the tourist season (source: Google Trends). Finally, there are, according to domain name searching services in excess of 380 000 websites under various TLDs containing the word ‘corse' or ‘corsica'.

These search trends and volume data speak to the rationale for creating the .corsica TLD. It is expected that the new TLD will serve Corsicans who wish to give greater prominence to the cultural or geographical origin of their Internet sites, and it will provide Internet users with an interest in the region with an additional marker aimed at facilitating Internet navigation.

Corsica's digital agenda

The regional government of Corsica has been promoting a vigorous digital agenda since the end of the 1990s. Internet access and the promotion of the region and its economic and cultural assets via the Internet has been viewed as essential for the economic development of this relatively small, insular Mediterranean region. It has been given full political support across party lines and it has involved ensuring that the entire population of Corsica is ADSL connected.

In March 2005, the Regional government of Corsica launched the ʺCorsica Hotspotʺ initiative, with a view to ensuring ubiquitous free access to wireless Internet in public places. Today, some 80 Corsica Hotspot are operational throughout the Corsica, including cafes, hotels, marinas, airports, stations, the University of Corsica, Hotels, town halls, cultural centers, theaters, village squares, associations, etc.. As a result of this initiative connectivity across the island has gained is consistency and finesse.

Milestones on road towards the .corsica TLD

February 2005: The Corsican Parliament (Assemblee de Corse) voted, on 25th February 2005, in favour of the adoption of a multi-year strategy regarding the acquisition and use of domain names on the Internet. Since then the Regional Government of Corsica (Collectivité Territoriale de Corse) has overseen the implementation of the different phases of the project including the acquisition of the corsica.fr, corsica.eu and corse.eu domain names. The ultimate phase of this strategy was to obtain the .corsica Top Level Domain (TLD).

March 2011: The Corsican parliament votes in favour of undertaking all the steps necessary to obtain and manage the .corsica TLD. (Déliberation no. 11/147 de l'Assemblée de Corse Approuvant la démarche d'obtention et d'exploitation du nom de domaine sur Internet .corsica; séance du 24 juin 2011).

Internet access in France

France is one of the most connected countries in the world with sustained levels of growth. In 2012 more than 40 million people out of a total population of 60 million had access to the Internet, or 6% more than 2011. Internet users are also increasingly frequently connected: almost two thirds of the French population connect to the Internet on a daily basis. The most notable growth areas are:

Booming e-commerce: Buying online is attracting an ever greater number of French shoppers. The frequency of online purchasing has also increased. In 2011, more than half the population of France, all socio-economic categories included and regardless of place of residence, used the internet for purchasing goods or services."

Booming mobile Internet access: Rapid growth with 19 million mobile users by the end of 2011, i.e. 3.5 million more than a year previously (+23%). Mobile Internet users are increasingly female, younger and more provincial. The spread of smart phones and the diversity of offers operators contribute to the changing profile of mobile internet users.

Growing consumer confidence: Confidence in e-commerce continues to rise: 66.5% of French Internet users have confidence in online shopping, a 7% increase on the previous year. Online shoppers are increasingly female with a 15% increase in the number of women shoppers per year. The populations of regions of France, including Corsica, account for a significant part of the growth in e-shoppers, with a 14% annual growth rate between 2011 and 2012.

As e-commerce grows in importance in years to come and as rapid and assured brand recognition becomes increasingly important, the new .corsica TLD is expected to play a critical role in promoting Corsican goods and services. Over time, the adoption and strict implementation of the .corsica TLD Users Charter will ensure that the ‘Corsica' brand is associated with quality of content as well as quality of service. It is expected to play a significant role in boosting consumer trust and choice.

The Regional Government of Corsica is committed to ensuring that the initial investments required to set up and run the TLD are paid off in terms increased e-commerce returns on investment for the region.

i. Goal of of the .corsica TLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation

The .corsica TLD will be a new way of asserting Corsica's identity and presence on the Internet. It is expected to contribute to the image of Corsica as a culturally and economically vibrant region of Europe. Based on the research carried out in preparation for this application we anticipate that it will be widely embraced by the people and business owners of Corsica, as well as the community of Corsicans worldwide who share a strong sense of attachment to the region and its culture.

There are two rationales for the creation of a new .corsica TLD: economic and cultural.

- In economic terms, the .corsica TLD is expected to act as a catalyst for the production of new content and the development of new online services, with positive direct and indirect economic benefits in terms of increased revenues and job creation.

- Culturally, the new TLD will become a new Internet signifier, a new means of organising, archiving and searching for content on the region of Corsica and its people. As such, it is viewed by the Regional Government as a vital means of building up the immaterial cultural heritage of the region.

Areas of speciality

Initially, the .corsica TLD will be deployed as a new community-based gTLD without specific areas of speciality. However, in the course of its implementation independent needs-assessment studies will be conducted regarding the creation of second-level domains such hotel.corsica, wine.corsica, association.corsica etc. The modalities for the management of these ‘speciality' sub domains will be defined at a later date.

- University of Corsica: creation of .univ or .universite sub-domain

The University of Corsica with a student population of around 4000 will be a major vector for the promotion of the .corsica TLD. A premier research centre for the study of renewable energies, oceanography, firefighting studies, natural resource management, sustainable development and regional-level government studies, cultural studies, and information and communication technologies, the University will be among the first major employers of the region to deploy the new TLD. The university is expected to give up the current www.univ-corse.fr naming structure in favour of www.univ.corsica format.

- Tourism industry: creation of .hotel sub-domain

The numerous actors of Corsica's important tourism sector are expected to seize the opportunity of the .corsica TLD with the possible creation of subdomains such as .hotel.corsica, wine.corsica or aoc.corsica.

Service levels

The aim of the .corsica TLD is to offer guarantees in terms of service, security and technical assistance in standing with a world-class gTLD. At the technical level this will be ensured by AFNIC, one of the world's foremost ccTLDs in terms of domain name registrations, its record on the issue of DNS security, IPv6 deployment etc. and its reputation for technical excellence.

AFNIC will ensure the provision of all critical services required for the function of the .corsica TLD in compliance with ICANN-specified norms. These are:

- DNS resolution in compliance with the obligations listed in Specification 6 section 1.1 of the Registry contract.
- The deployment of DNSSEC in compliance with the obligation listed in Specification 6 section 1.3 of the Registry contract.
- SRS / EPP domain name registering service (DNS delegation chain and management of registrars as specified in section 4.3 of the CCTP) in conformity with the obligations listed in Specification 6 section 1.2 of the Registry contract.
- Provision of Whois service, Zone File Access and Bulk Registration Data Access to ICANN in conformity with the obligations listed in Specification 4 of the Registry contract.
- Provision of Registry Data Escrow service in conformity with the obligations listed in Specification 3 part A of the Registry contract.

At the main ‘point-of-contact' level in Ajaccio, this will be ensured by a fully trained and qualified staff. Local staff will be trained in the use of software developed by AFNIC for the purposes of invoicing registrars, the management of domain name portfolios, supervision of critical services of the Registry, and the statistical monitoring of the .corsica TLD.

The registry will have a comprehensive website with features such as a FAQ, downloadable documents including the .corsica TLD Users Charter, policy documents regarding TLD issues, lists of icann accredited registrars, technical documents, contact details etc.

The Regional Government of Corsica plans to encourage the development of local registrars. Various business models are envisaged from the simple resale of domain names bought from the .corsica registry to bundled offers including the purchase of the domain names, hosting facilities, email and technical services, assistance etc.

Reputation

The strong reputation of the .corsica TLD will be critical to its adoption, growth prospects and sustainable implementation in the medium to long-term. Over time the reputation of the .corsica TLD will be maintained and reinforced thanks to its Users' Charter including clear procedures in case of abusive behaviour (phishing, pharming etc.), enforceable rules to protect trademarks, and measures to protect the privacy of domain name owners in line with international best practices.

ii. What the .corsica TLD will add to the current space, in terms of competition, differentiation, or innovation

Competition

In terms of competitiveness the .corsica TLD will allow Corsicans to promote their goods and services via the Internet using an extension with which they identify more readily than the more generic .fr or .com, .org extensions that are currently available. The .corsica TLD will be presented to the Corsican people as an alternative means of communicating via the Internet and raising the international profile of the region as a whole.

Key to the success of the .corsica TLD will be the way in which it gives registrants a competitive edge over other content and/or service providers thanks to the extra ‘visibility' and searchability which the name provides. Following the delegation of several hundred new gTLDs in 2013, it is understood that the main search engines will be updated in a way that gives greater priority to TLDs, i.e. www.ajaccio-judo-club.corsica is likely to get a higher ranking in search results than www.ajaccio-judo-club.com.

Differentiation

Achieving greater differentiation for Corsican products and services online is one of the primary objectives of the .corsica TLD. This new TLD will allow domain name holders to rationalise their naming strategies (no longer needing to include the word ‘corsica' lower down the domain name hierarchy), and communicate more effectively with potential contacts or customers with an interest in Corsica. Currently the French word ‘corse' is, in many instances, used at the second level, however, the creation of a .corsica TLD will serve to simplify and increase the impact of Corsican domain names. To take the example of the ADEC (Regional Development Agency) the name will complete its evolution from www.corse-adec.org to www.adec.corse.fr to www.adec.corsica.

- Main economic sectors affected by .corsica TLD:

Tourism sector: For actors in all sectors of the economy, but especially in the increasingly competitive tourism sector, the .corsica TLD is intended to ensure that operators have all the means at their disposal to maintain their competitive edge.

The management of the .corsica TLD will be fully integrated into the Regional Government of Corsica's strategic planning regarding the economic development of the region. Hence, as mentioned in our response to question 18b-A, a number of second-level domain names may be delegated, following appropriate feasibility studies and subject to the approval of the Corsican Assembly. These include the extensions ‘vin' or ‘wine', ‘aoc',‘hotel' or ‘artisan' so as to be able to create domain names such as:

- name1.fromage.aoc.corsica
- corse-coteaux.wine.corsica
- myhotel.hotels.corsica
- name.artisan.corsica

Innovation

The .corsica TLD will create a new space for innovation and serve as a catalyst for the diversification of online products and services. To this end a communications campaign will be run to encourage the widespread adoption of the new TLD. As mentioned in subsequent sections, this communications campaign will be targeted at specific economic sectors and groups such as the students of the university of Corsica.

The communications campaign will also aim to promote the establishment of local registrars. It is expected that the proximity of these new registrars with the people of Corsica, and the competition between them, will be beneficial in terms of offering services that are tailored to the needs and means of the population.

iii. Goals of the .corsica TLD in terms of user experience

The main goal of the .corsica TLD is to provide Corsicans, with the option of a new community-based TLD that better reflects their cultural identity than, say, .fr or .com. The expectation is that the .corsica TLD will come to be viewed by Corsicans in the same way that .cat is viewed by Catalans. For the broader community of Internet users the .corsica TLD will come to be recognized a badge of quality, not only in terms of content, but also in terms of the stable and secure management of the DNS.

The .corsica will not be run as for-profit enterprise. From the outset the emphasis will be placed on ensuring optimal levels of user experience. Over time the .corsica TLD will become synonymous with quality of content but also in terms of stability, resilience and security.

AFNIC: state-of-the-art back end registry
As the technical operator of the .corsica AFNIC will offer a world class quality of service notably in relation to
- WhoIs
- DNSSEC: Since 2010 counts among the pioneering registries that signs its TLD.
- IPv6 compatibility. AFNIC has been a pioneer in the deployment of IPv6 in France since 2003, and all its services are deployed in IPv6
- EPP: as an implementation whose compliance with standards was universally praised,
- Anycast. AFNIC has fully integrated and mastered this key DNS resolution technology. Since 2009 AFNIC deploys its own Anycast node for hosting high availability DNS services,

Promotion and appropriation of the .corsica ‘brand'

As the Internet continues to grow at an exponential rate and as it becomes harder - even perilous - for ordinary Internet users to navigate, the .corsica TLD will become a new, easily recognizable marker. In terms of user experience the most obvious advantage of the .corsica TLD will be its powerful signifying force at the level of the DNS - more powerful, arguably than the .cat TLD which does not necessarily denote ‘Catalonia' in the minds of all those who encounter the extension for the first time. In the case of the .corsica TLD there will be no ambiguity.

The sense of belonging to a community which the .corsica TLD brings with it is expected to benefit registrants who feel a strong sense of attachment to the region, yet who do not have the means to reflect this at present at the level of the DNS. The TLD will contribute to defining the local and the global communities of ‘Corsicans' taking into account the full extent of their diversity and numbers.

iv. Summary of .corsica TLD registration policies in support of the goals listed above.

A comprehensive charter describing registration policies for the .corsica will be prepared and published before the commercialization of the TLD. This document will be prepared in conjunction with AFNIC and a third party consultancy, and submitted to the Corsican parliament for approval, prior to the launch of the TLD. The charter will aim to be sufficiently open to encourage large numbers of registrations from legitimate content and service providers, but sufficiently restrictive and with sufficient provisos to protect the TLD against abusive behaviour. It will contain a complete description of the procedures in case of dispute over a domain name.

1) Pioneer Phase
The Pioneer Phase will start before the new TLD has even been delegated and may be compared more to a marketing campaign. Corporate groups such as the Corsican airline Corsair and Corsica Ferries will be encouraged, during this phase, to show their support for the .corsica project by making a sponsorship-type contribution. As an example of the type of offer that could be made, in exchange for agreeing to advertise the .corsica TLD on their vessels, aircraft, buses, etc. and for a ‘sponsorship' fee of between 1,000€ and 20,000€, depending on the size of the company, the company will be given a multi-year lease of the domain name of their choice as well as opportunities to promote their brand during promotional events.

2) Sunrise period
During the Sunrise period, expected to last around 3 months, a major communications campaign will be run to draw attention to the launch of the .corsica TLD. During this period, owners of recognized brand names will be invited to pre-book their domain name or request that it is put on a ‘not for sale' list of names. The Sunrise period will be implemented in light of ICANN best practices and, in particular, the recommendations of ICANN's Intellectual Property Constituency ‘The Perfect Sunrise: How pre-launch Rights Protection Mechanisms and successful registry operations go hand in hand.' The protection of Trademark owners rights during the Sunrise Period will be duly respected. The authenticity of demands for Trademark names will be verified by means of ICANN's Trademark Clearing House. The .corsica registry will also have recourse to ICANN's Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) in cases where it appears there has been a deliberate infringement against a trademark.

During the Sunrise period Pre-registrants will need to prove that they either the right to the commercial name applied for, or that they are registered with a recognized government or industry authority. The costs for pre-booking or domain name or putting a domain name on a not-for-sale list will be determined during the .charter. Prices will be in the range of 50 to 100 euros for pre booking a name and 75 euros for putting a name on a not-for-sale list.

3) Landrush period
The Landrush period, also expected to last around 3 months, will be open to all registrants, and the basic rule for the attribution of a domain name will be ‘first come first served'. During the Landrush period, the retail price for a domain name is expected to be approximately three times the eventual price, i.e. 45 to 55 euros.

4) General Availability
With the general launch of the .corsica TLD, registrar prices for domain names will be brought down to around to around 22 euros per domain name. Registrants that meet the eligibility criteria will be able to purchase domain names on a first come first served basis.

.Corsica Users Charter

The .corsica TLD Users Charter will draw on certain aspects of AFNIC's own Charter (Charte de Nommage: Regles d'enregistrement des noms de domaines).

In summary:

1) There will be syntactic limitations with a ban on names that:
- are composed of one or two characters
- include accented letters
- start or end with a hyphen
- contain more than 255 letters

2) The principle of ‘first come first served' will be observed.

With the exception of a pre-established and publicly available list of domain names that are banned or reserved the principle of ‘first come first served' will be observed, i.e. the chronological order in which requests are received will be respected.

3) List of names requiring special approval: The .corsica registry will prepare a list of names which will require a more detailed assessment before they are registered. This list will include the names of the 360 villages across Corsica. For these types of names the registrar will need to obtain specified documents which attest to the applicant's true identity and legitimacy.

4) List of banned names: The .corsica registry will also have a list of banned names due to their offensive nature e.g. ‘nazi', ‘killer', ‘pornography',...

5) Domain names under the .corsica TLD will be held for fixed 12-month durations in accordance with the terms of reference of the naming policy.

6) The price of domain names will include setting up costs, annual maintenance and costs requiring the involvement of the registry.

7) Eligibility: the .corsica TLD will be available to individuals and corporate entities regardless of their geographic location.

8) Reachability: There will be a strict requirement for the owners of domain names to be reachable by phone or email.

v. Measures for protecting the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users

The protection of confidential information submitted by registrants and users, aside from any information that can be accessed via the ‘Whois' database, will be rigorously enforced. All personal information received in the course of registering domain names will be stored in secure databases and never communicated to third parties. The only exceptions to this protection concern requests for information that may come from the French judicial system or certain state authorities, e.g. the fiscal authorities, customs office etc..

Personal data

The treatment of all personal data in relation to the registration is subject to French legislation (Loi 78-17 of 6th January 1978) pertaining to the freedom of information. Registrars contracted to commercialise the .corsica TLD will be required to adhere to the prescriptions of this law. Duly identified owners of domain names will have the right to access all the information concerning them which may be held by the .corsica registry, AFNIC or a domain name registry, as the case may be.

Whois Data

Whois data including the information that will be required as a matter of course to identify individuals or corporate entities that have registered domain names under the .corsica TLD will be maintained by AFNIC. This service will be provided in compliance with the obligation listed in specification 4 of the registry contracts.

Outreach and communications

A multi-pronged outreach and communications campaign will be run to coincide with the delegation and launch of the .corsica TLD. This campaign will be designed and run by a third party operator to be selected following a public call for tender.

This campaign will include:

- Targeted correspondence and the organisation of meetings with the representatives of the villages of Corsica, all of whom will be given priority regarding the registration of their place name.
- Targeted correspondence and organisation of meetings with the main ICANN-Accredited Domain Name Registrars operating in France.
- Participation in Internet governance fora, notably ICANN and CENTR meetings.
- Targeted correspondence and the organisation of meetings with the representatives and business owners of the main economic sectors (tourism, wine, gastronomy).
- Setting up of a comprehensive website regarding the .corsica TLD as well as a Facebook page and Twitter account.
- Production and distribution during Internet governance meetings and other selected events of promotional merchandising products including fliers, badges, pens, mugs etc..

For the majority of domain name applications the principle of ‘first come, first served' will be observed. Hence, the strict chronological order in which applications are registered will be used to determine how names are attributed.

Should a dispute arise over the purchase and use of a domain name the ICANN approved Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) will be followed.

Accordingly, most types of trademark-based domain-name disputes must be resolved by agreement, court action, or arbitration before a registrar will cancel, suspend, or transfer a domain name. Disputes alleged to arise from abusive registrations of domain names (e.g. cybersquatting) may be addressed by expedited administrative proceedings that the holder of trademark rights initiates by filing a complaint with an approved dispute-resolution service provider.

To invoke the policy, a trademark owner will either (a) have to file a complaint in a court of proper jurisdiction against the domain-name holder (or where appropriate an in-rem action concerning the domain name) or (b) in cases of abusive registration submit a complaint to an approved dispute-resolution service provider (see below for a list and links).

ii. Cost benefits for registrants (e.g., advantageous pricing, introductory discounts, bulk registration discounts).

The .corsica Registry will function as a not-for-profit enterprise and its principal aim will be to ensure the registration of domain names in a ‘low-cost', effective, and fair manner in the interests of the community of Internet users that identify with this TLD.

A number of actions will be undertaken to encourage rapid adoption of the .corsica TLD. The pricing structure will be relatively simple with a fixed and reasonably low wholesale price for domain names, after the general launch.

Promotional campaigns and promotional offers:

During pre-pre launch ‘Pioneer' phase and the subsequent Sunrise, Landrush and General Availability phases a comprehensive communications campaign will include promotional offers targeted at specific audiences:

- The student population at the University of Corsica. All students enrolled at the university will be offered the possibility of creating a website in connection with their studies, using the domain name of their choice, under the .corsica TLD. The registration fees for the domain name will be waived for the duration of the studies and for one year after graduation. In addition, all students will be offered an email address under the .corsica TLD.

- The representatives of the 360 villages across Corsica. The Regional Government of Corsica plans to offer Corsica's 360 local mayors a registration fee waiver for the name of their commune or village under the .corsica TLD. This waiver may be extended indefinitely subject to certain guidelines regarding the use of such domain names in the interests of the local populations concerned.
- Small business owners. Likewise, specific promotional campaigns and competitions will be organised targeted at certain professions e.g. wine producers, cheese producers, local artisans, hotel managers.

The details of all discount schemes and promotional campaigns will be developed in the months prior to the launch of the TLD, with local government and private actors.

iii. Note that the Registry Agreement requires that registrars be offered the option to obtain initial domain name registrations for periods of one to ten years at the discretion of the registrar, but no greater than ten years. Additionally, the Registry Agreement requires advance written notice of price increases. Do you intend to make contractual commitments to registrants regarding the magnitude of price escalation? If so, please describe your plans.

The applicant team for the .corsica TLD has read the New gTLD Registry Agreement. Accredited Registrars commercializing the .corsica TLD will, in accordance with this Agreement, have the option of obtaining initial domain name registrations for periods of up to ten years.

Price escalation

In addition, as required by the Registry Agreement, the .corsica Registry will provide all affiliated Registrars will advance written notice of price increases - even though there are no anticipated price escalations. The expected trend, over time, will be for domain name prices to come down.

The .corsica Registry is prepared to make a firm contractual commitment to registrants regarding price escalation. The wholesale launch price for the .corsica TLD, at 22 euros, has been determined in order to ensure that the TLD is:

- Sufficiently attractive (low cost) compared with other, more generic, TLDs, and
- Sufficiently high cost to dissuade abusive registrations and favour the optimal allocation of domain names.

Over time, as registration volumes increase, it is anticipated that prices will gradually decrease.

The community to be served by the .corsica TLD is the community of Corsicans worldwide, whether they be residents of the island of Corsica, members of the Corsican Diaspora, or simply members of the wider community of Internet users with an interest in Corsica and the values that are evoked by the word ‘corsica'. It covers the global community of individuals, institutions and corporate entities that identify themselves with the island of Corsica (Corse), and/or any aspect of its cultural, historical or linguistic heritage. It is anticipated, at least in the early years of the .corsica TLD, that a majority of domain name purchases under the .corsica TLD will originate from the population of Corsica. In due course, it is anticipated that there will be as many registrations made by members of the community spread around the world. The community includes: - The population of Corsica: 302,000 as of the January 2008 census. - The Diaspora of Corsicans around the world is estimated at 800,000 (cosicadiaspora.com) - Businesses registered in Corsica: 80,000 - Non-profit associations: 2300 - Corsican businesses or other businesses promoting Corsican goods and services in other countries around the world: harder to quantify but estimated to be many thousands. But it also includes (among many other sub-communities): - The actors of the Corsican tourism sector, who use the Internet to promote the island's many tourist attraction. - The wine producers of Corsica, and the global community of Corsican wine consumers - The many Corsica enthusiasts who have visited the island and discovered a passion for a certain aspect of its culture or history. - The promoters of Corsica's unique musical heritage. - The promoters and consumers of Corsica's world renowned hams and cheeses. - The organisers of trecks and sailing expeditions across and around the island. - The societies of Corsican archeology, history, and the Corsican language. - The promoters of Corsica's youth culture. In short, the .corsica TLD will be open to all bona fide individuals, business owners and corporate entities whether they be resident on the island or abroad.

The applicant fot the .corsica TLD is the Regional Government of Corsica (Collectivité Territoriale de Corse - CTC), the democratically elected government of Corsica and, without doubt, the most legitimate entity representing the interests of the Corsican people. The Region of Corsica is one of the 22 regions of France (27 including the overseas departments). Since 1991 and the passing of an act of parliament referred to as the of ‘13th May 1991 Act', the region has enjoyed a special status with greater devolved powers and greater autonomy than is the case for the regions of mainland France. The .corsica TLD will be managed by the Government of Corsica, as a not-for-profit enterprise, for and on behalf of the local and global community of Corsicans and those individuals and corporate entities who have an attachment to the region. The decision to apply for this TLD was formalised by an act of parliament of the Corsican Assembly, in December 2011 (see documents attached). The Regional Government of Corsica is fully accountable to its people. Its primary concern is to ensure the wellbeing and economic prosperity of the Corsican people as well as the economic development of the region and the promotion of the region's assets.

The .corsica TLD will serve the worldwide community of individuals who feel an affinity with the region of Corsica in a number of ways. - Enhanced community visibility The new .corsica TLD will provide Corsican Internet service and content providers with a new means of asserting their Corsican identity. In so doing, it is expected that the .corsica TLD will serve to strengthen ties within the community of Corsicans worldwide. It is expected that many thousands of Corsicans and other individuals who identify with the region of Corsica and who use the Internet as a tool in the running of their activity or business, will seize the opportunity of a domain name under a .corsica TLD. The purpose of the .corsica TLD is to introduce at the level of the DNS a new, easily identifiable marker or tag which will serve to organise and rationalise the large volume of information and services on the Internet pertaining to one of the many aspects of Corsican life and culture. - Rationalisation of naming conventions within Corsica At the level of Corsica's government administrations and the region's utility and public service providers, the .corsica TLD will be rapidly adopted, resulting in the simplification of domain naming conventions. For example, the Regional Government's own Internet address - www.ctc.corse.fr - will be simplified to www.ctc.corsica. - University of Corsica The University of Corsica is expected to become one of the principal vectors for the promotion of the .corsica TLD. The new TLD serve to simplify the university's current naming structure (currently under the lengthy univ-corse.fr extension). As part of the communications campaign coinciding with the launch of the .corsica TLD it is anticipated that students will be given option of creating a site under the new TLD, and a .corsica email address offered to each student. - Catalyst for economic development and job creation The .corsica TLD is intended by the Government of Corsica to serve as a catalyst for local and global innovation with positive knock-on effects for the region and people of Corsica in terms of enterprise development (e.g. through increase in the number of local registrars and diversification of services provided by ISPs) and job creation. In addition, in the medium to long-term, as soon as income from domain name sales exceeds the annual cost of the technical operator and ICANN fees, all funds used to purchase a .corsica domain will remain in the Corsican economy thereby contributing to local economic development.

The relationship between the applied for .corsica gTLD and the global community of individuals, institutions and corporate entities that identify themselves with the island of Corsica (Corse) is direct: the .corsica TLD is applied-for for the community of Corsicans. The word ‘corsica' is the most instantly recognizable term to refer to the island of Corsica. It is the word used by the Corsicans themselves, in their native Corsu language, not to mention other major languages including English, Italian, Dutch.. For the people of Corsica, and the broader international community of individuals who feel a sense of belonging to the island of Corsica, or Corsican culture, it is a term that will have instant significance. The .corsica TLD will be administered in an non-exclusive manner and made available to content providers on the Internet who feel an affinity with the island, its history or its people. Risk of conflict with other communities using the name ‘Corsica' Research carried out as part of the feasibility study for the .corsica TLD concluded that there are very few other ‘community' uses of the word ‘corsica'. Hence, the risk of a rival bid, or that the .corsica TLD should be contested is considered to be negligible. Corporate use of the word ‘corsica': There are many instances of the use of the word ‘Corsica' as part the brand name, for example: - Corsica Ferries: the name of one of the main ferry companies operating out of Corsica. - Air Corsica: a local Corsican airline - Chevrolet Corsica: the name given to a particular car model. - Gites Corsica: The Corsican branch of the Gites de France site which organises holiday rental accommodation. - Corsica Radio (www.corsicaradio.com): A local radio station broadcasting traditional Corsican music. In-depth analysis using tools such as Google Trends regarding search statistics including the word ‘corsica' reveals that more than 99% of search concern the island of Corsica. Searches with the word ‘corsica' systematically peak during the summer months and the high tourist season. Searches using the word ‘corsica' predominantly originate in Corsica itself, mainland France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom.

A comprehensive charter describing registration policies for the .corsica will be prepared and published before the commercialization of the TLD in late 2013, early 2014. This document will be prepared in conjunction with AFNIC and a third party consultancy, and submitted to the Corsican parliament for approval, prior to the launch of the TLD. The charter will aim to be sufficiently open encourage large numbers of registrations from legitimate content and service providers, but sufficiently restrictive and with sufficient provisos to protect the TLD against all types of abusive behaviour. It will contain a complete description of the procedures in case of dispute over a domain name. The launch of the .corsica TLD will be split into three phases: a Sunrise period, a Landrush period, and General Availability period. 1) Sunrise period During the Sunrise period, expected to last around 3 months, an important communications campaign will be run to draw attention to the imminent delegation of the .corsica TLD. During this period, owners of recognized brand names will be invited to pre-book their domain name or request that it is put on a ‘not for sale' list of names. The Sunrise period will be implemented in light of ICANN best practices and, in particular, the recommendations of ICANN's Intellectual Property Constituency ‘The Perfect Sunrise: How pre-launch Rights Protection Mechanisms and successful registry operations go hand in hand.' During the Sunrise period Pre-registrants will need to prove that they either the right to the commercial name applied for, or that they are registered with a recognized government or industry authority. The costs for pre-booking a domain name or putting a domain name on a not-for-sale list will be determined in the .Corsica Users Charter. Prices will be in the range of 50 to 100 euros for pre booking a name and 75 euros for putting a name on a not-for-sale list. 2) Landrush period The Landrush period, also expected to last around 3 months, will be open to all registrants, and the basic rule for the attribution of a domain name will be ‘first come first served'. During the Landrush period, the retail price for a domain name is expected to be approximately three times the eventual price, i.e. 45 to 55 euros. 3) General Availability With the general launch of the .corsica TLD, registrar prices for domain names will be brought down to around to around 15 euros per domain name. Registrants that meet the eligibility criteria will be able to purchase domain names on a first come first served basis. .Corsica Users Charter The .corsica TLD Users Charter will draw on certain aspects of AFNIC's own Charter (Charte de Nommage: Regles d'enregistrement des noms de domaines). In summary: 1) There will be syntactic limitations with a ban on names: - that are composed of one or two characters - that include accented letters - that start or end with a hyphen - that contain more than 255 letters 2) The principle of ‘first come first served' will be observed. With the exception of a pre-established and publicly available list of domain names that are banned or reserved the principle of ‘first come first served' will be obseved, i.e. the chronological order in which requests are received will be respected. 3) List of names requiring special approval The .corsica registry will prepare a list of names which will require a more detailed assessment before they are registered. This list will include the names of the 360 communes and villages across Corsica. For these types of names the registrar will need to obtain certain specified documents which attest to the applicant's true identity and legitimacy. (See attached list of names requiring special approval). 4) List of banned names The .corsica registry will also have a list of banned names due to their offensive nature e.g. ‘nazi', ‘killer', ‘rape',... 5) Domain names under the .corsica TLD will be held for fixed durations (typically 12 months) in accordance with the terms of reference of the naming policy. 6) The price of domain names will include setting up costs, annual maintenance and costs requiring the involvement of the registry. 7) The basic, ‘wholesale' price for a domain name will be published on the registry's Internet site. 8) Eligibility: the .corsica TLD will be available to individuals and corporate entities regardless of their geographic location. 9) Reachability: There will be a strict requirement for the owners of domain names to be reachable by phone or email.

The .corsica Registry will not register, delegate, use or otherwise make available geographic names to any third party, but reserves the right to register such names in its own name in order to withhold them from delegation or use.

Except to the extent that ICANN otherwise expressly authorizes in writing, the .corsica Registry Operator will reserve names formed with the following labels from initial (i.e. other than renewal) registration within the TLD.

In conformity with GAC recommendations, a set of procedures will be defined for blocking, at no cost and upon demand of governments, public authorities or IGOs, names with national or geographic significance at the second level.

The country and territory names contained in the following internationally recognized lists shall be initially reserved at the second level and at all other levels within the TLD at which the Registry Operator provides for registrations:

- The short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, including the European Union, which is exceptionally reserved on the ISO 3166-1 List, and its scope extended in August 1999 to any application needing to represent the name European Union:
http://www.iso.org/iso/support/country_codes/iso_3166_code_lists/iso-3166-1_decoding_table.htm#EU

-The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardization of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of the World. This lists the names of 193 independent States generally recognized by the international community in the language or languages used in an official capacity within each country and is current as of August 2006:
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/ungegn/docs/pubs/UNGEGN%20tech%20ref%20manual_m87_combined.pdf

- List of UN member states in 6 official UN languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the standardization of Geographical Names:
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/9th-UNCSGN-Docs/E-CONF-98-89- Add1.pdf

However, the registry recognises that there may be cases where a request to register and use a geographic name at the second level should be considered valid.

Examples of such cases are:

- The Regional Government of Corsica may wish to register a geographic-name.corsica domain for its own use as part of an official event organised in the region and referencing the geographic region in said domain name.
- The geographic regionʹs public authority wishes to register the domain name for its own use.

In all cases, whether it is the registry operator wishing to register a geographical name for official or public service use, or whether it is an individual applicant, the .corsica Registry is committed to obtaining the approval of the relevant authority.

For registration requests from the relevant public authority, the registry operator will put in place the procedure agreed between the GAC and Afilias for the Dot INFO gTLD as referenced in the letter written by Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi, GAC Chair, on Sept 9, 2003.

For any other request to register a geographic name, the applicant will be required to provide the .corsica Registry with proof of non-objection or support from the relevant public authority. Once this has been submitted and verified, requests of this kind will be handled on a case-by-case basis only by registry operator.

The .corsica Registry does plan to monitor the use of geographic names below the second level (i.e. subdomain used by a .corsica domain name registrant), as the procedures that would be needed to monitor this are considered too complex and expensive. Traditional dispute resolution procedures or legal procedures exist to address such cases.

-Technical implementation of the protection of geographic names:

The .corsica registry will use its own reserved terms database. The purpose of this database, in addition to protecting the defined set of terms, will be to allow actions (creations, updates, deletions), user rights (consult or edit) and traceability (history of actions) for each term it contains.

During the registration of a domain name, the checker placed on the Shared Registry System (SRS) will use two types of checks on the requested terms. The first type of checks is based on syntax; the second on semantics. The reserved terms database is part of the second type of tests, based on semantics.

The reserved terms database will be used in the Shared Registry System (SRS) during its semantics checks only if the domain name request has successfully passed the syntax checks.

The database table will allow the classification of terms it contains by category. The categories will allow the registry to identify different types of terms (geographic names, religious terms, cultural...). In the case of geographic names the categories in the database will allow sub-classifications such as country names or city names.

The checker placed on the SRS will apply the semantics checks to a domain name request using the registry's policies translated into technical rules. The SRS checker will use the reserved terms database to verify the presence or not of the term in its table and act accordingly. If the term and its category are present in the database the SRS checker will apply the registry's policy of blocking the registration unless a valid authorization code is presented.

For example If "france" is requested by a registrar for registration without a valid authorization code the SRS checker will verify if the term and its category are present in the reserved terms database. The database will indicate that "france" is present in its tables under the "country" category. The SRS checker will then reject the creation request.

- Unblocking a reserved term through an authorization code mechanism:

In order to create a domain name containing a reserved term for a registrant, registrars will need to fill out an online form protected by a captcha code. This form will require the registrar to fill out the requested domain name, the registrant information (nic-handle) and the reason or legitimate interest within a maximum of 4000 characters.

The reserved term request will automatically be sent to the Registry's back office into a queue for human validation by one of the registry's validation agents. If the legitimate interest of the domain registrant is enough evidence that the domain creation complies with the registry's policies the validation agent will generate an authorization code that will be sent by email to the registrar that made the request.

For security reasons the registrar's email address on which the authorization code is sent to will be the one defined as the NOC email address.

For additional security reasons the .corsica Registry has decided that this authorization code will be valid on the SRS for a maximum of 15 days. After 15 days the authorization code will expire and a new request will be necessary to retrieve a new authorization code.

The code generated by the Registry's validation agent can only be used for a domain name creation of the requested term for the requested registrant by the requesting registrar. Meaning that an authorization code cannot be used by another registrar or for another holder (identified by its nic-handle).

In case the request does not comply with the registry's policies or if the given information is not sufficient to generate an authorization code, the validation agent will ask the registrar for complementary information. The registrar will have 15 days to answer and provide sufficient information and or complementary documentation to the registry's validation agent. After 15 days without sufficient information or documents, the authorization code request will be abandoned.

Once the registrar receives an authorization code from the registry's validation agent, the registrar will have 15 days to initiate a creation operation on the requested reserved term. This authorization code will be fully compatible with the registry's EPP interface and used during a creation operation as the auth_info code (see question 24 on EPP).

When the domain name creation operation with the valid authorization code is initiated by the registrar the SRS checker will automatically verify the code, the holder and the requesting registrar with the information contained in the registry's back office. If the data is correct the creation operation will be processed like any regular domain name creation.

Procedures regarding Corsican geographic names.

The names of the two main cities of Corsica, Ajaccio and Bastia, will be protected at the second level. A set of procedures will be developed and included in the naming charter for the .corsica TLD to ensure that only the democratically elected representatives of these two cities can apply for the creation second level domains using the names ‘ajaccio' and ‘bastia'.

The names of the 360 communes and villages of Corsica will be restricted at the second level for 24 months after the launch of the .corsica TLD. During this ‘sunrise' period only the elected representatives of the communes and towns in question will be able to apply for these domain names. Price incentives will be put in place to encourage mayors and/or other official representatives to acquire the name of their village or commune at the second level. It is planned to allow the representatives of villages and communes to acquire their corresponding domain names, indefinitely, for a one-off, non-renewable fee.