.gmbh Pre-Register Domain - .gmbh Domain Information

* DEFINITIONS *

GmbH, abbreviation for „Gesellschaft mit beschraenkter Haftung"(English: company with limited liability) is the most common type of legal entity in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. The name of the GmbH form emphasizes the fact that the partners (Gesellschafter, also known as members) of the entity are not personally liable for the companyʹs debts. The laws governing this type of legal entity (GmbH-Gesetz - GmbHG) were adopted in Germany in 1892, in Austria in 1906 and in Liechtenstein and Switzerland in 1936.

Companies with the "GmbH" type of legal entity are mandatory listed in the respective company registers of Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, which are governed by the respective Chambers of Commerce in the countries. The highest institutions responsible for the term GmbH are the governments of the countries.

More than 1.4 mio. companies with the legal form of a GmbH are currently registered in
Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.


* MISSION *

The mission for the .GMBH top-level domain is to provide a dedicated namespace that is intended to be used by GMBHs.

The .GMBH is the independent top-level domain for companies which are allowed to use GmbH as denotation of their legal entity (the Community). The domain names available with the .GMBH top-level domain are concise and create an individual identity for companies with this legal form. The .GMBH domain names will bring providers and
customers of information, goods and services more intuitively together. The .GMBH domain names will lead to an improved image and attractiveness and will strengthen the legal form GmbH against other legal forms.


* PURPOSE *

The purpose of the .GMBH top-level domain is to serve the needs of the companies with this type of legal entity (the Community). The Community consists of companies that are at the time of registration and consecutively during the registration duration registered as a GmbH in the company registers of Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and
Switzerland (the Members). Associated to the community are the company registers and the institutions responsible for legislation of GmbHs.

The needs of the Members of the GmbH Community are

- new and precise domain names which offer an alternative for the company's identity to the overcrowded namespaces .at, .ch, .de and .li.
- descriptive domain names which lead to competitive advantages by better search engine positions
- short domain names that are ideal for communication and advertising
- validated domain names that lead to greater trust in business with customers

The purpose in order to serve the needs incorporates a reasonable name space management including (i) the reservation and delegation of domain names for institutions relevant for GmbHs and their purposes such as company register services, (ii) measures to mitigate domain grabbing, cybersquatting, speculation and other unlawful activities and (iii) measures to facilitate intuitive search for the public.

TLDDOT GmbH, the applicant, has worked at any time since its existence with the GmbH Community, its Members, and the regulatory authorities to incorporate their interests.

i.

* SPECIALITY: An own namespace for the GmbH Community *

The speciality of the .GMBH top-level domain is, that it aims to become a new namespace exclusively dedicated for the communication and interaction of GmbH companies (the Community) among each other, with customers and Internet users in general.


* SERVICE LEVEL: A Quality Seal *

The Registry will offer a voluntary quality seal by which the Registrant may show to the public that he operates a trusted website and that he has been validated.


* REPUTATION: Secure and trustworthy Namespace *

The .GMBH namespace managed under the legislation of Germany and technically operated by
TLD-Box, an affiliate of the operator of the Austrian ccTLD .at, brings with it security, reliability, trust and credibility in an even higher level than already established by the national ccTLDs. The registration policies and the start-up planning ensure that only Community members may register a .GMBH domain name. Internet users can trust the ownership data 100% since all Registrants and domain names will be validated. This is a service level that is sought after by the global Internet community and which will contribute to the already positive reputation of the .GmbH namespace.


ii.

* COMPETITION - New choice in overcrowded namespaces *

When starting a new business in Germany with the legal form of a GmbH 67% of the companies do not get the desired domain name corresponding to their company names and need to choose a second- or third-best choice domain name according to a study we conducted in 2008. Many of the remaining 33% of companies choose a company name in dependence of the availability of a domain name or else need to buy the desired domain name on the domain aftermarket.

This is due to the overcrowded namespaces in .de (app. 15 mio domain names), .at (app.
1,1 mio), .ch (app. 1,8 mio) and also in the gTLD namespaces like .com or .org. And the situation is even getting worse over time, with a growing number of GmbHs, Internet users and domain names.

Not getting a good domain name which equates the company name means a competitive disadvantage for a new company right from the start, sometimes a severe one.
The .GmbH top-level domain name promises relief from this situation by offering a new namespace where short, descriptive, memorable, intuitive and suitable new domain names for GmbH companies will become available again.

Even if the price for a .GmbH domain name will be higher than a .de or .com one, the competitive advantages a company may gain from a suitable domain name will outpace a higher price by far. For more than 1.4 mio. GmbH existing companies .GmbH domain names will be an ideal supplement to their gTLDs and ccTLDs portfolio. Imagine that it might be much easier for a company to communicate ABC GmbH instead of ABC Service GmbH as a company name if they register abc.gmbh.


* DIFFERENTIATION - A speaking TLD with validated Registrants *

The .GMBH top-level domain and its .GMBH domain names are clearly differentiated to existing TLDs due to their descriptive and speaking nature which has a clear meaning and value to the targeted Registrants and Internet users: This is a GmbH company's domain name.

By validation of each single Registrant upon registration of a .GmbH domain name and an annual revalidation, the .GMBH namespace will offer security, reliability, trust and credibility in an even higher level than already established by the national ccTLDs. Internet users can trust the ownership data 100% since all Registrants are validated. This is not the case with the national ccTLDs and definitely not the case with gTLDs, where apart from the missing validation, proxy and/or privacy services complicates to identify the registrant.

Aim of the Registry is to reach 100% Whois accuracy.


* INNOVATION - The Domain Name Quality Seal (DNQS)*

After registration of a .GmbH domain name the Registry will offer to the Registrant a quality seal which the Registrant may place at its website to show that he is a validated domain name owner. The quality seal will have a displayed lifetime of one (1)
year and will be re-issued after revalidation of the Registrants eligibility. This is an absolute novelty in the domain name business. We are further planning to support the
GmbH Community Members by innovative services such as making websites more easy accessible for mobile devices, offering directory services and search engine optimization. The new .GMBH domain names will be suitable for search engines and other forms of communication.


iii.

Internet users in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland will intuitively understand that domain names ending on .GMBH and the information and services found on such domain names are offered by GmbH companies. The intuitive and descriptive domain names under a "speaking TLD" like .GMBH will enable consumers to navigate and search
more easily for information and services from GmbH companies on the Internet. It is also expected that search engines will give ranking preference to .GMBH domain names compared to other TLDs, if the .GMBH namespace is managed well and offers advantages over other TLDs. This will increase the visibility along with the strong marketing efforts for



.GMBH. But still the strongest argument is that the validated domain names will lead to greater trust in information and services offered by GmbH Companies.


iv.

.GMBH second-level domain names are restricted to the GmbH Community Members and regulatory authorities (Registrants). The Registry intends to offer the registration of domain names under .GMBH according to the following policies.


* START-UP and ALLOCATION SCHEDULE *

The .GMBH top-level domain will have a straight forward start-up schedule with the phases noted below:

Phase 1 - RESERVATION
- Reservation of names for the regulatory authorities, courts and institutions and their services to the GmbH Community Members such as a company register or legislative information.
- Reservation of names for defined interest groups of the GmbH Community including names for associations and chambers representing GmbH companies and their interests.
- Reservation of names for the technical operation, the namespace management, marketing and purpose of the .GMBH top-level domain as defined in #18a.
- Reservation of names in accordance with the ICANN specification 5 (2-characters, country names, others)

Phase 2 - SUNRISE
Sunrise according to the Trademark Clearinghouse rules. Eligible are all registrants who meet the eligibility criteria of .GMBH described below and whose trademarks were validated by the Trademark Clearinghouse. The TMCH Sunrise has a duration of 30 days; allocation follows the first-come, first-served principle.

Phase 3 - LANDRUSH
Registration of domains names that are corresponding with the name of registered GmbH company names by GmbH companies. Allocation follows the first-come, first-served principle.


*** .GmbH Registration Policy Description ***

The following text is a shortened and descriptive version of the full registration policy text which highlights the relevant information.

1 Structure of the namespace
This section will describe the structure of the namespace.
The namespace under .GMBH is not divided into second-level domain names.

2 Registrable characters
This section will describe the registrable characters
A .GMBH domain name can only consist of digits (0-9), hyphens, the letters a through z, the Latin Unicode character sets (Basic, Extended-A and Extended-B).

3 Priority Principle
This section will describe the priority principle
If no special allocation method is provided for a domain name, it is assigned categorically to this eligible Registrant whose application has been first received by the Registry in the technically correct manner and in accordance with the registration policy and has been first written in the Registry database (also called priority principle, ʺfirst come, first servedʺ).


4 Eligibility Requirements - General
This section will describe the general eligibility requirements for registering a .GmbH
domain name.

With the registration of a .GMBH domain name each Registrant implicitly signs the registration requirements and agrees with the fact that he acknowledges compliance with the registration requirements.

5 Eligibility Requirements - Registrant
This section will describe the eligibility requirements applicable to the registrant. The .GMBH top-level domain is intended to serve the GmbH Community. To meet the requirements of ICANN to a community-based designation of the top-level domain and to meet a sufficient reference to the legal form GmbH, the group of Registrants is limited.

6 Eligibility Requirements - Content and Use
This section will describe the eligibility requirements applicable to content and use. To meet the requirements of ICANN to a community-based designation of the of the top- level domain, the Registrant must satisfy criteria for the content and the use of .GMBH domain names.

7 Eligibility Requirements - Domain Name Selection
This section will describe the eligibility requirements applicable to the domain name selection.
To meet the requirements of ICANN to a community-based designation of the top-level domain, the Registrant must satisfy the criteria for the domain name selection of .GMBH domain names.

8 Registration Agreement
This section will describe the registration agreement
The contract for the registration of the domain is entered into between the Registrant and a Registrar accredited by ICANN.

9 Registration
This section will describe the registration procedure.
The domain name registration of a Registrant is electronically sent by the Registrar to the registration system of the Registry using the EPP protocol.

10 Transfer of Domain Names
This section will describe the transfer of domain names
Domain names can be transferred only to applicants who are eligible to register .GMBH
domain names and fulfill all eligibility requirements.

11 Whois
This section will describe the Whois requirements.
The administrative contact of a .GMBH domain shown in the Whois database (Admin Contact) has to be a natural person who as an agent for the domain owner (Registrant Contact) has the right and obligation to make binding decisions on all matters concerning the domain.

12 Phased Registration
This section will describe the registration schedule.
The holders of prior rights enjoying protection are eligible to register domain names during the phased registration first phase, the ʺTrademark Clearinghouseʺ Sunrise period, before the free registration (Landrush) for the top-level domain .GMBH begins.

13 Enforcement, Termination and Deletion
This section will describe the enforcement, termination and deletion procedures.

The Registry is entitled to lock, cancel, initiate the gTLD-deletion cycle or transfer domain names that do not meet the registration criteria if …

14 Dispute Procedures
This section will describe the dispute procedures.
To prevent bad faith registration and use of domain names under the top-level domain
.GMBH, every domain name Registrant has to subject to the dispute resolution procedure proposed by ICANN or the Registry (UDRP, URS, PDDRP and the Eligibility Requirements Dispute Resolution Policy (ERDRP)).

15 Validation
This section will describe the validation of .GmbH domain names.
It is the role of the Registry to assure and control the compliance with the eligibility requirements for any domain name to guarantee the Community aspect and integrity of the
.GMBH namespace and to avoid disputes.


v.

The use of proxy and privacy services to protect the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users will be not allowed. The reasons are that legal entities such as a GmbH cannot demand privacy under the Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland legislation and that proxy and privacy services would not allow a proper validation and
a public visibility of accurate Whois data in line with the eligibility criteria.


vi.

The applicant has already conducted manifold outreach regarding the benefit of the upcoming new GmbH namespace including

- speeches at public target group events, such as from the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, investment forums and at other occasions,
- publications together with industry associations and chambers about .GmbH,
- presentation of .GmbH in constituencies of industry associations and chambers,
- presentation of .GmbH in front of politicians,
- publically on its intuitively accessible website www.dotgmbh.de and at ICANN meetings,
- by press releases.

In preparation of the forthcoming launch and beyond the Registry will use its network of national associations, multipliers, media and advertising partners to promote .GMBH in order to reach the projected domain name registrations and to transport the benefits of
.GMBH to the farest corner of the Community.

For the .GMBH top-level domain, the Registry will cooperate closely with the media departments of chambers and associations, as well as with a number of publishing and broadcast partners from the Community, in order to plan and implement a comprehensive communication strategy with the aim to gain awareness within the GmbH Community. We will continue to communicate the benefits of .GMBH domains names within the community. We are confident that our broad outreach program, which is part of our marketing efforts, will help us to achieve the projected benefits of .GMBH.

i.

All available .GMBH domain names will be registerable on a "first-come, first-served" basis, except of reserved names. All allocations mechanisms shall be in accordance with the community-based purpose of .GMBH. The reserved names in Phase 1 (see #18b iv) have special allocation mechanisms as described as follows:

- Names for the regulatory authorities, courts and institutions will be released by the
Registry upon request of the entity for their own use.



- Names for defined interest groups of the GmbH Community including names for associations and chambers representing GmbH companies will be released by the Registry upon request of the entity for their own use.
- Reservation of names for the technical operation, the namespace management, marketing and purpose of the .GMBH top-level domain as definded in #18a. These names will be released by the Registry for its own use.
- Reservation of names for the technical operation, the namespace management, marketing and purpose of the .GMBH top-level domain as defined in #18a.
- Reservation of names in accordance with the ICANN specification 5. These domain names may be released based on ICANN defined procedures and can be registered by eligible registrants.
- Disputed Domain Names - The Registry may set aside during regular operations domain names that are being reviewed under dispute resolution procedures. These domain names may become available for registration after the dispute is concluded.


ii.

As of today no cost benefits are planned. However, the Registry will, in its own discretion and depended on the development of the .GMBH namespace, decide to implement cost benefits, if appropriate.


iii.

.GMBH domain names will be available through ICANN accredited registrars who will be provided non-discriminatory access to registry services. The registration period for Sunrise and general availability will have a term of one to ten years.
The Registry reserves the right to reduce pricing for promotional purposes in a manner available to all accredited registrars. The Registry reserves the right to work with ICANN to initiate an increase in the wholesale price of domains if required. The Registry will provide reasonable notice to the registrars of any approved price increase.

* DELINEATION * The GmbH Community and its members are clearly and sharply delineated because they (i) are all entities, (ii) are all registered in official registers and (iii) are operating, representing or overseeing a company or companies with the legal form of a GmbH as described in #18. The GmbH Community includes regulatory authorities, courts, institutions, associations, chambers and the GmbH companies tehmselves. The core of the community are the companies with the legal form of a GmbH. * STRUCTURE and ORGANIZIATION * The GmbH Community is well organized along the lines of the following model: Layer 1 - Governments (Oversight) The governments of Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland are the guardian and oversight and regulatory bodies of the national legislation regarding companies with the legal form of a GmbH. The governments have also installed the official company registers where GmbH companies need to be registered and operate services regarding administrative needs of GmbH companies. Layer 2 - Chambers and Associations (Representation) Chambers and associations play an important role in the distribution and dissemination of information from the legislative bodies of layer 1 to the GmbH companies and in the lobbying of the interests of GmbH companies in the public and opposite to the governments. In some countries like Austria and Germany the GmbH companies are mandatory member of a chamber. Layer 3 - The GmbH companies (Operation) These are the sole companies with the legal form of a GmbH. * General * A GmbH is formed in three stages: the founding association, which is regarded as a private partnership with full liability of the founding partners/members; the founded company (often styled as ʺGmbH i.G.ʺ, with ʺi.G.ʺ standing for in Gründung - literally ʺin the founding stagesʺ, with the meaning of ʺregistration pendingʺ); and finally the fully registered GmbH. Only the registration of the company in the Commercial Register (Handelsregister) provides the GmbH with its full legal status. The founding act and the articles of association have to be notarized. The GmbH law outlines the minimum content of the articles of association, but it is quite common to have a wide range of additional rules in the articles. * ESTABLISHMENT and ACTIVITIES * The GmbH Community as described above exists since over 100 years in Austria and Germany and over 70 years in Liechtenstein and Switzerland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gmbh). The activities of the GmbH Community include all facets of political and economic activities with regards to GmbH's including legislation, parliamentary hearing, large events and conferences, publication of information, annual reports, scientific research and others. The topic of GmbH companies is integral part of the daily business in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. * SIZE, MEMBERSHIP and GEOGRAPHIC EXTENT * The GmbH Community comprises of about 1.4 million companies with the legal form of a GmbH in in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, thereof about 1.15 million in Germany. The membership to the Community is clearly regulated by law in all the countries - you can only operate a GmbH and be member of the GmbH Community if you are officially registered. The publication of the registration data (GmbH business number) is done differently in the countries but all registers are publicly accessible. An additional membership to the national or local Chambers of Commerce and Industry with individual costs is mandatory in Austria and German, not in Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

* RELATIONSHIP TO COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS * The applicant, TLDDOT GmbH, is a member of the community since it is registered as a GmbH with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Berlin (IHK zu Berlin) with the registration number HRB 124498 as mentioned in the applicant profile. TLDDOT GmbH is also member of the largest association representing the interests of GmbH companies, the BVMW (The German Association for Small and Medium-sized Businesses). The Berlin-based BVMW is a politically independent association which caters for all commercial branches and professions, and represents the interests of small and medium- sized businesses in politics, with administrative authorities, with trade unions and with major companies. The BVWM has around 80.000 GmbHs as members. By this the applicant, TLDDOT GmbH, is a member that is eligible according to the GmbH Community criteria. * RELATIONSHIP TO THE COMMUNITY PARTS * The applicant, TLDDOT GmbH, has a relationship to all layers of the GmbH Community structure as described in #20a. 1. TLDDOT GmbH maintains a long-standing relationship to the governments in Austria, Germany and Switzerland via the members of the Governmental Advisory Committee at ICANN (Liechtenstein is represented by Switzerland), and has consulted with them on the creation of the .GmbH namespace. TLDDOT GmbH has various other contacts to governmental representatives. The government of Germany has already pre-reserved several names for its reserved names list under .GmbH. 2. TLDDOT GmbH and its managers maintain also relationships to other organizations representing GmbH companies, such as the Deutsche Industrie- und Handelskammer (www.dihk.de), Wirtschaftskammer Österreich (www.wko.at), Association of Berlin Merchants and Manufacturers e.V. (www.vbki.de), medianet Berlin-Brandenburg e.V. (www.medianet-bb.de), Unternehmerverband Berlin-Brandenburg e.V. (www.uv-berlin.de), eco Verband der deutschen Internetwirtschaft e.V. (the association for the German Internet economy, www.eco.de), BITKOM - Bundesverband Informationswirtschaft, Telekommunikation und neue Medien e.V. (the German association for information technology, telecommunications and new media, www.bitkom.org). 3. TLDDOT is a GmbH itself. * ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISMS * 1. Advisory Board The applicants advisory board will be set up in 2012, it has a consultative and supporting position for the approval activities and for the subsequent operation of the top-level domain .GMBH. The advisory board also helps to anchor, in a socially responsible way, the top-level domain .GMBH in the GmbH Community made up of political, commercial, cultural, social and individual interests. It also advises the Registry on policies such as the issuing of domains, taking account of the various interests fairly and transparently. The heterogeneous composition of the advisory board can make use of a variety of experience, knowledge and contacts. The advisory board includes (in alphabetic order): - Ruediger Eisele - In-house counsel of the BVMW (German Association for Small and Medium-sized Businesses) - Dr. Hagen Hultzsch - Former ICANN director and former member of the management board of Deutsche Telekom AG - Hans-Joachim Reck - Managing Director of the VKU (Association of municipal Companies in Germany) 2. Annual Reports The Registry will publish annual reports on operations of the .GMBH top-level domain and inform the public on other relevant developments in the .GMBH name space. 3. Ombudsman The Registry will establish an ombudsman. 4. Education The Registry will publish educational papers, speeches and other public awareness creating measures (already ongoing). * DISCLOSURE * Shareholder of the applicant is the ICANN accredited Registrar PSI USA Inc/InterNetX GmbH.

* REGISTRANTS * Eligible and intended registrants of .GMBH domain names are - companies which are at the time of registration registered as with the legal form of a GmbH (including mbh, gGmbH, GesmbH and Ges.m.b.H.) in an official company register in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland or any other country where the registration of a GmbH company may be allowed, and - regulatory authorities and institutions in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland that are involved in any proceedings regarding companies with the legal form of a GmbH, and - registered associations and chambers representing GmbH companies and their interests * END-USERS * Intended users of .GMBH second-level domain names are members of the GMBH Community and Internet users worldwide which are looking for GmbH related information especially targeting Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland. * ACTIVITIES * The applicant has carried out a set of activities to support the purpose of the .GMBH TLD. The most important activities included the consulting with the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) and the Austrian Business Chamber (WKO) in order to define eligible Registrants as well other policies regarding Registrant validation, reserved names and other topics. Both chambers have, on a daily basis, major tasks with the foundation, maintenance and deletion of GmbH companies. The applicant spoke with many community members in the respective countries, discussed the concept for a .GMBH TLD, the benefits, usage and prices. Furthermore the applicant has conducted outreach regarding the benefit of the upcoming new GmbH namespace including - speeches at public target group events, such as from the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, investment forums and at other occasions, - publications together with industry associations and chambers about .GmbH, - presentation of .GmbH in constituencies of industry associations and chambers, - presentation of .GmbH in front of politicians, - publically on its intuitively accessible website www.dotgmbh.de and on ICANN meetings, - by press releases. Other activities that are intended to serve the purpose of the .GMBH namespace included the definition of safeguards to avoid and mitigate domain grabbing, cybersquatting, speculation and other unlawful activities as well as policies against domain name abuse and an Eligibility Requirements Dispute Resolution Policy (ERDRP). * LASTING PURPOSE * It is not expected that the legal form of a GmbH will disappear within the next decade in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland. In opposite, the countries are doing everything to make the legal form or a GmbH more attractive against its competitor, the Limited (Ltd.), e.g. in Germany the requirements to found a GmbH have been modernized (Gesetz zur Modernisierung des GmbH-Rechts und zur Bekämpfung von Missbräuchen - MoMiG). By this the basis for the .GmbH business will even grow. The .GMBH top-level domain and its purpose are of a long-lasting nature since digital marketing and distribution and individual digital addresses (domain names) have become an integral component of general business and individual and personal practices and thereby also for the .GMBH Community as a whole. It is foreseeable and anticipated that digital instruments and tools such as .GMBH domain names will play an ever increasing role for any society's interaction within the next decade and beyond. The .GMBH top- level domain will thereby serve the GmbH Community and its members in a lasting nature and will fulfill its purpose of providing validated, meaningful and easily recognizable domain names.

* RELATIONSHIP TO THE COMMUNITY * The proposed top-level domain name, "GMBH", is without any doubt widely known among the general public as the most often used legal form of a legal form designation of companies. All companies with the ending "GmbH" have to be registered before using the name. Therefore there is a very strong relationship between the applied-for string and the name of the community. * RELATIONSHIP TO THE COMMUNITY MEMBERS * The .GMBH Community Members are over 1.4 million companies that are currently using GmbH as their legal form. There cannot hardly be a stronger relationship between those entities and the applied-for string, since the string "Gmbh" identifies their legal representation. * FURTHER CONNOTATIONS * The string "GMBH" has to the applicant's knowledge no further connotations.

* .GmbH Registration Policy Description (community-relevant part)* The following text is a shortened and descriptive version of the full registration policy text which highlights the relevant information. 4 Eligibility Requirements - General With the registration of a .GMBH domain name each Registrant implicitly signs the registration requirements and agrees with the fact that he acknowledges compliance with the registration requirements. However, it is validated on the discretion of the Registry if the registration of every single domain name registration fulfills the registration requirements (eligibility). Eligibility is necessary on both, the Registrant's identity and the domain name selection. Additionally anyone can check the compliance with the registration requirements by initiating an extrajudicial dispute resolution procedure (Eligibility Requirements Dispute Resolution Policy, ERDRP). 5 Eligibility Requirements - Registrant The .GMBH top-level domain is intended to serve the GmbH Community. To meet the requirements of ICANN to a community-based designation of the top-level domain and to meet a sufficient reference to the legal form GmbH, the group of Registrants is limited. Exclusively eligible to register domain names under the top-level domain .GMBH are: - companies which are at the time of registration of a .GmbH domain name registered with the legal form of a GmbH (including mbh, gGmbH, GesmbH and Ges.m.b.H.) in an official company register in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland or any other country where the registration of a GmbH company may be allowed, - regulatory authorities and institutions in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland that are involved in any proceedings or functions regarding companies with the legal form of a GmbH, and - registered associations and chambers representing GmbH companies and their interests. Not eligible are companies that - have the legal form of a GmbH & Co. KG or comparable legal forms where the GmbH is not the constitutive legal entity, or - GmbH companies in foundation (GmbH i.Gr.), or - GmbH companies after filing an insolvency notice, - companies with the legal form of a Unternehmergesellschaft (UG). In the event a Registrant's GmbH company has been deleted from the Company Register the Registrant must delete the domain name at latest at the next annual renewal date. In the event a Registrant changes the GmbH company's name or the object of a company the registered domain name must still fulfill the registration requirements or must be deleted otherwise at latest at the next annual renewal date. It's in the discretion of the Registrant not to lead to the conclusion that a not existing GmbH exists. 6 Eligibility Requirements - Content and Use To meet the requirements of ICANN to a community-based designation of the top-level domain, the Registrant must satisfy the following criteria for the content and the use of .GMBH domain names: (i) The contents of the website must be accessible under a domain directly related to the eligibility requirements (Registrant, Content and Use, Domain Name Selection), and (ii) the domain must be in use within 12 months of registration. 7 Eligibility Requirements - Domain Name Selection To meet the requirements of ICANN to a community-based designation of the top-level domain, the Registrant must satisfy the following criteria for the domain name selection of .GMBH domain names: A .GmbH domain name selected in the discretion of the Registrant must correspond either - fully or in relevant parts with the company's name or - with goods and services as mentioned in the corporate purpose of a company as mentioned in Company Register concerned. It is up to Registrant to define which parts of the company's name are relevant. 12 Enforcement, Termination and Deletion The Registry is entitled to lock, cancel, initiate the gTLD-deletion cycle or transfer domain names that do not meet the registration criteria if i the domain name owner has persistently breached the registration policies and continues to do so after a warning and a deadline or ii. The domain name contains in itself a manifestly illegal statement, or iii. The domain name owner has agreed in writing, under penalty of law, not to use the domain name, or has issued a corresponding final declaration or an injunction has been issued a corresponding final national or international main judgment against him or iv. it has been determined in a final and absolute national or international judgment that the registration of the domain name owner violates the rights of third parties, or the domain name owner has made a final declaration to a corresponding injunction, or v. the registration of the domain name to the domain name owner blatantly violates third party rights or is otherwise unlawful regardless of the specific use, or vi. the use of the domain name or content under it is obviously abusive or can do harm to the public, for instance through illegal and fraudulent activities, spam, phishing, pharming, malware propagation, botnet activities, child pornography or unusual network activities (eg fast flux hosting), or vii. the data given to the Registry for the domain name owner or the administrative contact is incorrect or the identity of the Registrant or the administrative contact cannot be found with the given data. Without prejudice to further legal rights, as part of abusive use rules required by ICANN for gTLDs (ʺ.GMBH Anti-Abuse Rulesʺ) the Registry can under certain circumstances, remove a domain name and its technical data from the name servers for top-level domain .GMBH (disconnection), change the contact data, or delete a domain name. 13 Dispute Procedures To prevent bad faith registration and use of domain names under the top-level domain .GMBH, every domain name Registrant has to subject to the dispute resolution procedure proposed by ICANN or the Registry (UDRP, URS, PDDRP and the Eligibility Requirements Dispute Resolution Policy (ERDRP)). The involvement of national courts is at liberty as a dispute resolution procedure. A domain may be deleted due to a dispute resolution process, or transfer, if i. the domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a brand or a label from which the complainant has rights, ii. the domain name owner has no right or legitimate interest in the domain name, iii. The domain name has been registered and is used in bad faith, iv. a domain name, which was subject to a special registration procedure, is used or transmitted contrary to the contractual agreements, v. the registration of a domain name violated the registration policies. 14 Validation It is the role of the Registry to assure and control the compliance with the eligibility requirements for any domain name to guarantee the Community aspect and integrity of the .GMBH namespace and to avoid disputes. The Registry anticipates that disputes over eligibility will be minimal within the GmbH Community. Nevertheless it has put in place an adequate procedure to assist the GmbH Community's Registrants in dealing with denials of eligibility in a way that supports community needs and values. The Registry's informal denial procedures will not super-cede any formal dispute procedures. Any .GmbH domain name registered is subject to a subsequent eligibility requirements validation process which will start immediately after the registration process starts. Eligibility validation will occur after domain name registration but before the registered domain name can be used for web services and protocols like email, website, and FTP. This is to avoid mass fraudulent domain name registrations.

TLDDOT GmbH will protect names as per the requirements in the New TLD Registry Agreement (Specification 5, paragraph 5) by reserving the country and territory names at the second level and at all other levels within the TLD. A list of those names will be compiled and published to relevant audiences before the TLD is introduced. These domains will be blocked following the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) advice "Principles regarding new gTLDs", at no cost to the relevant organization, so that no parties may register them as a domain name.

Together with the respective governments and ccTLDs as well as with ICANN we will define procedures and set-up agreements by which the above reserved domain(s) may be released to the Registry Operator and may be registered consecutively by eligible and appropriate parties.