.med Pre-Register Domain - .med Domain Information

For over 15 years, workgroups and commenters have been seeking ways to provide
reliable medical information on and, where allowed, offer genuine healthcare
products over the Internet, and this for the benefit of patients all over the
world. Indisputably, a lot of health-related information currently available on
the Internet is sometimes completely inaccurate, because it has been posted by
individuals who are not qualified or entitled to practice healthcare-related
services, like doctors, surgeons, life scientists, etc.

Up to now, no clear, structured and universally accepted methods have been found
in order to effectuate these goals.

HEXAPʹs mission and purpose for the .MED gTLD are threefold:

(1) federate certified and licensed practitioners in the health care sector
under a clear, common, and easy to remember identifier on the Internet;

(2) provide stakeholders within the health care sector with a platform on
which they can disseminate information in relation to medical topics, and
offer products and services to businesses, consumers and, more in
particular, patients;

(3) provide Internet users in general, looking for genuine and reliable
medical information, products and services with a clear and unambiguous
identifier which provides them access to such information.

HEXAP is a limited liability company that has been founded by health care
professionals. Bowing on its unparalleled experience in providing Internet-based
solutions for the health care sector, HEXAP intends the .MED extension to be a
community-based gTLD, for which it has obtained the supported from various
organizations representing many sectors, sub-sectors and branches of the health
care industry. This shows that there is a clear demand for a centralized
platform for quality health care information.

A list of organizations, companies and individuals that are endorsing this
initiative is detailed in our response to Question 20.

The missions of the .MED gTLD are the international transpositions of what HEXAP
founders have achieved these last years in collaboration with the French medical
Colleges with respect of their ethical codes.

Therefore, the .MED gTLD purports to be:

- an exclusive namespace where registrations are only open to licensed health
care professionals and with eligibility rules;

- a new zone protected by colleagues who validate the authenticity and
qualifications of registrants; and

- an application serving patientsʹ interests with unambiguous and verified
contact details of the licensed health care WHOIS service providing
professional details on registrants.

Currently, a lot of information with respect to health care, health issues,
pharmaceutical products, methods, etc. can be found on the Internet. Absent
any specific oversight over this information or the individuals,
organizations and companies that make such information available, this
clearly poses a number of risks for individuals who are looking for
health-related information.

For more than a decade, various national and international organizations,
have pointed on various occasions to risks relating to medical information
and products provided / distributed over the Internet, self-medication, etc.

The .MED gTLD intends to be the top-level domain in which professionals from
the health care industry will be entitled to register domain names in view
of protecting the interests of consumers / patients. Although the Applicant
-when awarded the .MED gTLD by ICANN- will not review the information
provided by registrants under .MED domain names, it will review the
qualifications and licenses of registrants in order to ensure that at least
the source of such information can be considered reliable.

By restricting the registrants to licensed practitioners and health care
entities, the .MED TLD has therefore the potential to become the domain in
which quality information with respect to health care can be found, and
reliable (contact) information with respect to domain name registrants /
health care practitioners can be retrieved.

This model has been successfully implemented by HEXAPʹs sister company,
PROMOPIXEL, which has secured more than 2,100 sector-based domain name
registrations up to today in the following three second level domain names :

- chirurgiens-dentistes.fr (targeted at dental surgeons)
- pharmacien.fr (targeted at pharmacists)
- medecin.fr (targeted at physicians)

These three zones are regulated by specific policies that include legal elements
from the French Codes of Medical Practice.

This successful cooperation with the 3 French medical, dental and pharmaceutical
Orders lead our team to propose a community-based gTLD, operated under the
highest ethical standards. This initiative is supported by both medical
authorities and practitioners, and piloted by HEXAP founders, some of which have
sworn by the Hippocratic Oath, which sets the duties of qualified professionals
in their relation with patients and respect for colleagues.

The .MED gTLD will thus give benefits to:

- medical professionals (i.e., members of the ʺ.MED Communityʺ) who would like
to become a registrant in the .MED TLD;

- Internet users in general who are looking for genuine health care related
information, products or services from reliable sources, being recognized
professionals that are entitled to practice medicine or other health care
related professions; and

- patients seeking to exchange information in a secure environment: in addition
to DNSSEC, internet users will be able to check on .MED WHOIS services various
verified information regarding the registrant occupation (license id,
professional address, diplomas).

1. SERVICE LEVELS

The .MED gTLD proposes a new safe namespace for the medical community,
maintained by recognized and licensed practitioners in the health care
sector. It is supported by various organizations and will be monitored by
national and international stakeholders with whom the Applicant, its sister
company (PROMOPIXEL) and their respective founders are working with for
several years.

It is therefore a TLD for the medical professions, managed and controlled by
medical practitioners.

In terms of service levels, HEXAP will ensure a quality application
dedicated to health care professionals using combined 20 years experience in
medical publishing and 3 years experience in registry operating:

- legal issues regarding medical practicing;
- medical information publishing on the Internet with regional scopes;
- establishing relationships with health care providers and stakeholders;
- guiding colleagues on the Internet for good medical practices;
- ethics on the web;
- helping the patients finding a practitioner with a neutral attitude; and
- helping colleagues in finding a registrar with no discrimination.

HEXAPʹs application is guided by the sense of ethics that HEXAPʹs founders
have consistently demonstrated in their business dealings, and reinforced by
the technical expertise renowned for partners and clients. Furthermore,
HEXAPʹs founders are medical practitioners who are unaffiliated with any
medical or pharmaceutical company or organization. This continuous
commitment guarantees that the .MED TLD will be operating independently from
influences from industry.

2. INNOVATION

As of today, except in France for physicians, dentists and pharmacists,
there is no opportunity for a health care provider to register a domain name
at second or third level under a regulatory framework defined by Medical
Colleges or Boards. While some ccTLDs do offer third level domain names for
physicians (Brazil, Comoros, Ecuador, Estonia, Haiti, Libya, Oman, Panama,
Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Vietnam), none of these are currently supervised by
any representative health authority. Some of them do not even require a
proof of license of registrants, or are only carrying out limited and random
identification clearances. Most of these second level name spaces are also
restricted to physicians only. None of them offers the possibility for any
Internet user to check the registrant professional credentials.

The .MED gTLD establishes a relationship of trust with patients by setting
up a highly monitored namespace, handled by HEXAPʹs Medical Clearinghouse.
This specific clearinghouse is an advanced tool derived from our
smallregistry.net clearance engine that is used on a daily basis by French
Colleges and regulating authorities during the past 3 years.

The Medical Clearinghouse will offer the following services, which certainly
sets apart the .MED gTLD from any other TLD currently available in the DNS:

- mandatory professional identification: any new registrant creating a
domain name will have to prove its profession, occupation and/or
professional qualifications (see life cycle description in our answer to
Question 27);

- continuous license checking: every domain name renewal will be subject to
an automatic re-verification of the registrantʹs credentials, similar to
the verification set out above; any registrant who has lost its
accreditation, license, or professional accreditation will consequently
also not be entitled to renew its domain name registration (see our answer
to Question 20);

- professional account credential provider for third party authentication:
using a single combination of email and password, .MED domain name
registrant will be able to be authenticated on websites and devices
granted by the Registry Operator. This single sign-in service will
benefit:

* .MED domain name registrants being identified as a health care provider
without sharing their logins and passwords; and

* companies willing to identify health care provider upon sign-up on their
websites and devices, by connecting to the Medical Clearinghouse. This
implemented service is using OAuth, an open protocol to allow secure
authentication in a simple and standard method for desktop or web
application, mobile phones and living room devices. This protocol is
already widely used by developers who are working with various major
service providers (Facebook, Twitter, Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn,
MySpace, Yahoo, Netflix, etc.). It is a safe way for any service
provider to give clearance to authenticated and verified practitioners
who allow to share limited, revocable and non-critical information with
the service provider. This service will be free for every registered
developer.

- Advanced WHOIS web interface: the WHOIS data will be complemented with a
full description of the domain ownerʹs health care license, and made
available to Internet users (however always bearing in mind that privacy
restrictions may apply);

- In order to increase visibility of the .MED TLD and its domain name
registrants, the Applicant will also distribute SSL certificates and
deliver seals of authenticity for web publishers, in addition to the
default DNSSEC implementation. These certificates intend to reinforce the
security and safety aspects of .MED.

All these processes, tools and technologies are aimed at establishing a
unique relationship of trust between, on the one hand, domain name
registrants in .MED and, on the other hand, Internet users at large.

In this respect, .MED is all about offering safety, security, transparency
and oversight for the benefit of the patients.

3. USER EXPERIENCE

The user experience of the .MED gTLD will be entirely different from any TLD
that is currently on the market, considering the combination of the
following features:

- .MED is a short string, easy to write and remember;

- it is understandable in over 70 languages as an abbreviation or the first
characters of the word "medicine" in English, Spanish, French, Italian ,
German, Portuguese, Spanish, etc.;

- a new semantic and meaningful namespace with a high chance of search
engine optimization value;

- the .MED policies will be focused on serving the best interests of
patients: a web search that resolves in a .MED domain name should provide
genuine information regarding health and health care;

- increase the visibility of a .MED registrant by making use of the Medical
Clearinghouse: by way of this tool, the registry will capture and verify
the following information from a registrant: profession, specialization,
professional address, as well as public information relating to the
registrantʹs qualifications and licenses. All this information will be
made public through the WHOIS interface, the SSL certificate and seals to
be displayed on the registrant website; and

- it will add to Health 2.0 initiatives, considering the fact that
authentication of registrants is a cornerstone function of .MED. Because
registrants are authenticated, patientsʹ medical files can be exchanged
with and between .MED registrants, respecting the confidentiality of such
data, for example during a regulated telemedicine session; and a secure
registration process with minimal impact on registrars and no specific
proprietary EPP scheme for easier integration.

4. REGISTRATION POLICIES

The .MED registration policy is inspired by the principles reflected by the
Hippocratic Oath, as well as Medical Good Practices established by various
national and international organizations and institutions. These establish
the obligation imposed upon the registrant to respect the interests of
patients as well as the medical deontology.

Given the fact that the registration of domain names will be monitored at
all times by the .MED Registry Operator, these principles will apply during
the registration process, but also as regards the use the registrant is
making of such domain name.

Eligible registrants must be part of the designed community and are
classified under two categories:

- practitioners: these consist of licensed health professionals and health
associate professionals only. Regional restrictions may apply for all
professions as not all of these professions are recognized by local
authorities. They are defined by the International Standard Classification
of Occupations (ISCO), 2008 revision 8 (ISCO-08), which forms part of the
international family of economic and social classifications of the United
Nations and is mapped by the World Health Organization (
http://www.who.int/hrh/statistics/workforce_statistics/en/index.html ):

* Generalist medical practitioners
* Specialist medical practitioners
* Nursing professionals
* Midwifery professionals
* Traditional and complementary medicine professionals
* Paramedical practitioners
* Dentists
* Pharmacists
* Environmental and occupational health and hygiene professionals
* Physiotherapists
* Dieticians and nutritionists
* Audiologists and speech therapists
* Optometrists and opthalmic opticians, orthoptists
* Chiropractors, Osteopaths

- entities:
* Hospitals, health care facilities
* Ambulances
* Pharmacies
* Medical laboratories
* Schools, Universities
* Pharmaceutical industries
* Libraries
* Scientific and Academic publishers
* Public health journals
* Boards, Orders, Colleges, Government related councils
* Public administrations, ministries
* Academies
* Scientific organizations
* Professional associations
* Health care professionals unions

Conditions of qualification are made available in our response to Question
20c. However, this list is subject to change, which is mainly inspired and
driven by changes implemented by the International Standard Classification
of Occupations (ISCO) and changes in the law.

If the registrant is a practitioner, he or she must certify that he or she
is a health care professional who is licensed to practice in the country
where he purports to be working. Any such information will need to be
reported to the Medical Clearinghouse and must be kept up-to-date at all
times throughout the lifecycle of the domain name.

Any domain name registered in .MED must be used in the best interest of
patients or other health care practitioners. Parking domain names will not
be allowed.

Any registered domain name must also contain either an MX or an A, CNAME or
AAA record in order to be able to use it and refer users to a website whose
content is related to human health. Such website can but must not
necessarily be a website under a .MED domain name.

The holder of a domain name is committed to serve and share information
aimed at patients, always considering the best interests of patients, their
dignity and privacy. Furthermore, the registrant commits to provide
information in accordance with the state of the art (scientific sources),
and that is honest, clear, appropriate and meets the needs of patients with
whom they engage under the .MED domain name.

The holder of a domain name undertakes to respect his peers, colleagues and
competitors with whom he communicates by using the .MED platform.

When registering a domain name, the registrant must acknowledge that
complaints can be filed with the Registry Operator or Medical Clearinghouse
for various reasons, including but not limited to a breach of the
eligibility requirements, if the information of the registrant is inaccurate
or no longer up-to-date, non-compliance with the Registry Operatorʹs
policies, trademark infringement, impersonation, illegal activities, etc.

Furthermore, the registrant must acknowledge that any supervising authority
will be entitled to request the Registry Operator to suspend a domain name
if such domain name is used in an illegal manner, or if the registrant no
longer meets the eligibility requirements.

The domain name must be composed of 3 to 63 characters, case insensitive,
alphanumeric characters and may consist of hyphens (however: a domain name
cannot begin or end with a hyphen), and contain the name or the name of the
holder, its brand, business identifier or company name. Eligible
practitioners are entitled to include a prefix or suffix to their name, such
as a civilian, military, academic or honorary title, specialization, degree,
location where they are practicing medicine, etc.

As part of the landrush, the Registry Operator may release so-called
ʺpremium domain namesʺ to any person or entity that meets the eligibility
requirements, provided that:

- the use that is made of such domain name complies with the rules of good
medical practice;
- the domain name chosen is consistent with the exercise or holderʹs name;
- the domain name will only be used for the benefit of patients; and
- the domain name cannot cause confusion about the profession of the
registrant or its field of activities.

These rules of conduct continue to apply throughout the life cycle of the
premium domain name.

5. PRIVACY

The purpose of the MED gTLD is to establish a stronger trust between
patients and health care providers on the Internet. It is then essential to
first protect the interests of the patients by setting up unambiguous
registration rules and give a full transparency on registrant identity:

- no anonymous records will be allowed;

- registrants must provide their full professional address and phone number
verified records, reflected in the WHOIS, will include the registrantʹs
occupation, specialization, license ID, and the name of the issuing
authority;

- furthermore, these records will include academic, honorific and military
titles;

- optional information: year of establishing, year of main diploma,
university, other diploma recognized by the practitionerʹs regulation
board;

- the WHOIS will expressly mention the last date on which the registrantʹs
information has been verified by the Registry Operator; and

- other domain names owned by the registrant will be available by request on
the Medical Clearinghouse.

These information are available with a free access to the WHOIS from port
43, the WHOIS service on the registry platform website and on the Medical
Clearinghouse website equipped with domain name and registrant search
engines.

These information are checked for every domain name creation, renewal,
transfer and trade. These information will also be monitored by the .MED
scientific council and accredited medical colleges, and will be open to any
authority wanting to be a .MED stakeholder and supervise regional and
professional scoped registrations.

6. COMMUNICATION

PROMOPIXEL, of which HEXAP is a spin-off company, has already entered into
registry-registrar agreements with 7 ICANN accredited registrars and over 70
European registrars, and is hence already dealing with thousands of health
care professionals;

HEXAP founders worked with over 12.000 entities and leading healthcare
providers over these last 20 years, including but not limited to Councils,
Medical Colleges, Academics, medical publishers, scientific organizations,
medical suppliers, industries, web 2.0 communities, health care social media
platforms, hospitals, and universities;

During the same period, HEXAP founders have established close relationships
with specialized media and various medical journals in Europe and North
America, which will present an attractive promotional and sales channel by
publishing advertisements and information about the .MED gTLD.

OPERATING RULES OVERVIEW

In line with our mission statement and purpose for the .MED gTLD, it is
important for us to ensure that social costs and operational problems or
issues in relation to the .MED gTLD are minimized to the maximum extent
possible.

First of all, the founders of HEXAP have built up a reputation as
a leading and independent provider servicing the needs of the members of
various medical professions and want to avoid the unduly exploitation of
that reputation in the domain name space by third parties.

The protection mechanisms HEXAP intends to put in place do therefore not
only extend to the actual registration, delegation and use of the TLD, but
also to the domain names that are registered therein, and how these domain
names are used.

In order to ensure that .MED will be and remain for the foreseeable future a
reliable, trustworthy, safe and secure space, HEXAP will devise policies in
that will contain clear guidelines and rules in relation to:

- the types of domain names that will be registered;

- who will be entitled to select which domain names will be registered;

- who will be entitled to register such domain names;

- who will be entitled to use such domain names; and

- which types of use of such domain names will be allowed or recommended.

As we believe that the development and implementation of one or more
business cases could likely take a couple of months or even years, we have
herein only focused on a number of high-level characteristics of our plans
in relation to the operation of the .MED gTLD.

By all means, it is in HEXAPʹs vested interest to make the
most of this initiative, promote the interests of its registrants (be it
legal entities or individuals), and mitigate risks for the .MED gTLD, the
reputation of HEXAP and its members, whilst also reducing the (social) costs
for others.

The Medical Clearinghouse, which will be established by HEXAP, will play a
pivotal role in this respect.

In this context, we will devise policies that encompass and comprise the
following features:

1. LAUNCH PROCESS

The .MED start-up processes are made of three specific periods.

- SUNRISE A: this period will be focused on trademark holders only willing
to put a domain on a «do-not-sell» list. This list will be handled by the
Registry for a 10-years period (or for the entire term of the Registry
Agreement). Requests will be verified by the Registry Operator using the
Trademark Clearinghouse only.

- SUNRISE B: this period will be focused on trademark holders only, where
contention between two parties holding an identical trademark for a
particular string will be resolved by auction. Registrants must meet the
eligibility requirements, thus requests will be verified by the Registry
Operator using the Trademark Clearinghouse and the Medical Clearinghouse.

- LANDRUSH: this period will allow registration of ʺselected premium domain
namesʺ with an auction process. Registrants must meet the eligibility
requirements, thus requests will be verified by the Registry Operator
using the Medical Clearinghouse.

Following the end of the .MED start-up process, registrations of domain
names will be done on a first-come, first served basis.

Both during and after the Sunrise period, any and all domain name
registration requests will be verified by the Registry Operator in order to
guarantee their compliance with policies that have been set by the Registry
Operator.

2. REGISTRATION COSTS

At this stage, no particular discounts have been foreseen. Nonetheless,
HEXAP reserves the right to implement certain cost benefits for registrars,
considering the additional complexities in dealing with verification
processes handled by the Registry Operator only that will be implemented in
order for potential registrants to register domain names in .MED.

3. REGISTRY AGREEMENT

Currently, HEXAP foresees to increase its prices with 5% annually; insofar
and to the extent this price increase will be kept, this threshold will be
included in the Registry-Registrar Agreement.

Furthermore, HEXAP envisages registering a fair number of generic words that
are directly or indirectly related to the services and products offered to
and the activities organized by the various members of HEXAP.

Prior to effectively registering such domain names in the .MED gTLD, HEXAP
will require its legal and intellectual property department to review the
list of these domain names on a regular basis in order to satisfy itself
that they will not infringe the rights of third parties.

In any case, HEXAP will claim to have a legitimate interest in these domain
names, as they are merely descriptive of the activities, products or
services of HEXAP offered to its members. So even if one or more of these
domain names would be protected by a registered trademark, held by a third
party, it is likely that a claim under the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy
or Uniform Rapid Suspension policy will fail.

As regards the names referred to in Specification 5 to the template Registry
Operator Agreement, HEXAP will follow the processes and procedures
established by ICANN and the Governmental Advisory Committee.

However, HEXAP will at all times be entitled to restrict, limit or expand:

- the category or categories of stakeholders who will be entitled to
register one or more domain names in the .MED gTLD, including their
criteria for qualification, however in any case excluding stakeholders who
are not a member of HEXAP or do not have a sufficient link to the HEXAP
community;

- the choice of domain name(s) registered in the .MED gTLD by and per such
eligible stakeholder (category);

- the use made by an and per eligible stakeholder of a domain name
registered in the .MED gTLD;

- the transfer of domain names registered in .MED;

- etc.

HEXAP shall reserve the right to subject the registration or use of a domain
name to internal approval processes and procedures, at each and every step
of the domain name life cycle.

1. COMMUNITY PURPOSE The .MED gTLD is a new extension dedicated to the medical community. The medical community is defined by all: - Health care providers (practitioners, facilities); - Boards, Councils, Ministries, Orders and Colleges; - Schools and universities; and - Academies, scientific organizations and professional associations. The .MED application is for a gTLD created by health care professionals, open to colleagues around the world for serving the best interests of the patients. The .MED gTLD is a string understandable in more than 70 languages, including English, Spanish, French, Russian, Portuguese, German, Italian, etc. The .MED gTLD is a professional namespace where the medical community will be able to publish information for peers and patients. 2. COMMUNITY MEMBERS .MED is a comprehensive zone that includes all licensed professionals with specific rules per country. These health professionals are not only limited to physicians and doctors but include a wide although limited range of health providers and stakeholders. Thus, a list of eligible registrants has been determined for the .MED TLD, which takes into account regional particularities, legal specifications and licensing procedures, and considers different national regulations regarding some medical practices. Specific restrictions will be implemented for a limited list of occupations that are not recognized nor authorized by the relevant Council or competent Ministry of the country for specific registrants eligible for .MED. Defined in the .MED gTLD policies, these lists will be produced by HEXAPʹs Medical Clearinghouse which communicates with the Registry Back-End Operator for verifying and approving domain name creations, renewals and transfers. The Medical Clearinghouse is supervised by HEXAPʹs scientific council, which is consulted for providing guidelines with the help of relevant stakeholders in matters of ethics, lack of local regulation or if a questionable domain name registration occurs. Members of the designed community are classified in two categories (full list in attached document), further detailed below in our response to Question 20 (c): - practitioners: These qualified health and health associate professionals are defined by the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO), 2008 revision 8 (ISCO-08), which forms part of the international family of economic and social classifications of the United Nations and is mapped by the World Health Organization [1]. All these licensed professionals are regulated by health departments, ministries, boards, councils and orders. Number of identified practitioners is evaluated to 45,225,207 [2] - entities: This group is composed of licensed health care providers, professional associations and health-related organizations: * Facilities: hospitals, clinics, maternity hospitals, medical nursing homes, geriatric cares facilities, dialysis centers, blood transfer and blood donation centers, ambulances (no recent study has quantified them; estimated at 230,000) * Pharmaceutical industries * Medical schools and universities (1,943 institutions recognized by the World Health Organization [3], 2,218 by the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research[4]) * Scientific and academic publishers, public health journals (estimated at 26,262 [5]) * Academies, Boards, Orders, Colleges, Government-related councils and public health administrations (over 640 identified administrations) Professional associations and unions (estimated at 300,000) 3. COMMUNITY STRUCTURE The medical profession is not structured in a particular way, but consist of many different organisations, institutions, etc. that focus on specific practise areas. The .MED application conceived by HEXAP received the greatest attention from a lot of stakeholders coming from various countries and institutions. HEXAP is well aware that giving an endorsement to a third party is a particular sensitive issue in the medical worlds, as well as publishing the names of those who provided us with a letter of support. Reference is made to the various institutions, hospitals, research organizations, universities, companies and individuals who have endorsed our application. Please see our response to Question 20 (b) for more information about these entities. [1] Sources and classification of health workforce statistics - World Health Organization, http://www.who.int/hrh/statistics/workforce_statistics/en [2] Global Health Observatory Data Repository - World Health Organization http://apps.who.int/ghodata/?vid=92000 [3] Avicenna Directories - World Health Organization, University of Copenhagen http://avicenna.ku.dk [4] Mapping the Worldʹs Medical Schools, FAIMER http://www.faimer.org/resources/mapping.html [5] National Library of Medicine Catalog - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog

1. ETHICS HEXAP is a limited liability company that has been founded by health care professionals who have sworn by the Hippocratic Oath, setting the duties of qualified professionals with patients and respect for colleagues. They worked with over 12.000 entities and leading healthcare providers over these last 30 years, including but not limited to Councils, Medical Colleges, Academics, medical publishers, scientific organizations, medical suppliers, industries, web 2.0 communities, health care social media platforms, hospitals, and universities. Relying on the unparalleled experience of HEXAPʹs predecessors and founders in providing Internet-based solutions for the health care sector, HEXAP intends the .MED extension to be a community-based gTLD. For this matter, the applicant is appointed and supported by various organizations representing many sectors, sub-sectors and branches of the health care work forces and industry. Furthermore, these supports come from both traditional institutions and the Internet web 2.0 communities from abroad: the .MED application thus brings together different generations and cultures of medical stakeholders. These organizations will work closely with the applicant in order to implement the .MED gTLD in the manner described in Q18. The .MED gTLD is guided by the sense of ethics that HEXAPʹs founders have consistently demonstrated in their business dealings, and reinforced by the technical expertise renowned among partners and clients. Furthermore, HEXAPʹs founders are medical practitioners who are unaffiliated with any medical or pharmaceutical company or organization. This continuous commitment guarantees that the .MED gTLD will be operating independently from influences from industry. 2. ENDORSEMENTS Various organizations and companies have endorsed the .MED application by HEXAP, which clearly underlines a strong need and demand for having an unambiguous platform for quality health care information, products and services. Relying on the experience and expertise of HEXAPʹs founders and predecessors in similar projects, which have been applauded by medical professionals, these organizations and companies have endorsed HEXAPʹs plans for this new and unique name space that will not only serve the needs, requirements and demand from the targeted medical community, but also the need for patients to find reliable sources when seeking such information, products and services. 2.1. FDI WORLD DENTAL FEDERATION (FDI), SWITZERLAND http://www.fdiworldental.org - The FDI is an international federation of approximately 200 national dental associations and specialist groups, including the American Dental Association (ADA). The FDI is a member of the World Health Professions Alliance (WHPA http://www.whpa.org); an alliance of dentists, doctors, nurses and pharmacists. WHPA represents more than 20 million health care professionals worldwide and assembles essential knowledge and experience from key health care professions. The FDI currently has a membership of approximately 200 member associations from more than 130 countries, representing more than 1 million dentists globally. 2.2. CONSEIL NATIONAL DE LʹORDRE DES MEDECINS, FRANCE http://www.conseil-national.medecin.fr - The French Medical Order of physicians is the national authority and is particularly involved in Information Technology and eHealth. It and has published in 2011 a Code of Ethics on the Internet (ʺDeontologie Medicale sur le Webʺ http://goo.gl/qFqDq ). This white paper defines guidelines for online good medical practices and makes a clear reference to the .MED gTLD with the intention to reconsider its domain name policy for physicians. It also founded in 1971 the European Council of Medical Orders ( http://www.ceom-ecmo.eu/en ) and is represented by its General Secretary since 2011. The Order is regulating about 265,000 physicians. 2.3. CONSEIL NATIONAL DE LʹORDRE DES CHIRURGIENS-DENTISTES, FRANCE http://www.ordre-chirurgiens-dentistes.fr - For more than 13 years the French Dental Surgeons Order has maintained a transposition of the Code of Ethics on the Internet dedicated to online information publishing (http://goo.gl/JNxQo). The Order also released guidelines for patients regarding dental information web browsing (http://goo.gl/4Y3Y3). The Order has founded in 2000 the Federation of Dental Competent Authorities (http://www.fedcar.eu/index.php?lang=en) and is the General Secretary as of 2011. The Order is regulating close to 50,000 dental surgeons. 2.4. CONSEIL NATIONAL DE LʹORDRE DES SAGES-FEMMES, FRANCE French Chamber of Midwives - http://www.ordre-sages-femmes.fr/ The Order is regulating 23,365 practitioners as of September, 2011. 2.5. ACADEMIE NATIONALE DE CHIRURGIE DENTAIRE, FRANCE http://www.academiedentaire.fr - The French National Academy of Dental Surgery has a current total membership of 317 doctors. 2.6. STANFORD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE - MEDICINE X, USA http://medicinex.stanford.edu - Medicine X is a catalyst for new ideas about the future of medicine and health care. Under the direction of Dr. Larry Chu, Assistant Professor of Anesthesia, Medicine X is a project of the Stanford AIM Lab. 2.7. MAYO CLINIC CENTER FOR SOCIAL MEDIA, USA http://socialmedia.mayoclinic.org/ - Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life. The Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media exists to improve health globally by accelerating effective application of social media tools throughout Mayo Clinic and spurring broader and deeper engagement in social media by hospitals, medical professionals and patients. 2.8. CANCER CAMPUS, FRANCE http://www.cancer-campus.com - Cancer Campus is creating an environment, with particular emphasis on the field of cancerology, in which innovative life science and healthcare companies can establish themselves and expand. 2.9. GLOBAL MEDIA SANTE, FRANCE http://www.gmsante.fr - Communication group specializing in the health field. 2.10. RADBOUD UNIVERSITY NIJMEGEN MEDICAL CENTRE, NETHERLANDS http://www.radboudreshapecenter.com/ 2.11. BUZZMED, USA http://buzzmed.net/ - Current total membership of 15,000 doctors. 2.12. DOCTORS.NET.UK, UNITED KINGDOM http://www.doctors.net.uk/ - Professional service available to UK-registered doctors in primary and free accredited education allowing doctors to maintain Continuing Professional Development. It has a current total membership of 192,000 doctors. 2.13. COLIQUIO, GERMANY http://www.coliquio.de - Coliquio is already used by over 57,000 physicians from all disciplines and is one of the most active German physicians networks. 2.14. EUGENOL, FRANCE http://www.eugenol.com - First French online community for healthcare professionals, Eugenol allows dentists to manage their network, to broadcast surgery casesʹ videos, to vote or advise products, to submit scientific articles, to exchange about day to day matters, etc. Eugenol has a current total membership of 41,000 dentists. 2.15. CONSENSUS, FRANCE http://www.consensus-online.fr - Consensus has a current total membership of 4,500 cardiologists. 2.16. CARENITY, FRANCE http://www.carenity.com - Carenity is the first french social network dedicated to patients suffereing from chronic diseases. Launched in 2011, it counts 7,000 active users and 30 different patients communities. 2.17. APRES MON CANCER DU SEIN, FRANCE http://catherinecerisey.wordpress.com - Notorious french e-patient blog about breast cancer.

1. A COMPREHENSIVE ELIGIBLE REGISTRANTS LIST Eligible registrants include the following: - practitioners: Qualified health and health associate professionals as defined in Q20a. Must provide a license identification from the relevant health Agency, Board, Council, Order or College: * Generalist medical practitioners * Specialist medical practitioners * Nursing professionals * Midwifery professionals * Traditional and complementary medicine professionals * Paramedical practitioners * Dentists * Pharmacists * Environmental and occupational health and hygiene professionals * Physiotherapists * Dietitians and nutritionists * Audiologists and speech therapists * Optometrists and opthalmic opticians, orthoptists * Chiropractors, Osteopaths Alternative occupation names may apply to fit regional features. - entities: This group is composed of licensed health care providers, professional associations and health related organizations: * Facilities: hospitals, clinics, maternity hospitals, medical nursing homes, geriatric cares facilities, dialysis centers, blood transfer and blood donation centers, ambulances, medical laboratories. Must provide a Business ID and credentials from the relevant national or the federal Health, Trade, Industry, Economic Development or Commerce Ministry or Department, Agency or authority * Pharmaceutical industries: must provide a Business ID and comprehensive credentials from the relevant national or the federal Health, Trade, Industry, Economic Development or Commerce Ministry or Department, Agency or authority. * Schools and universities: must be listed in the International Medical Education Directory (IMED - http://www.faimer.org/resources/imed.html ) maintained by the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER - http://www.faimer.org/ ), or the Avicenna Directory of medical schools maintained by the University of Copenhagen ( http://avicenna.ku.dk/ ), else must provide a comprehensive confirmation from the related health or education national agency or ministry. * Medical Libraries: must provide a comprehensive accreditation. * Scientific and academic publishers, public health journals: must provide a valid ISO identifier such as International Standard Book Number (ISBN) or International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) or International Standard Audiovisual Number (ISAN). * Academies, Boards, Orders, Colleges, Government related councils and public health administrations: must provide official documents. * Professional associations and unions: must provide a comprehensive identification. Intended end-users include any physical person who would like to obtain access to or receive genuine information from a verified licensed professional practitioner or entity active in the field of health care. 2. AN EXPERIENCED REGISTRY As it is explained further in our application, HEXAPʹs experience in managing domain name platforms has been generated in the context of the activities of PROMOPIXEL, of which HEXAP is a spin-off company, and in particular in relation to PROMOPIXELʹs product called SMALLREGISTRY. Since 2009, the SMALLREGISTRY platform allows members of the medical profession in France to register domain names in following second level domains: - medecin.fr (for physicians); - chirurgiens-dentistes.fr (for dentists); and - pharmacien.fr (for pharmacists). Given the above, the team that has recently established HEXAP is already equipped to handle the anticipated technical environment and operational aspects that have been contemplated in this application for the .MED gTLD. Currently, the SMALLREGISTRY product already encompasses all functionalities required for the .MED gTLD, in particular as regards: - the operation of a so-called Medical Clearinghouse; - the operation of a domain name management platform; - verification of registrants; - dealing with registrars; - etc. Given the fact that there is a clear and continuous need for individuals to obtain genuine information, products and services in relation to diseases and health care, one of the cornerstones of the offering of the .MED TLD is clearly to establish a platform for fulfilling these needs in the near and distant future. Although no guarantees are given by the Registry Operator as regards the accuracy of information, or the effectiveness of products or services that are offered, it will at least provide for a trusted platform for qualified professionals and entities to communicate with individuals and patients.

The .MED gTLD is an extension that is created by health care professionals and is restricted to colleagues around the world for serving the best interests of patients. The .MED gTLD string is thus an unambiguous semantic namespace focused on medical professionals, medical institutions, medical services. Furthermore, the .MED gTLD is a string that is understandable in more than 70 languages, including but not limited to English, Spanish, French, Russian, Portuguese, German, Italian, etc. To the Applicantʹs knowledge, the string has no particular meaning outside of the medical field, although it may function as an abbreviation for various sorts of titles or names.

1. POLICY PRINCIPLES The .MED registration policy is inspired by the principles reflected by the Hippocratic Oath, as well as ʺmedical best practicesʺ established by various national and international organizations and institutions. These establish the obligation imposed upon the registrant to respect the interests of patients as well as the medical deontology. Given the fact that the registration of domain names will be monitored at all times by the .MED Registry Operator, these principles will apply during the registration process, but also as regards the use the registrant is making of such domain name. Please see our response to Question 20 (c) for more information. 2. ELIGIBILITY Any credential and valid evidence of eligibility will be only requested by the Medical Clearinghouse after the domain name has been registered. Multiple verifications may occur, in particular if the registrant creates domain names for different medical activities or purposes. Registrants cannot be anonymous in that sense that they have to provide accurate and full-contact information to the Registry Operator, which information will be published in the .MED Whois. In order to register a domain name, the candidate registrant must certify that he or she is a health-care professional who is licensed to practice in the country where he purports to be working. Any such information will need to be reported to the Medical Clearinghouse, operated by HEXAP, and must be kept up-to-date at all times throughout the lifecycle of the domain name. 3. COMMITMENTS Any domain name registered in .MED must be used in the best interest of patients or other health care practitioners. Parking domain names will not be allowed. Any registered domain name must also contain either an MX or an A, CNAME or AAA record in order to be able to use it and refer users to a website whose content is related to human health. Such website can but must not necessarily be a website under a .MED domain name. Furthermore, HEXAP intends to establish domain name registration policies and acceptable use policies that will allow HEXAP to put domain names on hold or even revoke any such names if and to the extent they are: - defamatory or are being used for defamatory purposes; - harming the reputation and good name of the .MED TLD, or are used for these purposes; - are infringing trademark or other intellectual property rights of third parties; - etc. Furthermore, the registrant of a domain name will be committed to serve and share information aimed at patients, always considering the best interests of patients, their dignity and privacy. The registrant commits to provide information in accordance with the state of the art (scientific sources), and that is honest, clear, appropriate and meets the needs of patients with whom they engage under the .MED domain name. The holder of a domain name undertakes to respect his peers, colleagues and competitors with whom he communicates by using the .MED platform. When registering a domain name, the registrant must acknowledge that complaints can be filed with the Registry Operator or Medical Clearinghouse for various reasons, including but not limited to a breach of the eligibility requirements, if the information of the registrant is inaccurate or no longer up-to-date, non-compliance with the Registry Operatorʹs policies, trademark infringement, impersonation, illegal activities, etc. Furthermore, the registrant must acknowledge that any supervising authority will be entitled to request the Registry Operator to suspend a domain name if such domain name is used in an illegal manner, or if the registrant no longer meets the eligibility requirements. 4. LABEL The domain name must be composed of 3 to 63 characters, case insensitive, alphanumeric characters and may consist of hyphens (however: a domain name cannot begin or end with a hyphen), and contain the name or the name of holder, its brand, business identifier or company name. Eligible practitioners are entitled to include a prefix or suffix to their name, such as a civilian, military, academic or honorary title, specialization, degree, location where they are practicing medicine, etc. 5. PREMIUM DOMAINS As part of the landrush, the Registry Operator may release so-called ʺpremium domain namesʺʺ to any person or entity that meets the eligibility requirements, provided that: - the use that is made of such domain name complies with the rules of good medical practice, - the domain name chosen is consistent with the exercise or holderʹs name; - the domain name will only be used for the benefit of patients; and - the domain name cannot cause confusion about the profession of the registrant or its field of activities. These rules of conduct continue to apply throughout the life cycle of the premium domain name.

Given the fact that the Applicant is applying for a generic top-level domain
where geographic names as domain names could have a strong importance for health
care professionals and patients, it has a vested interest in providing its
visitors, clients and business partners a clear and predictable naming scheme in
the .MED gTLD. Given the sensitive nature of these domain names, the Applicant
may indeed develop plans in order to register domain names that exclusively
contain geographic names (country names, city names, names of regions, etc.), in
close collaboration with national authorities that are supervising the sale or
rendering of health care related products or services.

However, if such domain names will be registered, the Applicant will do so
considering the following confines:

(1) these domain names will be exclusively registered in the name of the
Applicant / Registry Operator, or in the name of such official supervising
national body; these names will never be registered in the name of a third
party, unless agreed upon otherwise with the authority competent for giving
its consent in accordance with Specification 5 of the Registry Agreement;

(2) where consents are required prior to the registration and use of a domain
name referred to and in accordance with Specification 5 of the Registry
Agreement, the Applicant will obtain such consents before actually
registering, delegating and using these domain names.

In any case the registration, delegation and use of domain names corresponding
to geographic names will at all times be done in the best interest of:

- the Applicant; and

- in order to directly and indirectly promote local activity in the geographic
locations of which the name has been registered in accordance with (1)
above.