ICANN 84 Dublin: the domain industry gathers around the new round

Between 25 and 30 October, Dublin hosted the 84th ICANN meeting — the global forum where policies regulating the domain industry are defined and where all key stakeholders come together: domain registries, registrars, user representatives, and institutional authorities.
The .cat domain team took an active part both in the working sessions of ICANN’s internal bodies and in business meetings with our registrars, thus strengthening the presence and influence of the Catalan domain on the international stage.

Leadership and representation of .cat within ICANN
The Legal Director of Accent Obert, Nacho Amadoz, concluded his term as Chair of the GNSO Council in Dublin — the body responsible for developing policy for generic top-level domains (gTLDs) worldwide within ICANN.
Although this term has ended, he will remain on the Council representing Internet users, ensuring that social and cultural interests continue to have a voice in global decision-making.
At the same time, as Chair of the geoTLD group — which brings together geographically based generic domains — Nacho Amadoz led the session where the .cat Domain Director, Beatriz Guzmán, presented the project “Assessing GeoTLD’s performance for enhanced Internet accessibility: An open source methodological approach.”
This initiative, led by the .cat domain with the support of ten linguistic, cultural and geo-territorial domains, has been selected as one of the 23 projects funded under ICANN’s first Grants cycle.

Business relations and future strategy
During the meeting, Beatriz Guzmán and Judit Martín, Domain Specialist, held meetings with more than twelve registrars from the .cat commercial network.
The sessions focused on strategic planning for 2026, the year that will mark the 20th anniversary of the .cat domain’s general availability.
These meetings helped build synergies and align objectives to continue consolidating .cat’s position as the reference domain for the Catalan language and culture.

Approval of the new gTLD Guidebook: a turning point
One of the highlights of the meeting was the ICANN Board’s approval of the Applicant Guidebook (AGB) for the upcoming round of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), expected in 2026.
This guide sets out the requirements and procedures that organisations must follow to apply for a new gTLD and incorporates more than 300 recommendations agreed upon by the ICANN community.
The adoption of the AGB marks a decisive step toward opening a new application window, aimed at expanding the Domain Name System, fostering diversity and competition, and enhancing the Internet’s value for everyone.

A very positive outcome
The participation of the .cat domain at ICANN 84 has been highly satisfactory and productive, both in terms of institutional positioning and the commercial and collaborative opportunities generated.
This meeting kicks off preparations for a 2026 full of challenges, plans and objectives that will further strengthen .cat’s role as a benchmark in innovation, digital diversity, and the promotion of linguistic accessibility on the Internet.