ICANN has taken a decisive step to protect the string .gcc and similar abbreviations linked to international governmental organizations (IGOs) ahead of the next round of new generic top-level domain (gTLD) applications. The move comes after a formal request from the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), submitted on May 16, 2024, urging ICANN to grant special protections for the .gcc domain due to its cultural, historical, and geographical significance.
The GCC represents six of the seven nations on the Arabian Peninsula and asked ICANN to require that any applicant for .gcc must demonstrate the explicit consent of the organization. ICANN responded on April 23, 2025, pointing to its developing policies that safeguard IGO names in the upcoming Applicant Guidebook. In her statement, ICANN Board Chair Tripti Sinha confirmed:
“In accordance with community developed policy, the Applicant Guidebook will make it clear that it will not be possible for a third-party applicant to obtain a gTLD matching the full name of an IGO in the next round.”
This protection appears to be a preemptive measure against entities such as GCCIX WLL, a Bahrain-based company that applied for .gcc in 2012. That application ultimately failed on procedural grounds, and an Independent Review Process (IRP) later revealed that GCCIX WLL had ceased to exist as a legal entity. At the time, ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) also expressed concerns over potential confusion between .gcc and the official GCC organization.
By reinforcing protections for IGO-related domain names, ICANN aims to prevent misuse, misrepresentation, and public confusion, ensuring that sensitive identifiers remain under appropriate control in future domain name expansion rounds.
Would you like a summary of other IGO-protected names in ICANN’s Applicant Guidebook?
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