Call for Volunteers for the Ad-hoc Members Working Group on Policy Advice and Assistance to the .IQ Registry

3 July 2023

The Background

APTLD (the Asia Pacific Top Level Domain Association) is a membership-based, non-for-profit organization that serves ccTLD (country-code Top Level Domain) registries in the Asia Pacific region.

The Communications Commission of the Republic of Iraq (CMC) is a government agency mandated, inter alia, to manage .IQ, the nation’s ccTLD.

In 2019, at CMC’s request APTLD conducted a capacity building project for the .IQ team, which was co-sponsored by TDRA (.AE), Gransy .S.R, O., and AE Server and ICANN.

In an effort to revamp the ccTLD, CMC once again requested policy advice and technical assistance from the APTLD community, and the APTLD Board suggested forming a Members Working Group to deliver on the request in question.

The Objective

The objective of the Working Group will be to engage with the CMC/.IQ team to review and comment on draft Registry policies, and share good practices to get them operationalized.

The Scope, Workload and Modus Operandi

It is anticipated that the WG Members will need to commit at least a few hours of their time to complete the work by the fall of 2023 at the latest.

During its tenure, the WG will meet via Zoom regularly, but at least once a month. The WG online meetings will be scheduled based on its members’ availability.

In case of a genuinely urgent necessity and subject to availability of required funding, individual Working Group members may be encouraged to visit Baghdad for consultations with the CMC/ .IQ team.

In the course of the project implementation, the Working Group together with CMC may contemplate an expansion of its scope of operation and timelines.

Upon conclusion of the Working Group’s work, its Chair is expected to present its finding and recommendations to the CMC and share a final report with both the APTLD Board and the community.

Who Can Join the WG?

Membership in WG is open to both Ordinary and Associate APTLD Members, and the number of WG Members, including representatives of the same APTLD Member, is not limited. The background in the ccTLD policy development, registry operations, international relations, legal affairs and Internet Governance, as well as technical competencies, are a desirable but not necessary qualification for joining the WG

How to Join the WG?

Interested Members are encouraged to send an e-mail at sec@aptld.org indicating their intention to join the WG. In your email, kindly refer to your affiliation with a particular APTLD Member.

The Deadline

The deadline for this Call is 23:59 Singapore time (UTC+8) Friday 31 July 2023.

Next Steps

At its inaugural call after the deadline WG Members are expected to adopt the WG Charter and elect Chair and launch the working process.