An applicant seeking one or more allocatable variant strings of an applied-for primary gTLD or existing gTLD must provide justification for the necessity of each variant string. This justification will be evaluated by a panel using a general standard of reasonableness based on four criteria in the context of the applied-for primary IDN gTLD or existing gTLD as outlined in the Applicant Guidebook Module 7.6 Variant String Evaluation:
- The meaning or intended meaning of each applied-for variant string is consistent, as demonstrated by sources provided by the applicant.
- The variant string is recognized as equivalent by the intended user community.
- The benefits and user communities who will gain from the introduction of the applied-for variant string.
- Steps the applicant will take to minimize operational and management complexities of the variant gTLDs and resulting variant domain names that impact registrars, resellers, or registrants.