The ICANN community and interested members of the public have an opportunity to provide input on new generic top-level domain (gTLD) applications after ICANN publishes the public portions of the applications on String Confirmation Day. Input can be provided in several ways: application comments, Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) Member Early Warnings, GAC Consensus Advice, Singular/Plural Notifications, and objections.
Each type of input has its own set of processes, requirements, and potential application impacts as outlined in detail in the New gTLD Program: 2026 Round Applicant Guidebook Module 4. This webpage will continue to be updated with more information on the processes, timelines, and implications of each type of Community Input - check back often.
Application Comments
Application comments are a mechanism for the public to bring relevant information and issues to the attention of ICANN, applicants, and evaluators. The public will have an opportunity to submit comments on posted applications on the Application Comment Forum at any time following String Confirmation Day. Only comments received during the formal comment periods following String Confirmation Day (104 days) and specific Change Requests (30 days) may be considered by the evaluators. Applicants will be able to respond to comments. Refer to Section 4.1 of the Guidebook for more information.
GAC Member Early Warnings
A GAC Member Early Warning is an early indication from a GAC member or observer notifying a new gTLD applicant that their application may be considered potentially sensitive or problematic by one or more governments. GAC members and observers may issue Early Warnings in the 104 days following String Confirmation Day. Please see Section 4.2 of the Guidebook for the details.
GAC Consensus Advice
As described in Section 4.3 of the Guidebook, GAC Consensus Advice on new gTLD applications is submitted to the ICANN Board by the GAC to address applications that are identified as sensitive or problematic by one or more governments, for example, because the application raises sensitivities or violates national law.
Singular/Plural Notifications
Strings that represent singular and plural forms of the same word in the same language—irrespective of what language the applicant intends the string to be in—may raise concerns because such similarity can cause confusion to Internet users. Members of the public will have an opportunity to notify ICANN of a singular/plural issue if two applied-for strings represent the singular and plural version of the same word in the same language; or if an applied-for string represents the singular or plural version in the same language of the same word of a delegated TLD, strings being processed from a previous new gTLD round, or a Blocked Name. A Singular/Plural Notification can be submitted in the 30 days following String Confirmation Day.
Objections and Appeals
Members of the public, including other applicants, have the opportunity to file an objection to any application and have it considered before a panel of qualified experts. (See Section 4.5 of the Applicant Guidebook). For an objection to be considered by a panel, it must be filed by a party with standing on specific grounds including string confusion, legal rights, limited public interest, or community. Panel determinations can be appealed.
Objections can be filed during the following windows:
- For 104 days, for all objection grounds, following the announcement on String Confirmation Day.
- For 30 days, for String Confusion only, following the publication of updated contention sets once String Evaluation has been completed.
- For 30 days, for all objections grounds, in case of .Brand String Change, starting on the day the String Evaluation Reports are published, and only if the string evaluation is successful.
The Objection and Appeal Procedures will require different payments to be submitted directly to the DRSPs at different times as described in Section 4.5.6 Objections and Appeals Costs. To support the multistakeholder model, ICANN offers certain funding possibilities to the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) and national governments.
For more information on funding requirements and processes go to: