YNOT EUROPE – During a closed-door meeting on Thursday, the board of directors for the International Corporation for Domain Names and Numbers decided to delay its decision about the fate of dot-xxx until the organization’s general membership meeting in Colombia Dec. 5-10. In the meantime, the board resolved to return the dot-xxx question to its Governmental Advisory Committee to ensure any potential GAC concerns had been addressed.

According to TheDomains.com, the resolution was expected to be posted on ICANN.org on Friday, but by post time nothing had appeared. However, it seems likely the ICANN board wishes to ensure it is correct in understanding there is no GAC consensus opposing the approval of dot-xxx. Under the GAC’s operating procedures, a consensus requires unanimous agreement among all 91 governmental members of the committee.

In previous GAC communications with the ICANN board, the GAC has mentioned opposition by some of its members, but the opposition did not compose consensus.

U.S.-based adult entertainment industry trade association Free Speech Coalition claims a victory in the skirmish, if not in its war to prevent adoption of the adult content-specific sponsored Top-Level Domain. FSC says its membership vehemently opposes dot-xxx due to the potential for enormous financial burden and increased censorship of legal adult content.

Among the GAC’s previous concerns was the appearance of a lack of support from the group assumed to be the “sponsoring group” ICANN requires of any sTLD. In its 2006 Wellington Communiqué, the GAC questioned the advisability of approving dot-xxx at a time when the adult entertainment community very publicly had withdrawn its support from the proposed domain. During the 2007 ICANN Conference in Lisbon, GAC reaffirmed that opposition, stating, “The Wellington Communiqué remains a valid and important expression of the GAC’s views on .xxx. The GAC does not consider the information provided by [ICANN’s board of directors] to have answered the GAC concerns as to whether the ICM application meets the sponsorship criteria.”

ICM Registry, based in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., has pursued the approval of dot-xxx for at least seven years, at a reported cost to date of about $10 million. ICM President Stuart Lawley has said the GAC’s sponsorship concern was allayed by a change in the documentation supporting the dot-xxx application: The sponsoring group is not the adult entertainment industry at large, but the International Foundation for Online Responsibility, a not-for-profit organization in which membership automatically will vest in each dot-xxx domain registrant at the time of registration.

FSC submitted a letter to ICANN’s board ahead of Thursday’s meeting, asking the board to ensure the GAC was offered another chance to weigh in about dot-xxx before the board took any action.

“While attending the GAC meeting in Brussels [in June 2010], I observed an informal conversation among its members,” said FSC Executive Director Diane Duke, who also attended the Lisbon meeting in 2007. “There was general consensus that [the GAC’s] concerns had still not been addressed, and its prior Communiqué objections stand.

“Stuart Lawley can stand on the rooftops and shout that this is a done deal all he wants, but this is an insurmountable obstacle for ICM to overcome,” Duke added. “FSC pointed that fact out to [ICANN’s board] in our letter requesting that they seek consultation with GAC, and apparently they agreed.”

Lawley remains as resolute as ever in his conviction dot-xxx will be approved during December’s meeting. On Friday, he told YNOT he expects the domain to be live sometime in March, based on ICANN’s current timetable.

“We understand that ICANN wants to cross all of its Ts and dot its Is by reaching out to the GAC,” he said. “We welcome the board’s resolve to move forward expeditiously, and continue to look forward to a first quarter [2011] launch.”