Financial Guideline Adjustment Raises Concerns; Small Country-Code Domain Name Registries Face Fee Increases

A new change is emerging within the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) governance framework that is likely to generate widespread industry attention. Small country-code top-level domain (CCTLD) registries will face higher annual fee burdens due to a restructuring of ICANN's "Financial Guidelines."

This new development was first outlined in a report adopted by the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) on August 28, 2025. The report reviewed the current ccNSO Financial Guidelines, in effect since 2013, and concluded that an update was necessary to more equitably distribute the financial obligations between ccTLD registries and ICANN.

Under the new plan, tens of thousands of ccTLD registries will be categorized into ten tiers (A through J), rather than the previous seven tiers (A through G), to provide a more refined stratification of the number of domain names managed. These tiers will determine the annual fee each ccTLD registry must pay to ICANN.

For large ccTLDs, such as .de, .uk, .cn, .ru, .nl, and .br, registries with more than 5 million domain names annually will enter Tier A under the new policy, with annual fees of US$225,000, unchanged from the rates previously paid by similarly sized registries. Meanwhile, mid-tier registries (those managing between 2.5 million and 5 million domain names) will continue to pay US$150,000 annually.

The key change, however, will be for smaller ccTLD registries: with the adjustment to the lower tier thresholds, many registries previously in the lowest tiers will be pushed into higher tiers, triggering higher fees. For example, the old Tier G capped the number of domain names managed by each registry at 50,000. Under the new system, this cap has been significantly reduced to 10,000. Any registry exceeding this threshold, even slightly, could result in a move to the next tier and a higher fee. The domain-recht.de report estimates that the annual fee increase for some registries may only be a few hundred dollars, but for some very small ccTLD registries, the impact on their budgets could be significant.

Regardless, this revision of the financial guidelines marks another important step for ICANN in adapting to the new realities of global Internet governance. The actual effects of this policy upon implementation and its long-term impact on the structure of the global ccTLD market will remain under scrutiny.