LOS ANGELES - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced the members of the newly formed Universal Acceptance (UA) Expert Working Group (EWG), tasked with proposing guidelines for ICANN's work on UA adoption. Additional information regarding the group's purpose and scope of work can be found in the UA EWG charter, a press release stated by ICANN. 

UA EWG members include appointees from several ICANN Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees (SO/ACs), as well individuals invited by ICANN President and CEO Kurtis Lindqvist. The required qualifications for participants included demonstrated knowledge of UA and Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), experience in multilingual Internet, and related expertise. ICANN welcomes the members of the UA EWG and appreciates their willingness to provide advice on this important topic.

SO/AC-nominated representatives:

• Abdalmonem Tharwat Galila, Governmental Advisory Committee
• Edmon Chung, At-large Advisory Committee
• Nabil Benmar, Security and Stability Advisory Committee
• Nitin Walia, Generic Names Supporting Organization
• Sami Mohamed Ali, Country Code Names Supporting Organization

ICANN President and CEO-appointed representatives:

• Cathy Wissink, Unicode Consortium
• Guilherme Canela, UNESCO
• Jiankang Yao, Chinese Internet Network Information System
• Richard Ishida, Worldwide Web Consortium
• Sean Bedford, Meta
• Thomas Mullaney, Stanford University

Edmon Chung of DotAsia and Sarmad Hussain, Senior Director of ICANN's IDN and UA programs, will serve as co-chairs, while James Galvin will be the ICANN Board Liaison to the UA EWG.

Importance of Universal Acceptance

Universal Acceptance ensures that all valid domain names and related email addresses, regardless of length, language, or script, can be used in all Internet-enabled applications, devices, and systems. In a UA-ready world, Internet users can choose an online identity in the language or script of their choice, and ensure that their chosen domain names and email addresses will work seamlessly on the Internet. Achieving UA-readiness is essential to enabling a more linguistically diverse Internet.

UA remains an area of focus in the FY26–30 Strategic Plan as a key driver for facilitating digital inclusion. UA and IDNs are also key components of the New gTLD Program: Next Round, which will expand competition, innovation, and consumer choice in the DNS.