ICANN Announces Members of Its New Universal Acceptance Expert Working Group

On 26 August 2025, ICANN introduced the members of its newly formed Universal Acceptance (UA) Expert Working Group (EWG). The goal? To build a more inclusive and fully functional Internet by advising ICANN on Universal Acceptance strategies. This group brings together global experts to help standardize how domain names and email addresses are recognized—regardless of the script, length, or language involved.

Universal Acceptance isn’t just technical housekeeping—it’s the foundation of a multilingual, user-centric Internet. That’s why this initiative is now a priority in ICANN’s strategic plan through FY2026–2030 and plays a critical role in the upcoming round of the New gTLD Program.

So, What Is Universal Acceptance (UA)?

At its core, Universal Acceptance (UA) is the principle that every valid domain name and email address should work seamlessly across all internet-enabled applications, devices, and systems.

It doesn’t matter:

• whether the domain uses Latin, Cyrillic, Arabic, or Chinese characters
• whether the address ends in .com or a newer extension like .photography or .укр
• or whether the email address contains non-English characters

If it’s a valid address, the system should support it—no exceptions.

Here’s why it matters:

Inclusion: People around the world can use email and domain names in their native language.

Compatibility: Websites and apps must evolve to recognize non-ASCII addresses like ім’я@пошта.укр.

Market Growth: Businesses can reach broader audiences in multilingual regions.

Technical Consistency: It eliminates errors caused by legacy software rejecting newer domain formats.

In short, UA is the infrastructure needed for a truly global and multilingual Internet experience.

Meet the Experts Appointed by ICANN

SO/AC‑appointed representatives include:

• Abdalmonem Tharwat Galila (Governmental Advisory Committee)
• Edmon Chung (At‑Large Advisory Committee)
• Nabil Benamar (Security and Stability Advisory Committee)
• Nitin Walia (Generic Names Supporting Organization)
• Sami Mohamed Ali (Country Code Names Supporting Organization)

Appointed by ICANN’s President and CEO:

• Cathy Wissink (Unicode Consortium)
• Guilherme Canela (UNESCO)
• Jiankang Yao (China Internet Network Information Center)
• Richard Ishida (World Wide Web Consortium)
• Sean Bedford (Meta)
• Thomas Mullaney (Stanford University)

Leadership Structure and ICANN Integration

The UA EWG will be jointly chaired by Edmon Chung (DotAsia) and Sarmad Hussain (Senior Director of ICANN’s IDN and UA Programs). This co-chair model blends organizational insight with deep technical field knowledge. Serving as liaison to the ICANN Board is James Galvin, ensuring board alignment throughout the group’s efforts.

UA as a Strategic Priority

Universal Acceptance isn’t just a technical checkbox—it’s a strategic lever for global access and innovation. It ties directly into ICANN’s broader push to improve digital inclusion and enable users to engage with the Internet in their native scripts. That makes UA a critical part of both ICANN’s FY26–30 Strategic Plan and the upcoming Next Round of the New gTLD Program, which seeks to further diversify and expand the global domain namespace.