ICANN has recently released Second-Level Reference Label Generation Rules (LGRs) for several scripts, including Armenian, Cyrillic, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Latin, and Myanmar. Additionally, ICANN has made updates to existing LGRs.
These Second-Level Reference LGRs establish guidelines for forming valid domain name labels in various languages and scripts. Their publication aims to enhance the transparency and consistency of the Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) table review process and to streamline registry operations. Generic top-level domain (gTLD) registries may utilize or reference these LGRs while crafting IDN tables to suit their operational requirements. ICANN also evaluates LGRs and IDN tables submitted by gTLD registries via the IDN Service.
The development of Second-Level Reference LGRs involved collaboration with respective script communities, incorporating comprehensive analysis of Root Zone Label Generation Rules (RZ-LGR) and a Public Comment proceeding. Newly introduced script-specific Reference LGRs encompass Armenian, Cyrillic, Greek, Latin, Japanese, Korean, and Myanmar.
Among the 14 Reference LGRs with normative adjustments, the following languages and scripts are covered: Languages: Belarusian, Bosnian (Cyrillic), Bulgarian, English, French, German, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Russian, Serbian, Ukrainian Scripts: Bangla (Bengali), Khmer, Sinhala Other Reference LGRs have undergone updates in their Unicode version without normative changes.
In total, 25 script-based and 31 language-based Reference LGRs have been published, encompassing a wide array of languages and scripts. This includes 25 script-based LGRs (e.g., Arabic, Armenian, Bangla, Chinese, Cyrillic, Devanagari, etc.) and 31 language-based LGRs (e.g., Arabic, Belarusian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Chinese, etc.).
Future releases will incorporate additional languages and scripts based on relevant community feedback and input.