ICANN publishes guidelines to advance universal acceptance
ICANN has published new guidelines aimed at increasing the adoption of Universal Acceptance, a principle that ensures all valid domain names and email addresses can work correctly across internet applications and systems, regardless of their language, script or length.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has published the Guidelines for Advancing Universal Acceptance (UA) Adoption, developed by its Universal Acceptance Expert Working Group (UA EWG).
Universal Acceptance is an approach designed to ensure that all valid domain names and email addresses are accepted, stored, processed and displayed correctly by internet-enabled applications, devices and systems. In practice, this means that a website, email service or software application should work properly not only with familiar Latin-script addresses and shorter domain names, but also with internationalised domain names, non-Latin scripts and newer, longer domain extensions.
For example, an email address using Arabic, Chinese or Cyrillic characters, or a domain using a newer top-level domain, should not be rejected simply because a particular application was designed around older assumptions about what a valid internet address looks like. Universal Acceptance, therefore, addresses a technical issue that can otherwise create barriers for people using different languages and writing systems online.
The issue has become increasingly relevant as the Domain Name System has expanded beyond the traditional set of largely Latin-script domain names. Internationalised domain names allow domain names to use characters from different scripts, while newer generic top-level domains have also introduced domain endings that may be longer than the older three-character extensions commonly recognised by software.
ICANN established the UA EWG in August 2025 to develop guidance for advancing UA adoption. The group brought together subject-matter experts and representatives from across the ICANN community. Its final guidelines follow a public consultation held from 23 February to 13 April 2026, during which the community broadly supported the document while suggesting changes to strengthen implementation and prioritisation.
The guidelines are intended for a broad range of stakeholders, including technology companies, software developers, open-source projects, standards organisations, the domain name industry, hosting and internet service providers, governments, intergovernmental organisations and academia.
The document also proposes ways to measure progress in UA adoption. These include tracking awareness of Universal Acceptance, policy support, technical implementation and capacity development. The aim is to provide a basis for assessing whether efforts to improve compatibility are producing practical results.
ICANN said the guidelines will inform its future work on Universal Acceptance, including activities related to the organisation’s strategic priorities and the 2026 round of the New gTLD Programme.
At its core, Universal Acceptance is about making sure that technical systems do not unintentionally exclude users because of the language, script or format of their domain name or email address. As internet use continues to expand across languages and regions, ensuring that applications and services can handle these different forms of digital identity is an important part of building a more multilingual and accessible internet.
