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GNSO Council Meeting #1 of 2023 held on 19 Jan 2023 

• Agenda
• Matters of Interest
• Meeting Record
• Special Summary Report

GNSO Council Meeting #1 of 2023 held on 19 Jan 2023

Full Agenda  |  Motions  |  Documents

• Item 1: Administrative Matters
• Item 2: Opening Remarks / Review of Projects & Action List
• Item 3: Consent Agenda
• Item 4: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Update on the Council Committee for Overseeing and Implementing Continuous Improvements (CCOICI)’s  Working Group Self-Assessment Recommendations Report
• Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Review Action Items From Strategic Planning Session
• Item 6: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Acknowledgment of Council Input on the SubPro Operational Design Assessment (ODA) for the ICANN Board
• Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - GNSO Council Work Related to SubPro
• Item 8: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Update on the Transfer Policy Review PDP 
• Item 9: ANY OTHER BUSINESS

For notes on highlighted items click on MATTERS OF INTEREST tab above

Matters of interest to ALAC/At-Large

• Item 1: Administrative Matters
  • Minutes of the GNSO Council meeting on 17 November 2022 were posted on 01 December 2022.
  • Minutes of the GNSO Council meeting on 15 December 2022 were posted on 03 January 2023.
• Item 3: Consent Agenda
  • Motion to confirm Osvado Novoa as GNSO Council Liaison to the Transfers Policy Review
  • Motion to nominate Arinola Akinyemi as a Mentor for the ICANN Fellowship Program
• Item 4: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Update on the Council Committee for Overseeing and Implementing Continuous Improvements (CCOICI)’s  Working Group Self-Assessment Recommendations Report
  • Council had resolved on 16 June 2021 to initiate the Council Committee for Overseeing and Implementing Continuous Improvements (CCOICI) as a pilot, which included the review of the Working Group Self-Assessment as one of the two areas of focus.
  • The CCOICI started the Working Group Self-Assessment assignment in October 2021, concluding in February 2022. However, the CCOICI deferred conducting the public comment until it could be combined with recommendations related to the GNSO Statement of Interest (SOI). The consolidated public comment proceeding on Proposed Updates to the GNSO Operating Procedures was conducted from 09 September - 14 November 2022, after which the CCOICI integrated public comments as appropriate and submitted its Recommendations Report to the Council on 5 January 2023.
• Item 6: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Acknowledgment of Council Input on the SubPro Operational Design Assessment (ODA) for the ICANN Board
  • ICANN org published the SubPro Operational Design Assessment (ODA) on 12 December and in advance of the publication of the ODA, Council received a briefing on 7 December. During Council’s December meeting, it agreed on the benefit of providing Council input on the ODA, if any, to the ICANN Board in support of the Board workshop taking place around 20 January.
  • Council established a small team to review the ODA in detail, concentrating on identifying areas of ICANN org analysis that may not be true to the intent of the SubPro Final Report, as well as developing impressions of Option 2 contained in the ODA.
  • Given the tight timelines, there will not be adequate time for the small team to provide draft input to Council by the document and motions deadline. Accordingly, the expectation is that the input, delivered on [date], shall be sent to the Board, but include the caveat that it was not formally adopted by Council.
• Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - GNSO Council Work Related to SubPro

  • During Council’s Strategic Planning Session (SPS), a recurring theme emerged. Taking into consideration the possible timelines surrounding the implementation of the SubPro recommendations, especially if Option 2 or similar were to be pursued, Council should take care to ensure that any SubPro related work within its control should be carefully managed for timely delivery. The Council does not want its work to serve as an impediment to the timely implementation and launch of the next round of new gTLDs.

  • In order to address this recurring theme,, Council agreed that it would like to receive frequent updates on the work that is connected to the next round of new gTLDs. Presumably, those projects include:

    • IDNs EPDP Phase 1 (top-level charter questions)
    • GNSO Guidance Process on Applicant Support
    • Closed Generics Facilitated Discussion
    • SubPro ODA Small Team
• Item 8: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Update on the Transfer Policy Review PDP 
  • Council initiated the two-phased Transfer Policy Review PDP in February 2021. Since it began meeting in May 2021, the WG has made steady progress on its Phase 1 charter questions, including publishing its Phase 1A Initial Report for public comment.  The WG conducted preliminary deliberations on Phase 1B topics during the Phase 1A Initial Report public comment period, then reviewed public comments on the Phase 1A Initial Report, and is now completing revisions to preliminary recommendations, taking into account public comment received. 
  • In the course of Phase 1 work conducted to date, the WG discovered that certain Phase 2 topics must be addressed before Phase 1 recommendations can be fully developed. As a result, the leadership team is preparing a Project Change Request (PCR) to update its work plan to consolidate all work into a single phase and change the order in which topics are considered. This will impact the timeline for key deliverables. In order to ensure that Council fully understands the potential changes prior to being asked to accept the PCR, the changes and potential implications will be shared with Council.
• Item 9: ANY OTHER BUSINESS
  • 9.1 - ICANN76 Planning

Records of 19 Jan 2023 Meeting

• Audio Recording
• Zoom Recording (includes chat and visual and rough transcript. See both tabs on recording page)
• Transcript
• Minutes

Special Summary Report of 19 Jan 2023 Meeting to ALT-PLUS

For brevity, I will just highlight a few things here. For some of the issues, you can glean a wider perspective from GNSO Council Jan 2023 Matters of Interest and/or from GNSO Council Jan 2023 Meeting Records.

1. Consent Agenda

• Council confirmed Osvado Novoa as GNSO Council Liaison to the Transfers Policy Review.
• Council approved the appointment of Arinola Akinyemi as a Mentor for the ICANN Fellowship Program.

2. Subsequent Procedures Operational Design Assessment (SubPro ODA)

• Council's Small Team on SubPro ODA (in which I also participated) - which was tasked with reviewing the SubPro ODA in detail, concentrating on identifying areas of ICANN org analysis that may not be true to the intent of the SubPro Final Report, as well as developing impressions of Option 2 contained in that ODA - produced input which formed/resulted in the letter of 20 Jan from the GNSO Chair to the ICANN Board Chair.
• Essentially, Council is urging to the Board to approve the SubPro Outputs (i.e. the recommendations and implementation guidance that were approved by Council) and proceed swiftly with implementation. Despite some misgivings in the assumptions made by ICANN Org in producing the SubPro ODA, Council thinks that any outstanding implementation issues raised in the ODA by ICANN Org can be resolved during implementation in collaboration with the (to-be established) Subsequent Procedures Implementation Review Team (SubPro IRT). 

Action by ALAC Liaison

• •  To monitor and share updates regarding the SubPro IRT with ALAC

3. GNSO Council Work related to Subsequent Procedures (SubPro)

• During Council's Strategic Planning Session (SPS) (in which I do not participate), it was concluded that Council should take care to ensure that any SubPro related work within its control should be carefully managed for timely delivery. The Council does not want its work to serve as an impediment to the timely implementation and launch of the next round of new gTLDs, In line with this, Council is to receive frequent updates on the work that is connected to the next round of new gTLDs, including: 
  • IDNs EPDP Phase 1 (top-level charter questions)
  • GNSO Guidance Process on Applicant Support
  • Closed Generics Facilitated Discussion

Action by ALAC Liaison

• •  To monitor and share updates regarding the above processes with ALAC

4. Transfer Policy Review Policy Development Process (PDP)

• Work by this 2-phased PDP has been progressing steadily, with its Phase 1A Initial Report having undergone public comment and impending completion of revisions to preliminary recommendations from that Initial Report. 
• In the course of Phase 1 work conducted to date, the WG discovered that certain Phase 2 topics must be addressed before Phase 1 recommendations can be fully developed. As a result, Council has been alerted to an upcoming Project Change Request (PCR) to update its work plan to consolidate all work into a single phase and change the order in which topics are considered. This will impact the timeline for key deliverables.

5. Council Committee for Overseeing and Implementing Continuous Improvements (CCOICI)

• By way of background, the work of the CCOICI (a GNSO pilot) covers several areas of focus, mainly on:

(1) Work Stream 2 (WS2) recommendations, which has been dealt with by Council at its Nov Dec 2022 meeting. (I assessed drew fleeting attention to it but subsequently concluded this to be of no specific interest to ALAC and therefore did not highlight report on it in more detail.)

(2) Updates to GNSO Operating Procedures; which includes (2a) Working Group Self-Assessment (WGSA) and (2b) GNSO Statement of Interest (GNSO SOI)

• The agenda item on the WGSA was deferred to Council's Feb 2023 meeting, but in the interim, I can confirm that action has been taken to incorporate the ALAC's input in respect of the existing WGSA survey.

Action by ALAC Liaison

• •  To monitor and share updates regarding the GNSO SOI with ALAC

6. ICANN76 Planning

• I was informed that the ALAC-GNSO bilateral meeting at ICANN76 has to be displaced from the meeting schedule but that also Council is prepared to meet with ALAC virtually vide a pre-meeting call. 

Action by ALAC Liaison

• •  To seek input on topics for ALAC-GNSO pre-ICANN76 bilateral call