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Deck of Cards
idMar2023


Card
idShow_Mar2023
labelSHOW ME

GNSO Council Meeting #3 of 2023 held on 15 Mar 2023 


Card
idAgenda_Mar2023
labelAGENDA

GNSO Council Meeting #3 of 2023 held on 15 Mar 2023

Full Agenda  |  Motions  |  Documents

  • Item 1: Administrative Matters
  • Item 2: Opening Remarks / Review of Projects & Action List
  • Item 3: Consent Agenda: None
  • Item 4: COUNCIL VOTE - Adoption of the Council Committee for Overseeing and Implementing Continuous Improvement (CCOICI) Working Group Self-Assessment (WGSA) Recommendations Report
  • Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Next Steps for Consideration of Expired Domain Deletion Policy (“EDDP”) and Expired Registration Recovery Policy (“ERRP”)
  • Item 6: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Review GNSO-owned projects that may impact SubPro timeline
  • Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Continuation of Informal GNSO Council SubPro Discussion
  • Item 8: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Whois Disclosure System Next Steps
  • Item 9: ANY OTHER BUSINESS

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


Card
idMOI_Mar2023
labelMATTERS OF INTEREST

Matters of interest to ALAC/At-Large

  • Item 1: Administrative Matters
    • Minutes of the GNSO Council meeting on 19 January 2023 were posted on 02 February 2023.
    • Minutes of the GNSO Council meeting on 16 February 2023 were posted on 03 March 2023.
  • Item 4: COUNCIL VOTE - Adoption of the Council Committee for Overseeing and Implementing Continuous Improvement (CCOICI) Working Group Self-Assessment (WGSA) 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.
    • The CCOICI integrated public comments received as appropriate and submitted its Recommendations Report to the Council on 5 January 2023; Council will vote on this Recommendations Report which is limited to just the WGSA. (The portion on the GNSO SOI is still pending)
  • Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Next Steps for Consideration of Expired Domain Deletion Policy (“EDDP”) and Expired Registration Recovery Policy (“ERRP”)
    • In July 2022, Council agreed that it would be helpful to check with the registrars and ICANN Compliance to help determine if there are any known issues or concerns with either of the two Expiration Policies which could warrant requesting a Policy Status Report (PSR).
    • A report from Contractual Compliance was shared with Council on 1 November 2022 and feedback from the GNSO Councilors from RrSG has been shared on previous Council calls. 
    • During Council's Nov 2022 meeting, ICANN Org Contractual Compliance Team provided a briefing of the report, and Council briefly considered potential next steps.
    • Following the meeting, Nacho Amodoz, Greg DiBiase, and Susan Payne volunteered to closely review the report from ICANN org and determine if any of the issues raised warrant a PSR request. Council will receive an update on this small team’s recommendation.
  • Item 6: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Review GNSO-owned projects that may impact SubPro timeline
    • 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
      • Small Team review of SubPro recommendations likely pending Board action
    • Council will receive a brief update on the above-referenced projects.
  • Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Continuation of Informal GNSO Council SubPro Discussion
    • On 12 September 2021 the ICANN Board directed the ICANN President and CEO to organize the resources required to begin work on the Operational Design Phase (ODP) for the GNSO’s New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Final Report and the Affirmations, Recommendations, and Implementation Guidance contained in that report. On 20 December 2021, ICANN org announced that the SubPro ODP had formally launched, starting at the beginning of January 2022. The ODP Team has shared numerous updates to the community and sent several sets of assumptions/questions to the GNSO Council via the Council’s liaison to the ODP.

    • ICANN org published the SubPro Operational Design Assessment (ODA) on 12 December, and Council received a briefing on it during a webinar on 7 December.

    • Council formed a small team to review the ODA in detail and provided its input to the ICANN Board on 20 January, in advance of the Board's workshop in January 2023. As discussed in the Chair's blog, the ICANN Board spent a full day reviewing the SubPro Outputs and ODA.

    • On 28 February 2023, the Council and ICANN Board had a joint meeting on SubPro, and Council plans a follow-up informal discussion on 7 March 2023.

    • Council will discuss the joint meeting with the Board and the informal discussion, and consider appropriate next steps

  • Item 8: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Whois Disclosure System Next Steps
    • ICANN org published the Whois Disclosure System design paper in September 2022, presenting it to Council and the EPDP Phase 2 Small Team during ICANN75.

    • The small team subsequently reviewed the design paper and continued its consultations with ICANN org, resulting in an addendum to its preliminary report. Council accepted the addendum and communicated to the ICANN Board its support for the request that the ICANN Board proceed with the implementation of the Whois Disclosure System, provided that the updates identified by the small team in the addendum are made.

    • On 27 February 2023, the Board directed ICANN org to develop and launch the Whois Disclosure System (System) as requested by Council within 11 months from 27 February 2023. The Board also directed ICANN org to operate the System for up to two years from the date of launch, and collect and report on usage data. Furthermore, the ICANN Board has urged “the GNSO Council to consider a Policy Development Process or other means to require registrars to use the System”.

    • During ICANN76, on 11 March 2023, the EPDP Phase 2 Small Team will meet with ICANN org to receive an update the status of implementation of the Whois Disclosure System and continue its consideration of some of the aspects identified as requiring further discussion in the addendum.

    • In addition to receiving an update from the Small Team on its meeting with ICANN org, Council will consider if/how the instructions to the Small Team should be updated to reflect Council’s expectations of the Small Team during the implementation phase as well as post-implementation, in addition to the ask from the Board to consider a Policy Development Process or other means to require registrars to use the System. 

  • Item 9: ANY OTHER BUSINESS


Card
idMeet_Mar2023
labelMEETING RECORD

Records of 15 Mar 2023 Meeting

  • Audio Recording
  • Zoom Recording (includes chat and visual and rough transcript. To access the rough transcript, select the Audio Transcript tab)
  • Transcript
  • Minutes


Card
idSumRep_Mar2023
labelSPECIAL REPORT

Special Summary Report of 15 Mar 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 Mar 2023 Matters of Interest and/or from GNSO Council Mar 2023 Meeting Records.

1. Subsequent Procedures Operational Design Assessment (SubPro ODA), Implementation and other Next Steps, Dependencies 

   ICANN Board 16 March 2023 Resolution

  • ICANN Board resolved during its Board Meeting at ICANN76 to adopt the SubPro Outputs in Section A of its "Scorecard on Subsequent Procedures PDP" (Scorecard); marking 38 Outputs in Section B of the Scorecard as "pending" and noting ongoing community discussions relating to Topic 17: Applicant Support, Topic 23: Closed Generics, and Topic 25: Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), as well as additional dependencies concerning specific Review Team Recommendations, the Name Collision Analysis Project Study 2 Report (NCAP2), and other items noted in Section C of the Scorecard.
  • ICANN Board has communicated this development to GNSO Council via their 16 Mar letter. In particular, the Board said:- 
    • The Board has adopted all Outputs contained in Section A of the Scorecard and designated the Outputs in Section B as pending. The Board has also committed to resolve the dependencies noted in Section C of the Scorecard in a timely manner. 
    • The ICANN Board has directed ICANN org to submit a comprehensive implementation plan no later than 1 August 2023, containing a work plan, relevant information for the Infrastructure Development stream, timelines, and anticipated resource requirements to announce the opening of the next round of new gTLDs (Implementation Plan).
    • The Board acknowledges that the delivery of the Implementation Plan requires the satisfactory completion of four deliverables by 15 June 2023, the last day of the ICANN77 Public Meeting. These deliverables are:

1. A plan and timeline as agreed upon by the ICANN Board and the GNSO Council for consideration and resolution of all Outputs contained in Section B of the Scorecard.
2. A working methodology and Implementation Review Team (IRT) work plan and timeline as agreed upon by ICANN org and the GNSO Council.
3. A GNSO Council project plan and timeline for policy work, or an alternate path, on how to handle closed generics for the next round of new gTLDs.
4. A project plan from the GNSO Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) Working Group (WG) identifying all charter questions that will impact the next Applicant Guidebook, along with considerations to ensure a consistent solution on IDN Variant TLDs with the ccPDP4 on IDN ccTLDs (in accordance with prior Board Resolution 2019.03.14.09), and a timeline by when the IDNs EPDP WG will deliver relevant recommendations to the GNSO Council.

    • The Board is prepared to work closely with the GNSO Council on the first deliverable. The Board appreciates that the GNSO Council has already begun a conversation with ICANN org on a working methodology for the Subsequent Procedures Implementation Review Team (SubPro IRT).

    Section A Outputs    

  • Section A Outputs will now proceed to implementation; ICANN org is liaising with Council on constituting the SubPro IRT for this purpose.
  • While the SubPro IRT is to be driven by ICANN org, its constitution and membership is determined by Council.
  • Council is in the process of determining the membership model for this SubPro IRT; Council is currently leaning towards an Open model per the PDP 3.0 framework.
  • While an Open model IRT will makes participation open to anyone and without limit on the number of participants, it is likely that the corresponding call for volunteers would express a preference for active former members of the SubPro PDP WG on account of the need for familiarity/expertise on the Section A Outputs in order to be able to adequately guide their implementation by ICANN org. Newcomers will be at a severe disadvantage if they do not get up to speed with the SubPro PDP Final Report.
  • Timeline for the call for volunteers for the SubPro IRT, workplan etc are all pending.

Action by ALAC Liaison

    •  To monitor and share updates regarding the SubPro IRT constitution

    Section B Outputs: 38 "Pending" Outputs

  • Council has constituted a Council Small Team to conduct a triage for the 38 Pending SubPro Outputs. The Small Team comprises Anne Aikman-Scalese (NCA), Bruna Martins dos Santos (NCSG), Jeff Neuman (GNSO Liaison to SubPro ODP), Justine Chew (ALAC Liaison to GNSO), Nacho Amados (RySG), Paul McGrady (NCA-NCPH), Sebastien Ducos (RySG), Stephanie Perrin (NCSG), Susan Payne (IPC) and Tomslin Samme-Nlar (NCSG).
  • The purpose of the triage exercise to examine the Board's concerns on the 38 Pending Outputs, how they can be grouped for varying onward action.

Action by ALAC Liaison

    •  To monitor and share updates regarding progress of the Council Small Team work on the 38 Pending Outputs

    Section C Outputs: Ongoing Community Work, Reviews & Dependencies

    These are listed as follows:


ItemSubject toDependency for next AGB
1.

Topic 17 Applicant Support

GNSO Guidance Process on Applicant Support outcomeYes
2.

Topic 23 Closed Generics

GAC-GNSO-ALAC Facilitated Dialogue on Closed Generics outcomeYes
3.

ALAC Advice on SubPro 

Board action
4.ALAC Advice on DNS AbuseICANN Community work on DNS abuseYes
5.SAC059 Response to ICANN Board regarding Interdisciplinary StudiesNCAP Study 2 outcomeYes
6.SAC114 SSAC Comments on the SubPro Final ReportBoard clarification with SSACYes
7.

SSR Rec 17.1 (Framework for name collisions)

NCAP Study 2 outcomeYes
8.

CCT Rec 14 (Incentives for anti-abuse measures)

ICANN Community work on DNS abuseYes

9. 

CCT Rec 15 (Preventing systemic abuse)

ICANN Community work on DNS abuseYes
10.Expedited Policy Development Process on Internationalized Domain Names (EPDP on IDNs)Identification of all charter questions that will impact the next Applicant Guidebook, along with considerations to ensure a consistent solution on IDN Variant TLDs with the ccPDP4 on IDN ccTLDs Yes
11.DNS AbuseBoard determination on action neededYes
12.Name Collision Analysis Project (NCAP) Study 2NCAP Study 2 outcomeYes


2. Registration Data Request Service (RDRS) (formerly known as Whois Disclosure System (WDS)) 

  • Following the ICANN Board's 27 Feb resolution directing ICANN org to proceed with development and launch of the WDS as soon as possible, a meeting of the GNSO EPDP Phase 2 (SSAD) took place at ICANN76 on 11 Mar, where the Whois Disclosure System (WDS) was proposed to be renamed to Registration Data Request Service (RDRS).
  • Hereon, Council is to consider the use of a PDP or other means to require, or strongly encourage, registrars to use the RSRS, noting that the small team has already been assigned the task to how to best to promote and secure comprehensive use of the system, both by potential requestors as well as ICANN accredited registrars.

Action by ALAC Liaison

    •  To monitor and share updates regarding Council's deliberations on the RDRS

3. Expired Domain Deletion Policy (“EDDP”) and Expired Registration Recovery Policy (“ERRP”)

  • Council was asked if it was timely to request a Policy Status Report (PSR) for the EDDP and the ERRP. There was tentative agreement within Council that whilst it was important, there were other ongoing and important topics, so the review of the policy was postponed. Following this, ICANN Compliance put together a report which showed registrants having issues with renewals, confusion with the terms of the policies.
  • A small team of councilors (Nacho Amadoz, Greg DiBiase, and Susan Payne) reviewed the report as well as the recommendation to review the PSR. Incremental work could be done to improve on clarity of the policy language and in this respect, support staff is to reach out to ICANN org colleagues to request further information on the educational materials relating to the EDDP and ERRP.
  • The PSR will be reviewed in 6 months.

4. 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, including Updates to GNSO Operating Procedures; which covers (a) Working Group Self-Assessment (WGSA) and (b) GNSO Statement of Interest (GNSO SOI), which were part of the public comment proceeding on Proposed Updates to the GNSO Operating Procedures which ran from Sep-Nov 2022.
  • With respect to (a), Council has adopted WGSA Recommendation Report (which incorporates the ALAC's input in respect of the existing WGSA survey)
  • With respect to (b), the CCOICI is still grappling with public comments received on the GNSO SOI update. The key issue with the GNSO SOI update revolves around transparency of ICANN PDPs, in particular the proposed allowance for a PDP WG member to claim confidentiality as the ground for not revealing the entity that stands to benefit from that member's participation (client-solicitor privilege was cited as an example for claiming such confidentiality). Council discussed this issue briefly and will revisit this issue at a future meeting when the CCOICI is ready to present its recommendation(s) on the GNSO SOI update.

Action by ALAC Liaison

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


...

Deck of Cards
idFeb2023


Card
idShow_Feb2023
labelSHOW ME

GNSO Council Meeting #2 of 2023 held on 16 Feb 2023 


Card
idAgenda_Feb2023
labelAGENDA

GNSO Council Meeting #2 of 2023 held on 16 Feb 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 VOTE - Adoption of the Amended Charter for the Transfer Policy Review PDP and Approval of the Policy Change Request
  • Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Update on the Board's Consideration of the Subsequent Procedures Recommendations and Operational Design Assessment (SubPro ODA)
  • Item 6: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Update on the Council Committee for Overseeing and Implementing Continuous Improvements (CCOICI)’s Working Group Self-Assessment Recommendations Report and Update from the Statement of Interest (SOI) Task Force
  • Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - ICANN76 Meeting Planning
  • Item 8: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - PDP Improvements item #8 (Review of the Policy & Implementation recommendations)
  • Item 9: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) Review Next Steps
  • Item 10: ANY OTHER BUSINESS 
    • 9.2 - Update on Closed Generics Facilitated Dialogue

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


Card
idMOI_Feb2023
labelMATTERS OF INTEREST

Matters of interest to ALAC/At-Large

  • Item 1: Administrative Matters
    • Minutes of the GNSO Council meeting on 15 December 2022 were posted on 03 January 2023.
    • Minutes of the GNSO Council meeting on 19 January 2023 were posted on 02 February 2023.
  • Item 3: Consent Agenda
    • Nomination of a Mentor for the ICANN Fellowship Selection Committee - Taiwo Peter Akinremi
    • Motion for the Adoption of the Revised Charter for the Budget and Operations Townhall
  • Item 4: COUNCIL VOTE - Adoption of the Amended Charter for the Transfer Policy Review PDP and Approval of the Policy Change Request 
    • 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.
    • Council to consider the amended Charter and approval of the PCR for the Transfer Policy Review PDP.
  • Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Update on the Board's Consideration of the Subsequent Procedures Recommendations and Operational Design Assessment (SubPro ODA)
    • Council will receive an update from Becky Burr/Matthew Shears on the SubPro related discussions during the Board workshop and what has transpired since the the Board's workshop in January 2023. As discussed in the Chair's blog, the ICANN Board spent a full day reviewing the SubPro Outputs and SubPro ODA.
  • Item 6:  COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Update on the Council Committee for Overseeing and Implementing Continuous Improvements (CCOICI)’s Working Group Self-Assessment Recommendations Report and Update from the Statement of Interest (SOI) Task Force
    • 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.
    • Council will receive an update on both the CCOICI’s Working Group Self-Assessment Recommendations Report. In addition, an update will be provided on the work of the GNSO SOI Task Force (TF).
  • Item 8: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - PDP Improvements item #8 (Review of the Policy & Implementation recommendations)
    • GNSO Council established a PDP Improvements Tracker in order to provide an aggregated view of the various proposed improvements that have been identified from a number of different initiatives., which include:
      • Council Strategic Planning Session (SPS) Action Item – how to improve support for and follow up on policy recommendations post-Council adoption
      • Operational Design Phase
      • Modifying Consensus Policies
      • PDP 3.0 Parking Lot Items
      • Review of Policy & Implementation Recommendations
    • For item #8 (Review of the Policy & Implementation recommendations) and the agreed next step (“Staff support team to provide further detail on what a policy status report (PSR) would be expected to cover”), staff circulated a background note on a possible PSR on the Policy & Implementation Recommendations on 20 January 2023.
    • Council will discuss the background note and consider next steps.

  • Item 9: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) Review Next Steps
    • After the approval of the Phase 1 Final Report of the GNSO Policy Development Process (PDP) on the Review of All Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPMs) in All gTLDs in January 2021, the Council discussed the need to review the RPMs charter in advance of launching Phase 2 of the PDP.
    • Council determined that a Policy Status Report (PSR) should be requested from ICANN org to better understand if new issues or information has emerged that would be relevant to a comprehensive review of the policy.
    • ICANN org’s Global Domains and Strategy (GDS) team completed the draft PSR and published it for public comment on 3 March 2022; the revised PSR was shared with Council on 18 July 2022 and Council then received a briefing from GDS during the July meeting, at which Council delayed next steps based on a number of reasons, primarily though because of the amount of competing work. Council agreed during its November 2022 meeting that because of the launch of the Phase 1 RPMs Implementation Review Team (IRT), which would likely have overlapping community support with a Phase 2 PDP, that the delay for next steps should be tied to the completion or key milestones for the IRT.
    • Council will receive an update from the Council’s liaison to the RPMs IRT to better understand precise timing for delaying Phase 2 next steps.
  • Item 10: ANY OTHER BUSINESS 
    • 9.2 - Update on Closed Generics Facilitated Dialogue


Card
idMeet_Feb2023
labelMEETING RECORD

Records of 16 Feb 2023 Meeting


Card
idSumRep_Feb2023
labelSPECIAL REPORT

Special Summary Report of 16 Feb 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 Feb 2023 Matters of Interest and/or from GNSO Council Feb 2023 Meeting Records.

1. Consent Agenda

  • Council confirmed Taiwo Peter Akinremi as a Fellowship Selection Committee member for six consecutive ICANN meetings, beginning with ICANN78.
  • Council adopts the revised Charter for the Budget and Operations Townhall (formerly known as the GNSO Standing Committee on Budget and Operations (SCBO)).

2. Transfer Policy Review PDP

  • Council approved the Transfer Policy Review PDP amended Charter and Project Change Request (PCR), which following recent developments, are designed to update the PDP WG's work plan to consolidate all work into a single phase and change the order in which topics are considered.

3. Subsequent Procedures Operational Design Assessment (SubPro ODA)

  • Council received an update on SubPro related discussions during the recent Jan 2023 Board workshop from the one of the GNSO appointees to the ICANN Board, Becky Burr (Matthew Shears was an apology).  As discussed in the Chair's blog, the ICANN Board spent a full day reviewing the SubPro Outputs and SubPro ODA.
  • Becky indicated:
    • That the Board is expected to proceed with decision on many of the SubPro Outputs but mentioned that there were still a small number of questions/issues which the Board is looking to work through with Council and the GAC.
    • That one of the key question that the Board wishes to discuss with Council is on the issue of rounds - linked to Option 2 in the SubPro ODA which suggested "4 annual rounds" - particularly on how quickly we might be able to get to "a first-come-first-served" basis instead of rounds.
      • (Ed. I believe Becky meant "on a rolling basis" in context of SubPro Output 3.5.)
      • SubPro Output 3.5 says, "Absent extraordinary circumstances application procedures must take place at predictable, regularly occurring intervals without indeterminable periods of review unless the GNSO Council recommends pausing the program and such recommendation is approved by the Board. Such extraordinary circumstances must be subject to the Predictability Framework under Topic 2 of this Report. Unless and until other procedures are recommended by the GNSO Council and approved by the ICANN Board, ICANN must only use “rounds” to administer the New gTLD Program."
    • While the full list of issues is being finalized by the Board and will be shared with Council in the near future, and that a Board SubPro Caucus-Council meeting will be convened to discuss them, it includes auction proceeds and mostly, a handful of questions; also, the matter of GAC's role with regards to applications in the next round. 
    • With GAC, there is the matter of the GAC's expectation on how the Board would handle GAC Advice on applications, following guidance from the Independent Review Panels (IRPs) that came out of the last round; also a piece of advice which doesn't have a lot to do with SubPro but which the Board would have to defer action on until they have been worked through.  
    • However, there was nothing precluding an Implementation Review Team (SubPro IRT) from being created as soon as the Board has voted on the bulk of the SubPro Outputs
  • Council will consider whether this Board SubPro Caucus-Council meeting should include not only SubPro PDP WG co-chairs but also active members of that PDP WG.  

Action by ALAC Liaison

    •  To monitor and share updates regarding this Board SubPro Caucus-Council meeting arrangements.

4. 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, including Updates to GNSO Operating Procedures; which covers (a) Working Group Self-Assessment (WGSA) and (b) GNSO Statement of Interest (GNSO SOI), which were part of the public comment proceeding on Proposed Updates to the GNSO Operating Procedures which ran from Sep-Nov 2022.
  • Council received an update on both (a) and (b), and while the work on (a) WGSA has more or less concluded (where I can confirm that action has been taken to incorporate the ALAC's input in respect of the existing WGSA survey), the CCOICI is still grappling with public comments received on the GNSO SOI update. 
  • The key issue with the GNSO SOI update revolves around transparency of ICANN PDPs, in particular the proposed allowance for a PDP WG member to claim confidentiality as the ground for not revealing the entity that stands to benefit from that member's participation (client-solicitor privilege was cited as an example for claiming such confidentiality). Council discussed this issue briefly and will revisit this issue at a future meeting when the CCOICI is ready to present its recommendation(s) on the GNSO SOI update.

Action by ALAC Liaison

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

5. Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) 

  • Council considered the need to review the GNSO Policy Development Process on the Review of All Rights Protection Mechanisms in All gTLDs (RPMs PDP) charter in advance of launching Phase 2 of this RPMs PDP.
  • Council had agreed during its Nov 2022 meeting that because of the launch of the Phase 1 RPMs Implementation Review Team (IRT), which would likely have overlapping community support with a Phase 2 PDP, that the delay for Phase 2 should be tied to the completion or key milestones for the IRT. Council concluded that completion of the Phase 1 RPMs IRT would be a sensible trigger for Phase 2 work.


...