Page History

Developments in 2021-2023 on:

• Next Steps for New gTLD Round (post 2022/2023 Subsequent Procedures Operational Design Assessment (SubPro ODA))
• Additional Work on Subsequent Procedures (including re: Applicant Support; Closed Generics)
• Potential Council next steps regarding DNS abuse
• Modifying gTLD Consensus Policies
• Transfer Policy Review Policy Development Process (TPR-PDP)
• Internationalized Domain Names Expedited Policy Development Process (IDNs-EPDP)
• Registration Data Accuracy (RDA) Scoping Team
• Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data / System for Standardized Access/Disclosure Operational Design Phase (SSAD ODP)

Next Steps for a New gTLD Round 2023 (post Subsequent Procedures Operational Design Assessment (SubPro ODA))  

2023 - Post ODA

• 5 Jun: GNSO to hold extraordinary meeting to discuss completion of outstanding SubPro-related work.
• 22 May: GNSO Council meets with the ICANN Board on pending SubPro recommendations.
• 4 May: GNSO Council holds extraordinary meeting to discuss the Proposal of SubPro Small Team Triage Exercise and determine next steps on the 38 pending recommendations.
• 23 Mar: GNSO Council received letter from GAC in respect of GAC input on GAC Priority Topics relative to SubPro Recommendations marked as "pending" 
• 22 Mar: GNSO Chair sends letter to ICANN Board and Sally Costerton noting Council's appreciation on progress made during recent weeks and at ICANN76 towards "getting things done".
• 21 Mar: GNSO Council constitutes a Council Small Team to conduct Council triage for the 38 Pending SubPro Outputs, comprising 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).
• 16 Mar: GNSO Council receives letter from ICANN Board in respect of Board's action on SubPro Final Report

   *16 Mar: ICANN Board resolves 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.

Additional Work on Subsequent Procedures  – TO MONITOR THIS for ALAC/At-Large participation.

2022

• 21 Nov: GGP on Applicant Support kicks off.
• 20 Oct: Mike Silber was confirmed by Council as the Chair for the GGP.
• 25 Aug: Council resolved unanimously to initiate the GGP using a "Representative + Observers" WG model with each SG/C/AC to be invited to nominate a representative. The GGP will start with Applicant Support first, with the possibility of adding further topics down the line.
• 12 Aug: Council is expected to consider and vote on a new version of the GGP on Application Support. In brief, this version of the GPP on Application Support proposes as follows: 
  • A (smaller) Working Group employing a “Representative + Observers” model, to conduct and conclude its work, and oversight activities, in an efficient/effective manner while allowing for inclusive community participation. GNSO Council retains oversight, as with any GNSO WG.
  • Each AC/SG, ASO and ccNSO may appoint 1 Member to the WG, who are expected to represent the view of their appointing organization and may be called on to provide the official position of their appointing
    organization and will be responsible for participating in GGP consensus calls. Appointing organizations may replace their Member(s) at their discretion.
  • Members must either possess a level of expertise in previous deliberations and/or knowledge that may have been lacking during those initial deliberations.
  • The WG has the flexibility/discretion to rely on Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in specific fields to aid in deliberations for certain tasks, but these SMEs will not be considered as Members of the WG.
  • The GNSO Liaison to the ODP may serve as an non-voting member of the WG to advise on issues discussed within the SubPro PDP.
• 21 Jul: Council considered a late proposed amendment to the substantive motion to establish a GGP to work just on Applicant Support. The amendment received some support and it was decided to defer this issue to Council's August 2022 meeting to allow opportunity to incorporate supported element(s) into the substantive motion for Council's consideration.
• 15 Jun: Council to proceed with a motion in its Jul meeting to establish a GGP to work just on Applicant Support through a Steering Committee (of a representative+observer model) with ultimate oversight by Council. This GGP is the proposed mechanism to address SubPro Implementation Guidance 17.5, which suggests the creation of a dedicated IRT and it be charged “with developing implementation elements of the Applicant Support Program. In conducting its work, the Implementation Review Team should revisit the 2011 Final Report of the Joint Applicant Support Working Group as well as the 2012 implementation of the Applicant Support program.” This dedicated IRT was to be charged with making substantive decisions on outreach activities and allocation of scarce resources (e.g., when there are more qualified applicants than available funds), among other activities.
• 19 May: Council to explore (intersessionally) the Draft New gTLD Subsequent Procedures GNSO Guidance Process (GPP) Initiation Request.
• 5 May: Council received a Draft New gTLD Subsequent Procedures GNSO Guidance Process (GPP) Initiation Request for its consideration. This will likely be discussed at Council's May 2022 meeting.
• 9 Mar: Based on GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update - Question set #2, Council discussed options for the way forward to deal with a number of areas possibly considered as incomplete in terms policy-development: including on Applicant Support, SPIRT, challenges and appeals. But Council has yet to determine the mechanism to adopt. 

RE: Closed Generics, specifically

2023

• End May: Draft framework for Closed Generics  expected to be delivered to the ALAC, GAC, GNSO and other SOACs for community input.
• 11 Mar: (CG) GNSO-GAC-ALAC Dialogue face-to-face meeting
• 31 Jan: (CG): GNSO-GAC-ALAC Dialogue face-to-face meeting.

2022

• 2 Sep: (CG): Council leadership initiates selection by SGs for their representatives for the dialogue.
• 9 Aug: (CG): ALAC receives invitation to formally join GNSO and GAC as parties to the Dialogue on Closed Generics.
• 21 Jul: (CG): Still awaiting convening of the Dialogue, which is inter alia subject to the identification/nomination of representatives from the GNSO and GAC.
• 29 Jun: (CG): Council has sent a letter to the Board and the GAC relaying its recommendations on the GAC-GNSO Dialogue; cc-ed to ALAC Chair, appending the Jun 2022 report of the Council Small Team on Closed Generics.
• 15 Jun: (CG): Council has agreed to relay its recommendations to the Board and GAC as the next step leading to the start of the GAC-GNSO Dialogue, with ALAC participation.  
• 19 May (CG): Council Chair Philippe Fouquart received a reply from Maarten Botterman to Council's 27 Apr letter; inter alia encourages GAC and Council to confer on the question of ALAC's participation in the consultative process.
• 5 May (CG): Council's reconstituted Small Team now comprises Paul McGrady (NCA-Non CPH), Kurt Pritz (RySG), Manju Chen (NCSG), Jeff Neuman (GNSO Liaison to GAC), Justine Chew (ALAC Liaison to GNSO), Greg Dibiase (RrSG), Desiree Miloshevic (NCA-CPH), and Marie Pattulo (CSG); also Council leadership comprising Philippe Fouquart, Sebastien Ducos, and Tomslin Samme-Nlar.
• 27 Apr (CG): Council replied to the ICANN Board, accepting the invitation for a facilitated dialogue with the GAC on Closed Generics.
  • In its reply, Council noted there being no SubPro recommendation to change current policy on Closed Generics, the approach for the immediate next round of New gTLD applications would be out of harmony with GAC Advice on Closed Generics (namely that closed generics ought to serve a public interest goal).
  • Council stated that Council will pursue next steps for the dialogue (a) on the basis of the Board having asked that its facilitated dialogue be limited to making Closed Generics available with restrictions, including for eg. that they serve a public interest goal; (b) subject to mutual agreement with the GAC on conditions for that dialogue.
  • Council also noted to the Board, NCSG's opposition to the limited dialogue party approach. 
  • (NB. The earlier convened Council small team will now be reconstituted with a larger/more representative membership of Councillors to develop conditions for the dialogue)
• 22 Apr (GC): GAC responded to the Board's 6 Mar and 10 Mar letters, raising points on the ICANN Org's Framing Paper.
• 6 Apr (CG): Council CGs Framing Paper Small Team convened with narrow remit of "proposing to Council next steps in responding to the Board proposal (i.e., whether or not the Council is open to working with the GAC on developing a framework for closed generics)" – Council to decide.
• 30 Mar (CG): Board replied to GAC's 10 Mar letter, acknowledging GAC’s willingness to have ALAC participate in the consultation process; encourages GAC and GNSO Council to consider this matter as part of the discussions regarding the proposed dialogue.
• 15 Mar (CG): Council to convene small team to review the ICANN Org's framework paper regarding the Board-facilitated dialogue between GNSO-GAC, and to suggest next steps.
• 10 Mar (CG):  Further to the 7 Mar correspondence, the Board forwarded ICANN Org's Framing Paper for the dialogue on Closed Generics.
• 10 Mar (CG): GAC replied to the Board's 6 Mar letter, agreeing to participate in dialogue and welcomed participation from the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) in this consultation process.
• 6 Mar (CG): ICANN Board wrote to the GAC and Council requesting for facilitated dialogue on way forward with Closed Generics (CG).

Potential Council next steps regarding DNS abuse  – TO MONITOR THIS and ENSURE ALAC input is understood.

2023

• 15 May: Council's small team shared its initial feedback regarding the input received on the issue of bulk registrations.

 * 25 Apr: ICANN announced its funding of a new project called Inferential Analysis of Maliciously Registered Domains (INFERMAL) to explore drivers of malicious domain name registrations.

• 20 Apr: Council has determined that this small team should continue its work reviewing the replies received from RySG, RrSG, ICANN Contractual Compliance and DNS Abuse Institute to the two 6 Jan letters. This Council small team now has a refreshed membership of Thomas Rickert, Mark Datysgeld, Wisdom Donkor, Theo Geurts, Sebastien Ducos, Greg DiBiase, Tomslin Samme-Nlar, Paul McGrady, Nacho Amadoz and Justine Chew.

 * 19 Apr: Justine's 4th presentation on a summary of the replies below

• 13 Mar: RrSG reply re: Bulk Registrations
• 7 Mar: CPH (RySG & RrSG) reply re: Targeted contractual amendments
• 3 Mar: RySG reply re: Bulk Registrations
• 27 Feb: DNSAI reply re: Bulk Registrations
• 23 Feb: ICANN Contractual Compliance reply re: Bulk Registrations
• 6 Jan: GNSO Council letters (borne out of the work of the GNSO Council Small Team on DNS Abuse) have been distributed and posted:
  • The DNS Abuse - Targeted contractual amendments letter to RrSG & RySG
  • The DNS Abuse – Bulk Registrations letter to RrSG, RySG, DNSAI, ICANN Contractual Compliance

2022

• 15 Dec: Leadership of Council's small team on DNS abuse has prepared the draft letter to the Contracted Parties for Council's approval, per the small team's Recommendation #4
• 17 Nov: Council has accepted the small team's report, containing 4 recommendations, delivered on 10 October. For more specific details on the recommendations and action, refer to the 17 Nov Special Summary Report.
• 20 Oct: Council acknowledged the Small Team's report and recommendations; acquiesced to the Small Team regrouping to work on Recommendation #4 (drafting of letter to Contracted Parties).
• 10 Oct:  Small Team's final report and recommendations were submitted to GNSO Council for consideration.
• 21 Sep:  Small Team's draft report and recommendations were presented and discussed at ALAC-GNSO meeting at ICANN75.

  *17 Aug: Justine's 3rd Presentation to CPWG on Small Team deliberations on comments received from SGs/Cs/DNSAI; + discussion on draft report

• 4 Aug: Small Team completes deliberation on comments received from outreach exercise and moves onto producing their report

  *20 Jul: Justine's 2nd Presentation to CPWG on Small Team deliberations on comments received from ALAC, GAC, SSAC

• 16 Jun: Small Team conducts meeting at ICANN 74
• 2 Jun: Small Team begins review of responses from Contractual Compliance. 

  *25 May: Justine's 1st Presentation to CPWG on responses from Contractual Compliance

• 19 May: Small Team completes review of comments received from outreach to ALAC, GAC, SSAC and DNSAI, as well as SGs (RySG) and Cs (BC).
• 20 Apr: ALAC input to 7 Mar letter considered by Small Team and well received, in general.
• 6 Apr: Input received from BC. Small Team met, to proceed with info gathering from Contractual Compliance in respect of action to do with DNS Abuse vis a vis Contracted Parties. Still awaiting input from other SG/Cs.
• 4 Apr: Small Team received responses from ALAC, GAC, SSAC and DNSAI to 7 Mar letters. Small Team to meet 6 Apr.
• 18 Mar: Reply date for 7 Mar letter to ALAC extended to 4 Apr.
• 7 Mar: Council issued letters to ALAC, GAC, SSAC and the DNS Abuse Institute (DNSAI) to seek input on what DNS abuse issues are best mitigated via policy development specifically, if any, as a mechanism to help determine the Council’s next steps on DNS abuse; to reply by 21 Mar. Input to be sought from each SG also. More respondents may be approached at a later date. 
• 9 Feb: Small Team initial meeting. Updates to be provided at Council Meeting #2 of 2022.
• 4 Feb: Council small team (comprising Thomas Rickert, Mark Datysgeld, Wisdom Donkor, Maxim Alzoba, Sebastien Ducos, Greg DiBiase, and Justine Chew, also Philippe Fouquart, Tomslin Samme-Nlar, and Paul McGrady) set to begin work on 9 Feb.

2021

• 28 Oct: A Council small team (comprising Thomas Rickert, Mark Datysgeld, Wisdom Donkor, Kristian Ormen, Maxim Alzoba, Sebastien Ducos) to draft potential GNSO Council next steps regarding DNS abuse. 

ICANN Org Discussion paper on Modifying gTLD Consensus Policies –  TO MONITOR THIS and assess for ALAC input opportunities.

2022

• 4 May: ICANN Org (GDS) met with Council and SG/C Chairs to progress ongoing discussions on the Oct 2021 Discussion Paper on Modifying gTLD Consensus Policies (Zoom Recording). Discussions to continue.
• 25 Apr: Council received a GNSO-sec-developed Discussion Paper on suggested Tracking & Coordination of PDP Improvements
• 6 Apr: Exchanges between Council and GDS ongoing.
• 20 Jan: Council to approach ICANN Org on efficient way to address concerns raised in Discussion Paper.
• NB. Council small team has expanded (now comprises John McElwaine, Maxim Alzoba, Stephanie Perrin, Antonia Chu, Thomas Rickert, Steve DelBianco, Chris Disspain, Susan Mohr, Sebastien Ducos, and Owen Smigelski)

2021

• 28 Oct: A Council small team (comprising John McElwaine, Maxim Alzoba, Stephanie Perrin, Antonia Chu, Thomas Rickert and possibly others) to review the Discussion Paper on Modifying gTLD Consensus Policies and develop a draft response. 

Transfer Policy Review Policy Development Process (TPR-PDP)

2023

• 11 Jan: 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 PDP leadership team alerts Council to 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.

2022

• 21 Jun - 16 Aug: WG conducts public comment for its Phase 1A Initial Report 

2021

• 16 Dec: Council approved a Project Change Request (PCR) to update charter topics considered in Phase 1 of the TPR-PDP by moving the topic of NACK (rejection of transfer request) of an unauthorized transfer to Phase 1a scope from Phase 2.
• May: WG begins meeting
• Feb: Council initiated the two-phased Transfer Policy Review PDP

Internationalized Domain Names EPDP

2023

• 25 May: GNSO Council received a presentation from the EPDP Chair in response to the ICANN Board's request to Council noted in the Board's 16 Mar letter to Council.
• 16 Mar: GNSO Council receives letter from ICANN Board in respect of Board's action on SubPro Final Report; item 4 pertains to the work of the IDNs EPDP.

2022

• 17 Nov: Council approved the EPDP's Project Change Request (PCR). With this PCR, the EPDP seeks to facilitate the implementation planning of the New gTLD Subsequent Procedures by bifurcating its work into two phases, with Phase 1 covering topics related to top-level IDN gTLD definition and variant management, and Phase 2 covering issues pertaining to second-level IDN variant management, which also requires a timeline extension due to the diversity and complexity of IDN issues, additional data collection needs, review of ICANN org input for draft recommendations, and public comment-related processes. The timeline now contemplated is:
  • Publish Phase 1 Initial Report for Public Comment by April 2023
  • Submit Phase 1 Final Report to the GNSO Council by November 2023
  • Publish Phase 2 Initial Report for Public Comment by April 2025
  • Submit Phase 2 Final Report to the GNSO Council by November 2025
• 10 Oct: Council is alerted to an impending Project Change Request (PCR) which seeks significant changes to the EPDP's project plan. 

  * 22 Sep: ICANN Board has approved the IDN Guidelines version 4.1 except the deferred guidelines 6a, 11, 12, 13, 18 and associated Additional Notes, and directed these to be published as IDN Guidelines version 4.1 and to supersede version 3.0.

• 20 Jan: Council to send letter to ICANN Board responding to the Board’s 20 Oct letter regarding the IDN Implementation Guidelines v4.0.

2021

• 16 Dec: Council Leadership to draft a response to the ICANN Board’s 20 Oct letter regarding the IDN Implementation Guidelines v4.0.
• 18 Nov: Council has yet to discuss its approach for the response to the ICANN Board’s 20 Oct letter regarding the IDN Implementation Guidelines v4.0.
• Aug: The Expedited Policy Development Process on Internationalized Domain Names (EPDP on IDNs) commenced work on its Charter Questions.

Registration Data Accuracy (RDA) Scoping Team

2023

• 20 Apr: Council considered the RDA Scoping Team Survey Summary Results and ICANN org's 14 Mar input.
• 14 Mar: ICANN org replies to Council's 1 Dec 2022 letter for an update on outstanding issues related to registration data accuracy and the pending work of the Registration Data Accuracy Scoping Team.

2022

• 1 Dec: Council sent letter to ICANN org requesting an update on outstanding issues related to registration data accuracy and the pending work of the Registration Data Accuracy Scoping Team.
• 17 Nov: Council adopted recommendation #3 and deferred consideration of recommendations #1 and #2 as contained in the Scoping Team's write up to the Council of 5 September 2022. For more specific details on the recommendations and action, refer to the 17 Nov Special Summary Report.
• 10 Oct: The Scoping Team has completed Assignment #1 (enforcement and reporting) and Assignment #2 (measurement of accuracy) and submitted its write up to the Council on 5 September 2022. In the write up, the group is suggesting moving forward with two proposals that would not require access to registration data, namely a registrar survey (recommendation #1) and a possible registrar audit (recommendation #2) that may help further inform the team’s work on assignment #3 (effectiveness) and #4 (impact & improvements), while it awaits the outcome of the outreach to the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) by ICANN org in relation to proposals that would require access to registration data (recommendation #3). Council is seeking a new Chair for the Scoping Team.
• 10 May: The RDA Scoping Team submitted a Project Change Request (PCR) to Council. 

18 Nov 2021

• Council received notice that the ICANN Board has selected two Board members to serve as liaisons to this Registration Data Accuracy Scoping Team. They are Becky Burr and Harald Alvestrand (alternate).
• Council has acknowledged the Registration Data Accuracy - Scoping Team (RDA_ST) Project Plan

Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data / System for Standardized Access/Disclosure Operational Design Phase (SSAD ODP);  See: https://www.icann.org/ssadodp for more official info

2023

• 22 Mar: GNSO Chair sends letter to ICANN Board and Sally Costerton noting Council's appreciation on progress made during recent weeks and at ICANN76 towards "getting things done".
• 11 Mar: GNSO EPDP Phase 2 (SSAD) - Implementation of Whois Disclosure System at ICANN76 - Whois Disclosure System (WDS) now known as Registration Data Request Service (RDRS).
• 6 Mar: Council receives ICANN Board's reply to Council's 17 Nov 2022 letter on Council’s recommendations for how to proceed with the WHOIS Disclosure System (WDS).
• 27 Feb: ICANN Board adopted a resolution directing ICANN org to proceed to develop and launch the WDS as soon as possible. The Board also authorized the use of the Supplemental Fund for the Implementation of Community Recommendations to support this work. In addition, the Board has directed ICANN org to continue to engage with the Phase 2 Small Team throughout the development and operation of the System, and ensure periodic publication of the collected usage data, once operational.

2022

• 17 Nov: Council sent letter to ICANN Board alerting on Council’s recommendations for how to proceed with the WHOIS Disclosure System (WDS).
• 17 Nov: Council accepted the EPDP Phase 2 small team findings and recommendations as outlined in the small team's addendum and confirmed that pending the implementation and subsequent running of the Whois Disclosure System (WDS) for a period of up to two (2) years, the SSAD recommendations should remain paused for consideration by the ICANN Board.
• Oct: Council is to further discuss next steps on the Whois Disclosure System (WDS) in November.
• Sep-ICANN75: Attention on SSAD has now been redirected to ICANN Org's proposal for the Whois Disclosure System (WDS). Design for this WDS was published prior to ICANN75 and ICANN org provided a presentation of the system design to the EPDP Phase 2 small team during ICANN75. Subsequently, the small team and Council held initial discussions amongst themselves, as well as with the Board during their joint session on Tuesday. The Council discussed during its meeting on Wednesday and the small team met informally on Thursday of ICANN75.
• Mar: Council Small Team seated (comprising Members: Paul McGrady, Sebastien Ducos, Marc Anderson, Stephanie Perrin, John McElwaine, Olga Cavalli, Thomas Rickert, Laureen Kapin (GAC- shared membership), Chris Lewis-Evans (GAC- shared membership), Alan Greenberg, Sarah Wyld, Steve DelBianco, Becky Burr, Steve Crocker, Philippe Fouquart (GNSO Council Observing) , Tomslin Samme Nlar  (GNSO Council Observing); and Alternates: Gregory DiBiase).
• 1 Feb: GNSO Council Chair invited GNSO SG/Cs, ALAC, GAC to nominate their EPDP Phase 2 representatives for a Council Small Team led by Sebastien Ducos to analyse the SSAD ODA to develop recommendations on next steps.  On 4 Feb, the ALAC Chair nominated Alan Greenberg (being one of the 2 ALAC EPDP Phase 2 representatives) for this Council Small Team.
• 27 Jan: Council and ICANN Board Consultation on SSAD ODP
• 18 Jan: SSAD ODP Project Update Webinar #5
• 12 Jan: A follow up discussion is held for Council and and GNSO-appointed EPDP Phase 2 members to discuss next steps ahead of Council's meeting with the ICANN Board on 27 January on concerns around financial sustainability of the SSAD (wiki)
• 5 Jan: A 4 Jan 2022 summary paper was circulated to Council members ahead of a 12 Jan call

2021

• 20 Dec: A closed session is held for Council and GNSO-appointed EPDP Phase 2 members only with the SSAD ODP Project Team focusing on the SSAD Cost Model information (presentation)
• 16 Dec: Council did not discuss GAC's letter of 15 Dec 2021 to Council regarding SSAD ODP
• 3 Dec:  ICANN's SSAD and Governmental Accreditation Authorities Webinar
• 18 Nov: ICANN Webinar: SSAD ODP Project Update Webinar #4 on the Business Process Design
• 2 Nov: ICANN Update: Contractual Compliance and Identity Verification Methodology
• 28 Oct: ICANN72 Webinar: SSAD ODP Project Update #3
• 24 Sep: ICANN Webinar: SSAD ODP Project Update #2  
• 13 Jul: ICANN Webinar: SSAD ODP Project Update

GNSO Council Meeting #5 of 2023 held on 25 May 2023

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

GNSO Council Meeting #5 of 2023 held on 25 May 2023

Full Agenda  |  Documents

• Item 1: Administrative Matters
• Item 2: Opening Remarks / Review of Projects List & Action Item List
• Item 3: Consent Agenda: None
• Item 4: Board request for Council input on Nominating Committee (NomCom) rebalancing
• Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - SubPro - Progress Update on Recommendations Marked as Pending 
• Item 6: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) EPDP Timeline
• Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Work to Prepare Draft Timeline for Closed Generics Policy Process
• Item 8: EPDP Phase 2 Small Team Progress Update 
• Item 9: State of Progress from DNS Abuse Small Team

• Item 10: 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 15 March 2023 were posted on 30 March 2023.

  • Minutes of the GNSO Council meeting on 20 April 2023 were posted on 07 May 2023.

• Item 4: Board request for Council input on Nominating Committee (NomCom) rebalancing
  • On 26 April 2023, the ICANN Board requested the input of the GNSO Council on the issue of NomCom rebalancing. 
  • The NomCom is a committee tasked with selecting key ICANN leadership positions, including some members of the ICANN Board of Directors and the Public Technical Identifiers (PTI) Board, as well as other positions within the ICANN community. The NomCom functions independently from the Board, the Supporting Organizations (SOs) and Advisory Committees (ACs). NomCom delegates act on behalf of the interests of the global Internet community and within the scope of the ICANN mission and responsibilities assigned to the NomCom under the ICANN Bylaws – they do not act in furtherance of the group that appointed them to the NomCom. 

  • The ICANN community has been discussing the issue of rebalancing the NomCom for over 10 years, and the ICANN Board resolved to engage with the ICANN community to better understand community views on the rebalancing.

    Specifically, the Board is seeking input on the following questions:

    1. What does it mean to have a balanced NomCom at a point in time? For example, what criteria would you apply to measure or assess whether the NomCom is balanced? And further, how can one test whether or not the NomCom is balanced?
    2. Do you support the view that the current composition of the NomCom needs to be rebalanced? Please explain why or why not.
    3. How frequently does the balance need to be measured or assessed?
    4. How do you suggest that the NomCom’s composition be rebalanced?
    5. Who should conduct this work, and how should it be conducted?
    6. How would your community group prioritize consideration of this issue within your planning efforts? 
  • Council will discuss this issue and determine next steps.
• Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - SubPro - Progress Update on Recommendations Marked as Pending 
  • Since ICANN76 where the ICANN Board 16 March 2023 Resolution was adopted, Council's SubPro Small Team has now completed a triage of the issues with Board member input on why the Board placed specific recommendations into a pending status. Council discussed the main output of that triage effort, the proposed paths forward for each pending recommendation, during an Extraordinary Meeting on 4 May ( see report ). During that meeting, Council agreed to further task the small team with taking interim steps (e.g., provision is clarifying information, developing speaking points) in order to support the Council’s dialogue with the ICANN Board on 22 May.
  •  Council will debrief after the dialogue with the ICANN Board and discuss next steps to ensure that the Council is able to deliver its plan and timeline to resolve the pending recommendations.
• Item 6: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) EPDP Timeline
  • On 20 May 2021, the GNSO Council approved the initiation request for the EPDP on Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) and adopted its charter. 
  • On 24 April 2023, the EPDP Team published its Phase 1 Initial Report for Public Comment.
  • On 16 March 2023, the ICANN Board requested the EPDP Team to deliver an updated project plan by the last day of ICANN77 that identifies all charter questions that will impact the next Applicant Guidebook, as well as a timeline for the EPDP Team’s delivery of relevant recommendations to the GNSO Council. While the Public Comment proceeding is ongoing, the EPDP Team started discussion of its Phase 2 work, which focuses on issues pertaining to second-level IDN variant management, as well as the review of its project plan in accordance with the Board request.
  • Council will receive an update on the EPDP Team’s analysis of its Phase 2 charter questions in relation to the impact on the next Applicant Guidebook, as well as a draft project plan and timeline for the EPDP Team’s delivery of relevant recommendations to the GNSO Council.
• Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Work to Prepare Draft Timeline for Closed Generics Policy Process
  • In March 2023, the ICANN Board requested that the GAC and GNSO Council consider engaging in a facilitated dialogue to develop a framework for further GNSO policy work on the issue of Closed Generics. The GAC and Council agreed to the Board’s suggestion and each appointed six participants for the dialogue. One participant and one alternate from the ALAC were also appointed. Should the GAC-GNSO facilitated dialogue result in an agreed framework, the agreements will be further developed through the appropriate GNSO policy process.
  • This Dialogue has been progressing and is hoping to deliver a draft framework around the end of May 2023 to the ALAC, GAC, GNSO and other SOACs for community input. Groups are expected to have approximately four weeks to review that document. 
• Item 8: EPDP Phase 2 Small Team Progress Update 
  • In February 2023, the ICANN Board directed ICANN org to develop and launch the Registration Data Request Service (RDRS) (formerly  WHOIS Disclosure System), as requested by Council. The Board requested the RDRS be launched within 11 months, and, prior to the launch, the Board recommended Org continue its engagement with Council on the implementation. The ICANN Board also requested Council to establish success criteria for the RDRS. In response, Council updated the assignment of the EPDP Phase 2 small team to reflect these new work items. 

  • The small team is expected to engage with ICANN org throughout the development and operation of the System, and in particular consider:

    • The other topics identified in the addendum that the small team did not consider gating factors but for which it would be interested to have further discussions with ICANN org during the implementation phase to consider if/how some of these aspects could be considered to be added in the current implementation of [the RDRS] or a future version;
    • Success criteria for this System, which should include analysis of relevant usage data;
    • How to best promote and secure comprehensive use of the system, both by potential requestors as well as ICANN accredited registrars.
  • The small team is also expected to provide Council with a recommendation on the approach and format through which, following implementation of the system, data should be reviewed and analyzed to help inform subsequent decisions on how to proceed with the SSAD recommendations. The small team is expected to provide regular updates to Council on the state of its progress.
• Item 9: State of Progress from DNS Abuse Small Team
  • In February 2022, Council formed a small team of interested Council members to consider what policy efforts, if any, the GNSO Council should consider undertaking to support the efforts already underway in the different parts of the community to tackle DNS abuse. 
  • On 7 October 2022, the DNS Abuse Small Team transmitted its Report to Council. Recommendation #2 from the Report recommended Council to request, et.al., the Registrar Stakeholder Group “to further the role that bulk registrations play in DNS Abuse as well as measures that Registrars may have already put in place to address this vector. Based on the feedback received, Council will consider whether further action on bulk registrations is deemed necessary.”

  • The DNS Abuse Small Team received input from the following groups:

    • Contractual Compliance, ICANN Org
    • DNS Abuse Institute
    • gTLD Registries Stakeholder Group
    • Registrar Stakeholder Group
  • The small team shared its initial feedback regarding the input received on 15 May.
  • Council will hear an update on the Small Team’s preliminary conclusions regarding the feedback it received on bulk registrations.

• Item 10: ANY OTHER BUSINESS

  • 10.1 ICANN77 Day 0 SubPro Session Planning 

  • 10.2 Accuracy

  • 10.3 WS2 Framework of Interpretation for Human Rights Proposed updates to GNSO Council templates 

  • 10.4 Next Round Policy Implementation - Council liaison to the IRT

  • 10.5 Launch of new Periodic Working Group Survey for IDN EPDP

  • 10.6 Non-Registry Liaison to the CSC and Alternate

Records of 25 May 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

Special Summary Report of 25 May 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 May 2023 Matters of Interest and/or from GNSO Council May 2023 Meeting Records.

1. Next Round of New gTLDs - Subsequent Procedures

• Since ICANN76 where the ICANN Board 16 March 2023 Resolution was adopted, Council's SubPro Small Team has now completed a triage of the issues with Board member input on why the Board placed specific recommendations into a pending status. Council discussed the main output of that triage effort, the proposed paths forward for each pending recommendation, during an Extraordinary Meeting on 4 May ( see report ). During that meeting, Council agreed to further task the small team with taking interim steps (e.g., provision is clarifying information, developing speaking points) in order to support the Council’s dialogue with the ICANN Board on 22 May.
• The important thing to note here is that this Council dialogue with the ICANN Board SubPro caucus and/or ICANN Board is ongoing as the goal is to try and resolve as many of those 38 pending recommendations as possible without resulting in the ICANN Board rejecting them.  This inevitably necessitates rather regular updates because information may change quickly.

Action by ALAC Liaison

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

• •  To assist in formulating ALAC positions on the 38 Pending Outputs (if any) in time for the pre-ICANN77 ALAC-GNSO Bilateral.

2. Closed Generics

• The GNSO-GAC-ALAC Closed Generics Dialogue is expected to deliver a draft framework, if agreed, around or just after 31 May 2023. It should be noted that this draft framework is meant to draw some boundaries on how to introduce closed generics in the next round and it will have to go through a GNSO policy development process to produce actual consensus policy, which is expected to take 18 months.
• GNSO Council leadership has proposed that EPDP be the policy development mechanism to take the framework forward, and although not confirmed, will likely be cross-community in nature. The proposition of an EPDP drew some apprehension from several councilors.
• So far, the Dialogue has adopted Chatham House Rule so we will not know the actual contents of the framework until it is released circa end May.
• However, I understand that the framework will likely include some reference to application questions, evaluation, post delegation - registry agreement aspects, and can be easily morph into a charter for the policy development process. 

3. DNS Abuse

• Council ran out of time at its call, so the adoption of the Council's Small Team on DNS Abuse's next output i.e. feedback on bulk registrations will be done on Council's mail list by around 5 Jun.

Action by ALAC Liaison

• •  To assist in establishing ALAC's positions the Council Small Team's output (if any) in time for the pre-ICANN77 ALAC-GNSO Bilateral.

4. EPDP Phase 2 - Registration Data Request Service (RDRS)

• The EPDP Phase 2 Small Team has formulated success criteria for RDRS but these are not set in stone. They need to remain flexible as and when the RDRS is implemented and tested so they can be adjusted to meet market needs.
• The small team has pushed back against the Board's suggestion to have a policy process to compel mandatory adoption of usage of the RDRS by registrars.  

5. Registration Data Accuracy

• Seeing no progress on this, Council will defer consideration of this till the June meeting. This is also in light of some work being attempted at the European Union level with a survey and a report but the meeting for that had just been cancelled.
• Some councilors expressed concern with indefinite delay / inaction on this area of work.

6. Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) EPDP

• This EPDP has submitted a project plan (see presentation) which identifies all its charter questions that will impact the next Applicant Guidebook (AGB), along with considerations to ensure a consistent solution on IDN Variant TLDs with the ccPDP4 on IDN ccTLDs, and a timeline by when the IDNs EPDP will deliver relevant recommendations to the GNSO Council (this was 1 of 4 requests made by the Board, as a result of the adopted ICANN Board 16 March 2023 Resolution,
• In short, the EPDP has analysed their Phase 2 charter questions and found no significant efficiency if it were to further break down Phase 2 work in order to deliver some recommendations which would impact the AGB and Registry Agreement update.  Adding any  additional public comment process would prolong the project timeline unnecessarily. As such, the expected timeline is, conservatively:
  • Phase 1 Final Report: 10 Nov 2023
  • Phase 2 Initial Report:  18 Apr 2025
  • Phase 2 Final Report: 24 Oct 2025
• In the meantime, the EPDP will continue to find ways to achieve greater efficiencies through more preparatory work, considering foundational issues, and securing more sessions at ICANN F2F meetings and a dedicated F2F meeting in Nov-Dec 2023, while bearing in mind the need to minimize churn/burnout/drop in participation. As it is, this EPDP is already meeting 2 hours per week and already seeking ICANN org GDS input on draft recommendations and implementation guidance as deliberations go on instead of waiting until the ICANN Board approves them.

7. Nominating Committee rebalancing

• Council will set up a small team to consider Council's response to the issue of NomCom rebalancing.