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GNSO Council Meeting #3 of 2024 held on 6 Mar 2024 during ICANN 79, and including a Council Wrap-up Session on 7 Mar 2024

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

GNSO Council Meeting #3 of 2024 held on 6 Mar 2024 

Full Agenda  |  Documents  |  Motions

• Item 1: Administrative Matters
• Item 2: Opening Remarks / Review of Projects List and Action Item List. 
• Item 3: Consent Agenda
  • Motion to Adopt the Communications Small Team Final Report
• Item 4: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Reaction to Program Management Tools Discussion
• Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Council Engagement with PDP Working Group Chairs
• Item 6: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Update on Contracted Party House Abuse Subgroup Meetings with the Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group
• Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Response to Update from ICANN org Implementation Update and interaction with ICANN Board 
• Item 8: Selection and Timeline of Next GNSO Liaison to the Governmental Advisory Committee
• Item 9: ANY OTHER BUSINESS
  • 9.1 - GNSO Chair Election Timeline Announcement
  • 9.2 - Updated Small Team Guidelines
  • 9.3 - Standing Predictability Implementation Review Team (“SPIRT”) Charter Drafting Team Update
  • 9.4 - Open Mic

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 18 January 2023 were posted on 02 February 2024
• Item 3: Consent Agenda
• • Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 15 February 2024 were posted on  02 March 2024
• Item 4: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Reaction to Program Management Tools Discussion
  
  • During Council’s recent Strategic Planning Session (SPS), Council Leadership and GNSO Support Staff provided an overview of the available program management tools to educate new councilors on what tools are available and how to best utilize them. Council agreed to do a comprehensive and detailed review of the program management tools on a tri-annual basis. The Council agreed the tri-annual cadence aligned with the current ICANN conference schedule, and the first of these reviews was conducted during the Council’s Working Session at ICANN79.
  • Having performed a comprehensive review of the program management suite of tools during its working session, Council will now discuss lessons learned and potential suggestions for the next review at the ICANN80 working session.
• Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Council Engagement with PDP Working Group Chairs
  • During the Council’s 2023 Strategic Planning Session, the Council agreed that updates from PDP Working Group Chairs and Council liaisons should be more purpose-driven. 
  • In discussing this, GNSO Support Staff provided background information on the GNSO Policy Webinar. Specifically, the webinars began in 2018 and were designed to provide the Council with an opportunity to directly engage with PDP chairs regarding the progress of their working groups. This engagement previously took place at ICANN meetings during GNSO working sessions; however, when the ICANN meeting schedule was shortened, these interactions were moved to a webinar format in an effort to allow the engagement to continue.
  • After receiving this background information, some Councilors noted that if the purpose is for the Council to hear frank updates from Working Group Chairs, the webinar should be for Councilors rather than a larger community update. Additionally, Councilors reviewed the list of questions provided to Working Group Chairs in an effort to better understand Working Group progress and potential challenges (if any). 
  • Councilors attended the webinar, in its updated form, prior to ICANN79, and Council will discuss if the updates to the webinar format helped make the interactions more purpose driven or if further updates may be needed.
• Item 6: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Update on Contracted Party House Abuse Subgroup Meetings with the Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group
  • In February 2022, Council formed a small team of interested Council members to consider what policy efforts, if any, Council should consider undertaking to support the efforts already underway in the different parts of the community to tackle DNS abuse. 
  • The DNS Abuse Small Team preliminarily concluded that there is not enough information available to warrant further policy work at this time. Following the update from the DNS Abuse Small Team, Council representatives from the Registrar Stakeholder Group commented on the productive dialogue between Contracted Parties and the ICANN Community with respect to DNS Abuse and committed to continuing the dialogue with interested groups.
  • To that end, on 23 January 2024, the Registrar Stakeholder Group and the Registries Stakeholder Group DNS Abuse Subgroups met with the Non-Commercial Stakeholder group as the first in a planned series of outreach sessions to the ICANN Community regarding pain points with respect to DNS Abuse. The discussion touched on potential recommendations for solutions and potential future work.
  • Council will receive an update on this meeting and subsequent discussions with other groups.
• Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Response to Update from ICANN org Implementation Update and interaction with ICANN Board

  • During Council’s Working Session, ICANN org provided an overview of the implementation status of the projects that are currently in implementation. These include:

    • 
      

      
      

      Privacy and Proxy Services Accreditation Implementation (PPSAI)

    • Preventative and Curative Rights Protections for Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)/International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs)

    • New gTLD Subsequent Procedures PDP

  • In addition, during Prep Week, the ICANN Board held a community engagement session where a question was posed that is relevant to the GNSO Council: how do we handle situations where it becomes clear that community-developed gTLD policies adopted by the Board are superseded by subsequent events or are otherwise not able to, or can no longer, resolve the problems they were designed to address
  • Council will have an opportunity to discuss the update from ICANN org and ICANN Board engagement session to determine next steps, if any.
• Item 9: ANY OTHER BUSINESS
  • 9.1 - GNSO Chair Election Timeline Announcement
  • 9.2 - Updated Small Team Guidelines
  • 9.3 - Standing Predictability Implementation Review Team (“SPIRT”) Charter Drafting Team Update

Records of 6 Mar 2024 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 6 Mar 2024 Meeting to ALAC

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 2024 Matters of Interest and/or from GNSO Council Mar 2024 Meeting Records.

GNSO Council Meeting #2 of 2024 held on 15 Feb 2024

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

GNSO Council Meeting #2 of 2024 held on 15 Feb 2024 

Full Agenda  |  Documents  |  Motions

• Item 1: Administrative Matters
• Item 2: Opening Remarks / Review of Projects List and Action Item List. 
• Item 3: Consent Agenda
  • Confirm Leadership of Standing Selection Committee (“SSC”)
  • Confirm GNSO-Nominated ICANN Fellowship Program Mentor
• Item 4: COUNCIL VOTE - Registration Data Accuracy
• Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Update on SubPro Small Team Progress
• Item 6: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Next Steps for Consideration of Expired Domain Deletion Policy (“EDDP”) and Expired Registration Recovery Policy (“ERRP”) 
• Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - ICANN79 Preparation
• Item 8: COUNCIL UPDATE: Draft NCAP Study 2 Report 
• Item 9: ANY OTHER BUSINESS 
  • 9.1 - ccNSO & GAC Liaison updates (every three months)
  • 9.2 - Board letter on Closed Generics
  • 9.3 - Standing Predictability Implementation Review Team (“SPIRT”) Charter Drafting Team Update
  • 9.4 - Status Update on Council Requests
  • 9.5 - Update from Contracted Party House Abuse Subgroup’s Meeting with the Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group
  • 9.6 - GNSO Council Committee for Overseeing and Implementing Continuous Improvement (CCOICI) survey
  • 9.7 - Update on Diacritic Study Request

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 21 December 2023 were posted on 02 January 2024
  • Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 18 January 2023 were posted on 02 February 2024
• Item 3: Consent Agenda
  • Confirm Leadership of Standing Selection Committee (“SSC”)
  • Confirm GNSO-Nominated ICANN Fellowship Program Mentor
• Item 4: COUNCIL VOTE - Registration Data Accuracy
  • Following Council's discussion last month and seeing as (i) completion of the Data Processing Agreement (DPA) is pending. (ii) implementation of the NIS2 directive, and  (iii) publication of the Inferential Analysis of Maliciously Registered Domains (INFERMAL) Study is still pending (targeted for Sep 2024), Council will vote on deferring the consideration of the accuracy scoping work for an additional six months or potentially sooner if there is a passage of a significant event, e.g., completion of the Data Processing Agreement, implementation of the NIS2 directive, or publication of the INFERMAL study .  
• Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Update on SubPro Small Team Progress
  • In March 2023, the ICANN Board approved the majority of the recommendations contained in the Final Report on the new gTLD Subsequent PDP, but also placed some recommendations into a pending status. The Council convened a small team that worked collaboratively with the ICANN Board to resolve all pending recommendations. While the majority of the pending recommendations were able to be adopted by the ICANN Board, recommendations across six Topics were not adopted by the ICANN Board.
  • With the primary task of addressing the pending recommendations now complete, the Council has tasked the Small Team Plus with an updated assignment form. The Small Team Plus has committed to a work plan to address the recommendations not adopted by the Board. Following that plan, the Small Team has completed initiation steps (i.e., developed background materials, preliminary Supplemental Recommendation language, and issued a call for volunteers for the Small Team Plus). The Small Team Plus has come to preliminary  Supplemental Recommendation language (i.e., stable text) for most of the six Topics.
  • Council will receive an update on the progress of the Small Team Plus.
• Item 6: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Next Steps for Consideration of Expired Domain Deletion Policy (“EDDP”) and Expired Registration Recovery Policy (“ERRP”) 
  • Council previously considered when to request a Policy Status Report (“PSR”) for the purpose of conducting a review of the two Expiration Policies, the EDDP and the ERRP. In November 2020, given concerns about its capacity and no known issues with the policies, the Council agreed to delay the request for the Policy Status Report (PSR) for a period of 24 months. After 24 months had passed, the Council reconsidered whether it was an appropriate time to request a Policy Status Report.
  • In considering a Nov 2022 ICANN org report, Council agreed that both the EDDP and ERRP may benefit from further work, though the timing for the work requires further consideration. In particular, as the Compliance report noted, the language of the policy is ambiguous in parts and has caused confusion for registrants. As the ERRP was implemented in part to ensure that “expiration-related provisions in typical registration agreements are clear and conspicuous enough” and to ensure that “adequate notice exists to alert registrants of upcoming expirations,” the continuing registrant confusion warrants further consideration. Additionally, some of the existing language has become obsolete due to intervening data protection law requirements and will require updates.
  • To that end, Council requested further information from ICANN org on what expiration-related educational materials are currently published and whether additional information can be provided (whether as registrant educational material referenced in Section 4.3 or elsewhere on ICANN’s website). The Council noted receipt of this information would be helpful to the Council in determining if updates to these materials or additional material in other forms could be helpful to combat the ongoing registrant confusion.

  • Council will receive an update from ICANN org on the published materials. 

• Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - ICANN79 Preparation
  • Pre-ICANN79 GNSO Policy Webinar: 
    • Monday, 26 February 2024 at 21:00 UTC

Note: Mandatory for GNSO Council members

• • During ICANN79, the GNSO Council has the following meetings and events scheduled (times listed in AST):

Saturday, 2 March

• • • 09:00-10:00 - IDNs EPDP Team Working Session 
    • 13:15-14:30 - Transfer Policy Review PDP Working Group Session 1 of 2
    • 15:00-16:00 - Transfer Policy Review PDP Working Group Session 2 of 2
    • Time TBD: GNSO Council dinner

Sunday, 3 March

• • • 09:00-10:00 - GNSO Working Session 1 of 2
    • 10:30-12:00 - GNSO Working Session 2 of 2
    • 13:15-14:30 - GNSO Working Session 3 of 3

Monday, 04 March

• • • 15:00-16:00 Joint ICANN Board and GNSO Council

Tuesday, 05 March

• • • 17:30-18:30 - GNSO Council Informal meeting [closed]

Wednesday, 6 March

• • • 09:00-10:00 - Joint GNSO Council & GAC
    • 10:30-12:00 - SubPro Supplemental Recommendations Community Consultation
    • 13:15-15:15- GNSO Council Meeting

Thursday, 7 March

• • • 09:00-10:00 - GNSO Council SubPro Small Team Plus Meeting
    • 15:00-16:00 - GNSO Council Wrap-Up
  • During its Strategic Planning Session, Council agreed to conduct a triannual detailed review of the Program Management Tool. The action item coming from the SPS provided, “During a session at ICANN79, Council to prepare for a careful review of work captured in the Program Management Tool (PMT) that will conclude or initiate prior to the next AGM, or continue beyond the next AGM. Paul McGrady to coordinate with staff to plan for this inaugural effort.”
  • Council will receive an overview of the current block schedule and plan for its in-person meetings.
• Item 8: COUNCIL UPDATE: Draft NCAP Study 2 Report 
  • The Name Collision Analysis Project Discussion Group (NCAP) is currently seeking input on its draft Study 2 report and responses to a series of questions from the ICANN Board regarding name collisions as outlined in resolution 2017.11.02.30 and reaffirmed in resolution 2021.03.25.13.
  • Council will receive an overview of the draft Study 2 report and have the opportunity to ask questions.
• Item 9: ANY OTHER BUSINESS 
  • 9.3 - Standing Predictability Implementation Review Team (“SPIRT”) Charter Drafting Team Update
  • 9.7 - Update on Diacritic Study Request

GNSO Council Meeting #2 of 2024 held on 15 Feb 2024 at 21:00 UTC: http://tinyurl.com/42vy5duf 

13:00 Los Angeles; 16:00 Washington DC; 21:00 London; 22:00 Paris; 00:00 Moscow (Friday); 08:00 Melbourne (Friday)

GNSO Council Meeting Remote Participation: https://icann.zoom.us/j/92283565389?pwd=QnlHK1JSbzdiSFFZSjRjamxMTkNGdz09 

Non-Council members are welcome to attend the meeting or call as listen-only observers.

Records of 15 Feb 2024 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 15 Feb 2024 Meeting to ALAC

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 2024 Matters of Interest and/or from GNSO Council Feb 2024 Meeting Records.

1. Consent Agenda

• Council confirms Karen Day as Chair and Segunfunmi Olajide as Vice-Chair of the GNSO Standing Selection Committee (SSC) for 2024.
• Council confirms Mark Datysgeld as the GNSO-Nominated Mentor for the 2024 ICANN Fellowship Program.

2. Registration Data Accuracy Scoping Team Recommendations #1 and #2

• Council resolved to extend the deferral of consideration of recommendations #1 and #2 of the Registration Data Accuracy Scoping Team write up for an additional six months, and commits to considering the Scoping Team recommendations at an earlier date if DPA negotiations have been completed before six months have passed or another significant event, such as the implementation of the NIS2 directive or the publication Inferential Analysis of Maliciously Registered Domains (INFERMAL) Study, occurs before six months have passed.

3.  Board Non-Adopted Subsequent Procedures (SubPro) Recommendations & GNSO SubPro Small Team Plus

• In March 2023, the ICANN Board approved the majority of the recommendations contained in the Final Report on the new gTLD Subsequent PDP, but also placed some recommendations into a pending status. The Council convened a small team that worked collaboratively with the ICANN Board to resolve all pending recommendations. While the majority of the pending recommendations were able to be adopted by the ICANN Board, recommendations across six Topics were not adopted by the ICANN Board.
• With the primary task of addressing the pending recommendations now complete, the Council has tasked the Small Team Plus with an updated assignment form. The Small Team Plus has committed to a work plan to address the recommendations not adopted by the Board. Following that plan, the Small Team has completed initiation steps (i.e., developed background materials, preliminary Supplemental Recommendation language, and issued a call for volunteers for the Small Team Plus). The Small Team Plus has come to preliminary  Supplemental Recommendation language (i.e., stable text) for most of the six Topics.
• The Small Team Plus (which includes the Board SubPro Caucus co-chairs and community subject matter experts/alternates) have now completed its immediate task of drafting supplemental recommendation language to address all the 10 recommendations not adopted by the Board. For details about the Small Team Plus and the draft supplemental recommendation language, please refer to this slide presentation.
• Next steps are for the Small Team Plus to present the draft supplemental recommendation language to the community for input vide;
  • (1) a session during ICANN79 Prep Week on 22 Feb;
  • (2) a community consultation session during ICANN79 on 6 Mar; and
  • (3) a follow up Small Team Plus meeting during ICANN79 on 7 Mar to consider community input received (if any).

4. Name Collision Analysis Project (NCAP) Study 2 Report

• The NCAP Discussion Group (NCAP DG) is currently seeking input on its draft Study 2 report and responses to a series of questions from the ICANN Board regarding name collisions as outlined in resolution 2017.11.02.30 and reaffirmed in resolution 2021.03.25.13.
• Council received an overview of the draft Study 2 report, which is structured to guide the reader through the methodology and significant findings of three pivotal research studies, as well as the analysis of the NCAP Discussion Group's extensive work activities. This material is what informs the eleven strategic recommendations provided at the end of the report.
• One of the key recommendations is the establishment of a new workflow, the Name Collision Risk Assessment Workflow, designed to enhance the assessment process of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs). This recommendation underscores the NCAP Discussion Group’s belief that name collisions should be approached not merely as a technical challenge but as a critical risk management issue.

5. Diacritics Study Request

• As a reminder, this request for a Diacritic Study is concerned with how to deal with existing ASCII TLDs which have a version with diacritics which are NOT considered as variants of each other accordingly to established Label Generation Rules (for eg. quebec and québec). 
• Council received an update from GNSO staff that a potential solution that may remove the need for a study request altogether is being developed and is likely to be ready for Council's consideration soon after ICANN79.

Action by ALAC Liaison

• •  Justine Chew To alert ALAC/CPWG when the GNSO staff's potential solution, which proposes to displace the need for Diacritic Study Request, is ready for Council's consideration.