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GNSO Council Meeting #5 of 2024 held on 16 May 2024 

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

GNSO Council Meeting #5 of 2024 held on 16 May 2024 (updated on 15 May)

Full Agenda  |  Documents  |  Motions

• Item 1: Administrative Matters
• Item 2: Opening Remarks / Review of Projects List and Action Item List. 
• Item 3: Consent Agenda
  • GNSO Liaison to the Governmental Advisory Committee
  • Council Response to Board Letter on CCWG Auction Proceeds Recommendation 7
• Item 4: COUNCIL VOTE - Request for Preliminary Issue Report for Diacritics in Latin Script
• Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Deferral of Policy Status Report Request - Expiration Policies
• Item 6: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - GNSO Council Committee for Overseeing and Implementing Continuous Improvement (“CCOICI”) Pilot Survey Results
• Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Intellectual Property Constituency Request for Reconsideration
• Item 8: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Review of Action Decision Radar
• Item 9: GNSO Council Aspirational Statement 

• Item 10: Any Other Business

  • 10.1 - Update on ICANN80 planning and GNSO Draft schedule

  • 10.2 - ccNSO & GAC Liaison updates (every three months)

  • 10.3 - SPS Action Item Updates: Recommendation Reports and GNSO Liaisons to WGs

  • 10.4 - Call for Volunteers - Privacy and Proxy Services Accreditation Implementation Review Team (PPSAI)

  • 10.5 - Transfer Policy Review Working Group participation (see letter)
  • 10.6 - Pre-ICANN80 GNSO Policy Webinar on Tuesday, 21 May at 21:00 UTC - Note: GNSO Councilor Attendance is mandatory
  • 10.7 - Informal meeting with ICANN Board on Monday, 20 May at 13:00 UTC

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

Matters of interest to ALAC/At-Large (updated on 15 May)

• Item 1: Administrative Matters
  • Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 06 March 2024 were posted on 23 March 2024.
  • Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 18 April 2024 were posted on 03 May 2024.
• Item 4: COUNCIL VOTE - Request for Preliminary Issue Report for Diacritics in Latin Script
  • Council was made aware of a potential issue whereby future applied-for strings in the Latin script containing diacritics may be confusingly similar to ASCII strings, are non-variants, and the same entity wishes to operate both strings.
  • For background, an applied-for IDN gTLD string in the Latin script containing diacritics, which is NOT an allocatable variant label of the base ASCII string (existing or applied-for) according to RZ-LGR, are sometimes seen as equivalents. In some instances however, the base ASCII string is seen as a workaround and not necessarily “correct”. The base ASCII string and the Latin diacritic string may be determined to be confusingly similar (i.e., in which case, the strings would be placed in a contention set or if an existing gTLD is involved, the applied-for label would not pass the String Similarity Review).

  • During the GNSO Council Meeting at ICANN78 in Hamburg on 25 October 2023, Council received a detailed briefing on this issue and agreed to request a study from ICANN org to help inform Council on the issue of diacritics in Latin Script. Prior to the request being made to ICANN org, the org volunteered to investigate what mechanism or mechanisms might be appropriate to address this issue.

  • Following the discussion during its April 2024 meeting, Council discussed requesting a Preliminary Issue Report on diacritics in the Latin Script. On [date], the request for an Issue Report was circulated to the Council mailing list.

  • Council will vote to request ICANN org to deliver a Preliminary Issue Report on diacritics in the Latin Script.
• Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Deferral of Policy Status Report Request - Expiration Policies
  • Council previously considered when to request a Policy Status Report (“PSR”) for the purpose of conducting a review of the two Expiration Policies, the Expired Domain Name Deletion Policy (“EDDP”) and the Expired Registration Recovery Policy (“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 PSR.
  • In July 2022, Council agreed that it would be helpful to consult with both registrars and ICANN org to help determine if there are any known issues or concerns with either of the two Expiration Policies which could warrant requesting a PSR. 

  • In making its decision whether to request to a PSR at this time, Council consulted: 

    1. Registrars, who were asked to flag substantial issues with the policies that would warrant a near-term request for PSR and did not note any issues
    2. ICANN Compliance, who provided a write-up, noting confusion with key terms in the policy and persistent registrant confusion with the auto-renew grace period and aftermarket activities, et al.
    3. ICANN org Registrant Program, which provided a catalog of the available educational resources on domain name expiration and renewal (Brian Gutterman’s update at Council)
  • Council then determined that the EDDP and ERRP seem to have been implemented as intended and imminent policy work is not needed at this time. Accordingly, the GNSO Council will reconsider a PSR on the Expiration Policies in two years time, or earlier, if a need is determined and it is requested.
  • Council will discuss whether to consider a PSR on the Expiration Policies in two years.
• Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Intellectual Property Constituency Request for Reconsideration
  • On 22 November 2023, the Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC) filed a Request for Reconsideration  of the ICANN Board Resolutions 2023.10.26.11 and 2023.10.26.122, regarding (i) the actions and inactions that led to:
    • (a) the ICANN Board’s public comment of 6 December 2018 on the Initial Report of the Cross-Community Working Group on New gTLD Auction Proceeds (CCWG-AP),
    • (b) the organization of the public comment phase on the Proposed Final Report of the New gTLD Auction Proceeds Cross Community Working Group,
    • (c) the ICANN Board Resolutions 2022.06.12.13 to 2022.06.12.16 , and (ii) the actions and inactions involving the implementation of the ICANN Grant Giving Program.
  • Council will hear an update on the Request for Consideration and discuss potential next steps for the Council, if any.
• Item 10: Any Other Business
  • 10.4 - Call for Volunteers - Privacy and Proxy Services Accreditation Implementation Review Team (PPSAI)
  • 10.7 - Informal meeting with ICANN Board on Monday, 20 May at 13:00 UTC

GNSO Council Meeting #5 of 2024 held on 16 May 2024 at 05:00 UTC: https://tinyurl.com/4dthynkr  

22:00 Los Angeles (Wednesday); 01:00 Washington DC; 22:00 London; 06:00 Paris; 08:00 Moscow; 15:00 Melbourne 

GNSO Council Meeting Remote Participation: Zoom link

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

Records of 16 May 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 16 May 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 May 2024 Matters of Interest and/or from GNSO Council May 2024 Meeting Records.

1. Consent Agenda

• Council resolved to adopt the revised Description of the role of GNSO Liaison to the Governmental Advisory Committee.
• Council resolved to approved the ICANN Board’s Proposed Amendment to remove the phrase “from the Independent Project Applications Panel” from the Cross-Community Working Group on Auction Proceeds Recommendation 7.

2. Diacritics in Latin Script

• The issue of diacritics in Latin script is not a new one. It first originated, resulting from the 2012 Round, when the registry operator for .Quebec opted to apply for the non-diacritic .quebec label in favour of the label with diacritic “.québec”, but they did not pursue any "formal" remedy to the challenge of also obtaining the “.québec” TLD until more recently, when 4 public comments were submitted in response to the GNSO Call for Public Comments to the Phase 1 Initial Report of the IDNs EPDP in Apr 2023.
• In Jul 2023, GNSO Leadership received a communication from the IDNs-EPDP Chair regarding 4 public comments related to creating an exceptional process by which the existing registry operator for .quebec could apply “.québec” in a future gTLD round ("the .québec issue") being out of scope of the IDNs-EPDP and its Charter, and referred the comments to the GNSO Council for consideration and action as determined appropriate.
• On 17 Aug 2023, GNSO Leadership circulated the 22 Jun 2023 letter from ALAC Chair to the GNSO Chair regarding the Latin script LGR and .québec issue.
• On 24 Aug 2023, Council discussed this issue and, the then GNSO Chair essentially concluded that the issue of .quebec (TLD) not being a variant of “.québec” did not require an immediate resolution and one that did not squarely sit in the remit of the IDNs-EPDP.
• On 23 Sep 2023, the then Council Chair again addressed the issue of accents and diacritics in Latin languages that could be deemed confusingly similar to existing strings or other applications, and suggested chartering something with a narrow scope to ensure that this topic does not slide elsewhere into the string similarity discussion and ensure that solutions are found that match requirements imposed on variants.  ICANN org staff clarified that next steps from the staff perspective would be for Council to request an Issues Report.

• On 25 Oct 2023, Council received a detailed briefing on this issue and agreed to request a study from ICANN org to help inform the GNSO Council on the issue of diacritics in Latin Script. Prior to the request being made to ICANN org, the org volunteered to investigate what mechanism or mechanisms might be appropriate to address this issue. Since then, Council had for several months deferred discussing a way forward to address the issue as GNSO support staff had indicated that a proposal for a solution was being worked on which might alleviate the need for a study request which Council had been mooting earlier.

• The issue finally returned to Council's agenda in Apr 2024, where after much discussion, Council concluded that GNSO support staff's suggested way forward was neither feasible nor desirable (see my Apr 2024 report), and as a result, Council reinforced its agreement agreement to request an Issue Report on diacritics in Latin script. Since this could only be actioned through a Council resolution, it was agreed that Council would vote on such a motion in its May 2024 meeting.
• Hence at this meeting, Council resolved to adopt the request for an an Issues Report, and directs staff to create the Report.

3. IPC's Request for Reconsideration (RfR) on the Board's Proposed Bylaws Updates to Limit Access to Accountability Mechanisms

• This is regarding the Board Accountability Mechanisms Committee's (BAMC) dismissal of IPC's RfR on the basis that IPC was not a party harmed by the Board's Proposed Bylaws Updates to Limit Access to Accountability Mechanisms.
• NOTE: While the GNSO Council did not support the Board's proposal but the ALAC did, the issue being contended here, is the principle that an ICANN community group can be found to have no standing (i.e. has been unable to show harm suffered) for something that has yet to be implemented.
• Council discussed possible next steps to counter the BAMC dismissal, noting that the gravity and implications of grounds for this dismissal, including the possibility of involving other members of the ICANN Community in next steps.

4. Deferral of Policy Status Report Request - Expiration Policies

• Council previously considered when to request a Policy Status Report (“PSR”) for the purpose of conducting a review of the two Expiration Policies, the Expired Domain Name Deletion Policy (“EDDP”) and the Expired Registration Recovery Policy (“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 PSR.
• In July 2022, Council agreed that it would be helpful to consult with both registrars and ICANN org to help determine if there are any known issues or concerns with either of the two Expiration Policies which could warrant requesting a PSR. 

• In making its decision whether to request to a PSR at this time, Council consulted: 

  1. Registrars, who were asked to flag substantial issues with the policies that would warrant a near-term request for PSR and did not note any issues
  2. ICANN Compliance, who provided a write-up, noting confusion with key terms in the policy and persistent registrant confusion with the auto-renew grace period and aftermarket activities, et al.
  3. ICANN org Registrant Program, which provided a catalog of the available educational resources on domain name expiration and renewal (Brian Gutterman’s update at Council)
• Council then determined that the EDDP and ERRP seem to have been implemented as intended and imminent policy work is not needed at this time, and so, considered to pursue a PSR on the Expiration Policies in two years' time, or earlier, if a need is determined and it is requested.
• Primarily at an IPC Councilor's request, this decision for a deferral of the PSR was deferred yet again, to Council's Jun 2024 meeting. IPC's belief that the request for a PSR should proceed now since it would take some time for it to be actioned by ICANN org staff, and IPC wanted a bit more time to shore up its representation on this issue.  There was no objection to deferring the vote to Council's next meeting.