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GNSO Council Meeting #8 of 2024 held on 8 August 2024 

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

GNSO Council Meeting #8 of 2024 held on 8 Aug 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
  • GNSO Review of the GAC ICANN80 Communiqué
• Item 4: COUNCIL VOTE - GNSO Liaison to the GAC Replacement
• Item 5: COUNCIL VOTE - Adoption of the SPIRT Charter
• Item 6: COUNCIL VOTE - Accuracy Scoping Team
• Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Accuracy of Registration Data
• Item 8: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Small Team Plus on Singulars/Plurals
• Item 9: COUNCIL UPDATE - Transfer Policy Review PDP - Initial Report Format
• Item 10: COUNCIL UPDATE - Intellectual Property Constituency Request for Reconsideration
• Item 11: Any Other Business

  • 11.1 - Independent Review Process - Implementation Oversight Team

    • Deadline for public comments: 16 September

  • 11.2 - ICANN's Draft Five Year Strategic Plan

    • Deadline for public comments: 17 September
  • 11.3 - Continuous Improvement Program - Community Coordination Group (CIP-CCG) Phase 3 Update
  • 11.4 - Publication of Preliminary Issues Report on Latin Script Diacritics 
    • Deadline for public comments: 10 September

  • 11.5 - ICANN Board Seeks Input on Applicant Support Program Use of Auction Proceeds - blog post

  • 11.6 - Board Letter re: Urgent 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 12 June 2024 were posted on 01 July 2024.
  • Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 18 July 2024 were posted on 02 August 2024.
• Item 4: COUNCIL VOTE - GNSO Liaison to the GAC Replacement
  
  • The GNSO Liaison to the GAC role was first piloted in FY15-16 (1 July 2014 to 30 June 2016) as part of a broader initiative of the GAC-GNSO Consultation Group to facilitate early engagement of the GAC in GNSO policy development activities.
  • Due to the success of the pilot, the GNSO Liaison to the GAC is now a permanent role and an integral part of communications between the GAC and GNSO. The term of the liaison role is two years, and the term limit is two consecutive two-year terms. As the current liaison’s term will expire at the 2024 Annual General Meeting (ICANN81), the GNSO Council will now appoint a new liaison to assume the role at ICANN81. 
  • Following a review of candidates by the Standing Selection Committee (SSC), Council will vote to confirm the SSC's recommendation of Sebastien Ducos as the new GNSO Liaison to the GAC. (voting threshold of simple majority) 
• Item 5: COUNCIL VOTE - Adoption of the SPIRT Charter
  • Council enlisted a Drafting Team to develop a draft charter for the SPIRT, which is a standing implementation review team recommended in the New gLTD Subsequent Procedures Final Report.
  • When issues arise after ICANN Board adoption of the Applicant Guidebook and during the course of the New gTLD Program that need to be addressed, the Standing Predictability Implementation Review Team (“SPIRT”) will utilize the Predictability Framework, which is an output of the implementation effort developed by ICANN org, in coordination with the Subsequent Procedures (“SubPro”) Implementation Review Team (“IRT”); the Predictability Framework and the SPIRT Charter should be mutually coherent. And Council is responsible for the oversight of the SPIRT.
  • In developing the draft charter, the Drafting Team considered elements such as scope, formation, the operating principles and decision-making of the SPIRT, et.al. The New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Final Report included an annex that provides detailed guidance on how the SPIRT should operate, which served as a basis for the drafting of the charter.
  • Following the 12 June 2024 update to Council on the draft charter, focusing on the sections that differed from the implementation guidance in Annex E of the New gTLD SubPro Final Report, including specific language, the Drafting Team is now submitting a final version of the SPIRT Charter which Council will vote on. (voting threshold of simple majority).
• Item 6: COUNCIL VOTE - Accuracy Scoping Team
  • The Registration Data Accuracy (RDA) Scoping Team was initiated by the GNSO Council in July 2021 per the formation instructions. 
  • The Scoping Team completed Assignment #1 (enforcement and reporting) and Assignment #2 (measurement of accuracy) and submitted its write up to Council on 5 September 2022. In its write up, the Scoping Team suggested 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). 
  • On 19 October 2023, ICANN org provided an update on Registration Data Accuracy efforts, and Council discussed the update during its 16 November 2023 meeting. During that meeting, some Councilors noted that, barring (i) completion of the Data Processing Agreement, (ii) implementation of the NIS2 directive, or (iii) publication of the Inferential Analysis of Maliciously Registered Domains (INFERMAL) Study, it may not be the appropriate time to reconvene the Accuracy Scoping Team.  Council voted to extend the deferral of the Accuracy Scoping Team’s recommendations by another six months during its meeting on 15 February 2024.
  • Following discussion during the meetings in June and July, Council discussed the limitations noted by ICANN org and determined there would be limited value in proceeding with the Scoping Team’s two recommendations (#1 and #2). Council also discussed the limited value in restarting the Scoping Team at this time due to limitations in access to data for the purpose of assessing accuracy. Given the importance of this issue within the ICANN community, the Council will continue to discuss how to best proceed on this topic (see item 7)
  • Council will vote to reject the Scoping Team’s recommendations #1 (voluntary registrar survey) and #2 (registrar audit). (voting threshold of simple majority) 
• Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Accuracy of Registration Data

  • Following the ICANN80 GNSO Council Wrap-Up session, the GNSO Chair asked Councilors to consider the following questions: 

    1. Evaluation of Proposed Alternatives: In its write-up, ICANN noted limitations in processing data for the purpose of assessing accuracy and proposed two alternatives (analyzing historical audit data and engagement with Contracted Parties on ccTLD practices – see detail below). Is pursuing these alternatives worthwhile? If not, are there other alternatives for obtaining data Council should consider?
    2. Consideration of Scoping Team Restart: Given the limitations with respect to access to data, would there be value in restarting the Scoping Team at this time?
    3. Advancing the Topic: If restarting the Scoping Team at this time is not deemed advisable, what other ideas do you have to advance this topic given its importance to the ICANN community? 
  • During the Council’s July meeting, Council agreed that restarting the Scoping Team at this time is not recommended. Councilors requested additional time to discuss additional alternatives with how to proceed on the topic of accuracy and will be asked to present proposals.
  • Council will discuss the feedback received from Councilors’ groups.
• Item 8: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Update from Small Team Plus on Singulars/Plurals
  
  • In March 2023, the ICANN Board approved the majority of the recommendations contained in the Final Report on the new gTLD Subsequent Procedures PDP, but also placed some recommendations into a pending status. 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 non adopted by the ICANN Board. 

  • Council tasked the Small Team Plus with developing Supplemental Recommendations on five of the six Topics, i.e., Registry Voluntary Commitments / Public Interest Commitments, Applicant Support, Terms and Conditions, String Similarity Evaluations, and Limited Challenge/Appeal Mechanisms. Based on the expected implementation as it relates to the Continued Operations Instrument (COI), the Small Team Plus determined it was unnecessary to develop a Supplemental Recommendation for Topic 22: Registrant Protections. The Small Team Plus developed Supplemental Recommendations for all five topics and shared them with Council.

  • Because of information received just prior to Council consideration in April 2024, Council elected to defer consideration of the Supplemental Recommendation related to String Similarity Evaluations, or more specifically, singular/plurals. The new information received was a strawperson developed by ICANN org, which provided a potential path forward for singular/plurals. The Council asked to consider whether it felt that the strawperson was promising enough to task the Small Team Plus considering whether strawperson, or and amended version, could be agreed upon.

  • Council will receive another update from the Small Team Plus on Singulars/Plurals.
  • An electronic vote to adopt the Small Team Plus' Supplemental Recommendations 24.3 and 24.5 is foreshadowed for after this meeting.
• Item 9: COUNCIL UPDATE - Transfer Policy Review PDP - Initial Report Format

  • At its meeting on 18 February 2021, the GNSO Council unanimously adopted a motion to initiate a Policy Development Process (PDP) to review the Transfer Policy and determine if changes to the policy are needed to improve the ease, security, and efficacy of inter-registrar and inter-registrant transfers.

  • The Transfer Policy Review PDP WG has published its consolidated Initial Report, and is now seeking public comments. Because the Initial Report covers many topics and includes many policy recommendations, the Working Group has updated the format of its Initial Report in an effort to make it more digestible to readers (including, eventually, the GNSO Council and ICANN Board). 
  • Council will receive an overview of the format update.
• Item 10: COUNCIL UPDATE - 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.

  • During its meeting at ICANN80, a few GNSO Councilors volunteered to draft a letter to the Board regarding the Request for Reconsideration.

  • Council will hear an update on the draft letter and discuss potential next steps for the Council, if any.

GNSO Council Meeting #8 of 2024 held on 8 Aug 2024 at 21:00 UTC: https://tinyurl.com/3wxk2kd2   

14:00 Los Angeles; 17:00 Washington DC; 22:00 London; 23:00 Paris; 00:00 Moscow (Friday); 07:00 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 8 Aug 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 8 Aug 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 Aug 2024 Matters of Interest and/or from GNSO Council Aug 2024 Meeting Records.

1. Consent Agenda