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 / Registration Data Request Service (RDRS)

2024

* 24/25 Jan: ICANN runs webinars to provide usage data on the RDRS and answer any questions about the service which handles requests for access to nonpublic registration data related to generic top-level domains (gTLDs).

2023

* 28 Nov: ICANN launches theRegistration Data Request Service (RDRS)

21 Sep: Council adopted the EPDP Phase 2 small team's proposed charter for a Registration Data Request Service (RDRS) Standing Committee, which is expected to replace the EPDP Phase 2 small team shortly.

8 Sep: Council received the small team's proposed charter for aRegistration Data Request Service (RDRS) Standing Committeeto help inform the next steps on the SSAD policy recommendations.

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".

15 Mar: GNSO Council instructed the small team to continue working with ICANN org on the implementation of the System as well as “provide the 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”.

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.
13 Sep: ICANN org published a WHOIS Disclosure System (System) Design Paper based on the "proof of concept" approach outlined by the Small Team.
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 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

Deck of Cards

id	Updates

Card

default	true
id	Developments
label	SHOW ME

Developments in 2021-2024 on:

Diacritics in Latin Script
Next Steps for New gTLD Round (post 2022/2023 Subsequent Procedures Operational Design Assessment (SubPro ODA))
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)

Card

id	Post_2023_ODADiacritics
label	Next Steps for New gTLD Round	Diacritics in Latin Script

Diacritics in Latin Script

2024

16 May: Council resolved to adopt the request for an an Issues Report, directs staff to create the Report.
18 Apr: Council discussed ICANN org's proposal which was that a solution could be incorporated through Council's deliberation of the Subsequent Procedures Supplemental Recommendations on Topic 24 String Similarity, and accordingly suggested that Council withhold those supplemental recommendations 24A, 24B and 24C for further work, instead of considering their approval and onward submission to the ICANN Board. Council determined that this was not feasible and instead agreed to request an Issue Report on diacritics in Latin script.

2023

Since Nov, discussion was deferred to facilitate ICANN org exploring on a possible "light-weight" solution to allow an exceptional process by which the existing registry operators of ASCII TLDs to apply for and obtain the respective diacritic versions of their TLDs in the Next Round.
25 Oct: 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.
23 Sep: Council Chair 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.
24 Aug: The GNSO Chair led the commentary on this issue which 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.
17 Aug: GNSO Leadership circulated the 22 Jun 2023 letter from ALAC Chair to the GNSO Chair regarding the Latin script LGR and .québec issue
14 Jul: 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.

Card

id	Post_2023_ODA
label	Next Steps for New gTLD Round

Next Steps for a New gTLD Round 2023-2024 (post Subsequent Procedures Operational Design Assessment (SubPro ODA))

2024

*8 Jun

Next Steps for a New gTLD Round 2023-2024 (post Subsequent Procedures Operational Design Assessment (SubPro ODA))

2024

18 Apr:Councilresolved to approve Supplemental Recommendations for the Non-Adopted New gTLD Subsequent Procedures PDP Recommendations on Topic 9: Registry Voluntary Commitments / Public Interest Commitments, Topic 17: Applicant Support, Topic 18: Terms & Conditions, and Topic 32: Limited Challenge/Appeal Mechanism. Council also elected to pursue further amendments to the Supplemental Recommendations related to Topic 24: String Similarity Evaluations, and accordingly, removed the relevant Supplemental Recommendations from consideration during its April meeting.

*26 Mar: ICANN org initiates public comment proceeding for input on proposed Registry System Testing 2.0 Test Specifications and API.

*13 Mar: ICANN org initiates public comment proceeding for input on proposed Draft Registry Service Provider (RSP) Handbook for the New gTLD Program: Next Round.

6 Mar: GNSO SubPro Small Team held a community consultation session during ICANN79, on the SubPro Supplemental Recommendations.
22 Feb: ICANN79 Prep Week session on the SubPro supplemental recommendations developed by the GNSO SubPro Small Team Plus.

*7 Feb: ICANN org initiates public comment proceeding for input on proposed String Similarity Review Guidelines for the New gTLD Program: Next Round.

*1 Feb: ICANN org initiates public comment proceeding for input on proposed language for 7 sections of the Applicant Guidebook (AGB) for the New gTLD Program: Next Round.

2023 - Post ODA

*7 Dec: ICANN Board initiates Public Interest Commitments/Registry Voluntary Commitments Consultation, issuing their Draft Implementation Framework for Content-Related Registry Commitments.

*21 Nov: ICANN Board previews Public Interest Commitments/Registry Voluntary Commitments Consultation

*26 Oct: ICANN Board resolves during its regular Board Meeting to adopt the Scorecard: Subsequent Procedures dated 26 October 2023 (the "October 2023 Scorecard"), comprising:

- Section A, which details the recommendations that the Board adopts with the second Clarifying Statement.
- Section B, which details the recommendations that the Board does not adopt (Recommendations 32.1, 32.2 and 32.10) because they are not in the best interests of the ICANN community or ICANN, including a Board statement and rationale for each of the Outputs, per Bylaws Annex A, Section 9.

and directed ICANN org, to commence the implementation work related to the recommendations adopted by the Board in Section A of the October 2023 Scorecard, and to consider the recommendations and the second Clarifying Statement jointly for the purpose of implementation and operation of the New gTLD Program: Next Round.

21 Oct: GNSO Council transmitted to the ICANN Board its "New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Pending Recommendations - GNSO Council Second Clarifying Statement" (Second Clarifying Statement) developed by the SubPro Small Team to address the Board's concerns on 10 pending Outputs around the enforceability of Public Interest Commitments (PICs) and Registry Voluntary Commitments (RVCs).

*10 Sep: ICANN Board resolves during its regular Board Meeting to adopt the Scorecard: Subsequent Procedures dated 10 September 2023 (the "September 2023 Scorecard"), comprising:

a number of decisions related to the Next Round:

- IDN EPDP Ph1 Recommendations
  - Resolved (2024.06.08.04), the ICANN Board adopts the Scorecard: IDN EPDP Phase 1 Recommendations in full. Section A of the Scorecard identifies the Outputs that the Board adopts. Section B identifies the Outputs that the Board designates as pending.

- Approach for Handling Content-Restrictive Commitments in Next Round Registry Agreements

- - Resolved (2024.06.08.08), the ICANN Board determines that ICANN should exclude from the Next Round RAs any RVCs and other comparable registry commitments that restrict content in gTLDs.

- Supplemental Recommendations on the new gTLD SubPro PDP

- - Resolved, (2024.06.08.11), the Board adopts the June 2024 Scorecard: Subsequent Procedures Supplemental Recommendations, dated 8 June 2024 (Supplemental Recommendations Scorecard), consisting of:
    - Section A, which details the Supplemental Recommendations that the Board adopts.
      - Topic 17: Applicant Support (17.2)
      - Topic 32: Limited Challenges and Appeals (32.1, 32.2 and 32.10)
    - Section B, which details the Supplemental Recommendations
- Section A which details the Outputs that the Board adopts: Recommendations 16.1, 18.4, 19.1, and 19.3; also input on implementation of Recommendations 30.4, 30.5 and 30.6 post discussion with GAC.
- Section B, which details the Outputs that the Board adopts with the "New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Pending Recommendations - GNSO Council Clarifying Statement" transmitted to the Board on 5 September 2023 that provide relevant context to these Outputs; Affirmation with Modification 3.1, Recommendations 3.2, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 6.8, 9.15, 26.9, 29.1, 34.12, 35.3 and 35.5.
- - - that the Board does not adopt, including a
- Section D, which details the recommendations that remain pending following this Board action, i.e. Recommendations 9.1, 9.4, 9.8, 9.9, 9.10, 9.12, 9.13, 30.7, 31.16, and 31.17 (all relating to the enforceability of PICs and RVCs), and 32.1, 32.2, and 32.10 (all relating to the proposed Challenge & Appeal mechanisms).

and directed ICANN org to commence the implementation work related to the Outputs adopted by the Board in Section A of the September 2023 Scorecard, taking into account the noted Board considerations regarding recommendations 18.4, 30.4 and 30.6.

See my 14 Jun 2023 Council Meeting summary report for a distillation of (selected) SubPro Output context and Board concerns

5 Sep: GNSO Council transmitted to the ICANN Board its "New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Pending Recommendations - GNSO Council Clarifying Statement" (Clarifying Statement) developed by the SubPro Small Team to address the Board's concerns on the pending Outputs.

*31 Jul: ICANN Board Chair announces the New gTLD Program: Next Round Implementation Plan which (re-)establishes a target for the the next Applicant Guidebook to be finalized in May 2025, and which then enables the application round to open in Q2 2026 (with the goal of April 2026), noting that any delays to the timeline of the Policy Implementation work stream will cause delays to the opening of the round.

*27 Jul: ICANN Board resolves at a special meeting to acknowledges receipt of a draft New gTLD Program: Next Round Implementation Plan from ICANN org and plans to publish the plan on or before 31 July 2023.

25 Jul: GNSO Council submitted to the ICANN Board an updated ICANN77 Deliverable Workplan & Timeline SubPro Related Activities to provide further clarity to its 15 Jun submission
15 Jun: GNSO Council submitted to the ICANN Board its ICANN77 Deliverable Work plan & Timeline SubPro Related Activities as requested by the ICANN Board in its 16 Mar resolution
5 Jun: GNSO Council holds 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; and directed ICANN org to commence implementation work related to Section A.

Card

id	Consensus_Policy
label	ON MODIFYING GTLD CONSENSUS POLICIES

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.

Card

id	TRP
label	Transfer Policy Review PDP

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

Card

id	IDN
label	Internationalized Domain Names EPDP

Internationalized Domain Names Expedited Policy Development Process (IDNs-EPDP)

2024

18 Jan: GNSO Council resolved to submit the IDNs EPDP Phase 1 Final Report to the ICANN Board for approval.

2023

21 Dec: GNSO Council adopts the IDNs EPDP Phase 1 Final Report containing 69 policy recommendations on topics related to top-level IDN gTLD definition and variant management.
6-8 Dec: IDNs EPDP had their F2F workshop in Kuala Lumpur.
8 Nov: GNSO Council receives the IDNs EPDP Phase 1 Final Report with a full consensus designation on all 69 recommendations on topics related to top-level IDN gTLD definition and variant management.
14 Sep: GNSO Leadership relays GNSO Council Guidance Statement on ".québec” to the EPDP Team.
24 Aug: At the GNSO Council meeting, the GNSO Chair led the commentary on this issue which 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 Expedited Policy Development Process on Internationalized Domain Names (EPDP on IDNs). The letter from the ALAC Chair to the GNSO Chair on this issue was referred to also.
17 Aug: GNSO Leadership circulated the 22 Jun 2023 letter from ALAC Chair to the GNSO Chair regarding the Latin script LGR and .québec issue
20 Jul: GNSO Council received a revised project plan from the IDNs EPDP Working Group which shaves 13 months off the earlier timeline. The key milestones for this EPDP are now as follows:
- Phase 1 Final Report remains expected to be delivered to Council in Nov 2023
- Council then considers this Phase 1 Final Report and decides on the adoption of report and recommendations
- Phase 2 Initial Report is expected to be published for public comment in Apr 2024 (vs May 2025 earlier)
- Phase 2 Final Report is expected to be delivered to Council in Oct 2024 (vs Nov 2025 earlier)
- Council then considers this Phase 2 Final Report and decides on the adoption of report and recommendations
- Assumptions for this revised project plan must hold for the EPDP to meet the new milestone dates:
  - Progress to be achieved via multiple sessions during ICANN78 (similar to ICANN77)
  - A planned F2F workshop scheduled for early Dec 2023
  - No change to the EPDP Charter / scope of quarter questions
14 Jul: GNSO Leadership received a communication from the 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 IDN EPDP and its Charter, and referred the comments to the GNSO Council for consideration and action as determined appropriate.
14 Jun: GNSO Council received the latest project plan from the IDNs EPDP Working Group, which provides that:
- Phase 1 Final Report is expected to be delivered to Council in Nov 2023
- Council then considers this Phase 1 Final Report and decides on the adoption of report and recommendations
- Phase 2 Initial Report is expected to be published for public comment in May 2025
- Phase 2 Final Report is expected to be delivered to Council in Nov 2025
- Council then considers this Phase 2 Final Report and decides on the adoption of report and recommendations
- The IDNs EPDP WG is already taking steps to improve its timeline to expedite completion of its work well ahead of the Nov 2025 target
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.

Card

id	RDA_Scoping
label	Registration Data Accuracy Scoping Team

Registration Data Accuracy (RDA) Scoping Team

2023

20 Jul: Council resolved to extend deferral of consideration of recommendations #1 and #2 of the Registration Data Accuracy Scoping Team write up for another six months or at an earlier date if the DPA negotiations have been completed before six months have passed and/or there is feedback from ICANN org if/how it anticipates the requesting and processing of registration data will be undertaken in the context of measuring accuracy.
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

Card

id	SSAD
label	Temp Spec for Registration Data / SSAD ODP / RDRS

...

- - - rationale.
      - Topic 9: Registry Voluntary Commitments / Public Interest Commitments (9.2)
      - Topic 18: Terms and Conditions (18.1 and 18.3)

- GAC Advice in ICANN77 Communique Regarding Avoiding Auctions Between Commercial/Non-Commercial Applications

- - Whereas, the Board has identified concerns with GAC Consensus Advice item 4.a.i (i.e. Washington, D.C. Communiqué includes advice concerning Topic 35, and, specifically, the use of auctions between commercial and noncommercial applications) including concerns regarding the feasibility of implementation from both a practical and legal standpoint.
  - Whereas, the Board has noted that GAC Consensus Advice item 4.a.i does not align with the relevant SubPro recommendations related to Topic 35, which call for the continued use of ICANN Auctions of Last Resort as a contention resolution mechanism.

- GGP for Applicant Support Recommendations

- - Resolved (2024.06.08.17), the ICANN Board adopts all nine guidance recommendations as documented in the GGP for Applicant Support Final Report.

- Next Round Funding
  - Whereas, the BFC has recommended that the Board approve funding from the New gTLD Program: 2012 Round Application Fees of up to US$23 million to cover further implementation costs for the New gTLD Program: Next Round through 31 March 2025.
  - Resolved (2024.06.08.19), the Board authorizes the ICANN Interim President and CEO, or her designee(s), to spend up to US$23 million from the New gTLD Program: 2012 Round Application Fees to fund the implementation work of the New gTLD Program: Next Round through 31 March 2025.

Circa 30 Apr: Council will send new work re: Topic 24 on String Similarity Review in respect of Singular/Plurals only to the GNSO Council Small Team Plus to consider a strawman proposal developed by Staff. After evaluation of the proposal, the Small Team Plus will return to Council with its conclusions on whether this proposal is viable, and if so, provide draft (amendment) language on Topic 24 Supplemental Recommendation for Council to consider.
18 Apr:Councilresolved to approve Supplemental Recommendations for the Non-Adopted New gTLD Subsequent Procedures PDP Recommendations on Topic 9: Registry Voluntary Commitments / Public Interest Commitments, Topic 17: Applicant Support, Topic 18: Terms & Conditions, and Topic 32: Limited Challenge/Appeal Mechanism. Council also elected to pursue further amendments to the Supplemental Recommendations related to Topic 24: String Similarity Evaluations, and accordingly, removed the relevant Supplemental Recommendations from consideration during its April meeting.

*26 Mar: ICANN org initiates public comment proceeding for input on proposed Registry System Testing 2.0 Test Specifications and API.

*13 Mar: ICANN org initiates public comment proceeding for input on proposed Draft Registry Service Provider (RSP) Handbook for the New gTLD Program: Next Round.

6 Mar: GNSO SubPro Small Team held a community consultation session during ICANN79, on the SubPro Supplemental Recommendations.
22 Feb: ICANN79 Prep Week session on the SubPro supplemental recommendations developed by the GNSO SubPro Small Team Plus.

*7 Feb: ICANN org initiates public comment proceeding for input on proposed String Similarity Review Guidelines for the New gTLD Program: Next Round.

*1 Feb: ICANN org initiates public comment proceeding for input on proposed language for 7 sections of the Applicant Guidebook (AGB) for the New gTLD Program: Next Round.

2023 - Post ODA

*7 Dec: ICANN Board initiates Public Interest Commitments/Registry Voluntary Commitments Consultation, issuing their Draft Implementation Framework for Content-Related Registry Commitments.

*21 Nov: ICANN Board previews Public Interest Commitments/Registry Voluntary Commitments Consultation

*26 Oct: ICANN Board resolves during its regular Board Meeting to adopt the Scorecard: Subsequent Procedures dated 26 October 2023 (the "October 2023 Scorecard"), comprising:

- Section A, which details the recommendations that the Board adopts with the second Clarifying Statement.
- Section B, which details the recommendations that the Board does not adopt (Recommendations 32.1, 32.2 and 32.10) because they are not in the best interests of the ICANN community or ICANN, including a Board statement and rationale for each of the Outputs, per Bylaws Annex A, Section 9.

21 Oct: GNSO Council transmitted to the ICANN Board its "New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Pending Recommendations - GNSO Council Second Clarifying Statement" (Second Clarifying Statement) developed by the SubPro Small Team to address the Board's concerns on 10 pending Outputs around the enforceability of Public Interest Commitments (PICs) and Registry Voluntary Commitments (RVCs).

*10 Sep: ICANN Board resolves during its regular Board Meeting to adopt the Scorecard: Subsequent Procedures dated 10 September 2023 (the "September 2023 Scorecard"), comprising:

- Section A which details the Outputs that the Board adopts: Recommendations 16.1, 18.4, 19.1, and 19.3; also input on implementation of Recommendations 30.4, 30.5 and 30.6 post discussion with GAC.
- Section B, which details the Outputs that the Board adopts with the "New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Pending Recommendations - GNSO Council Clarifying Statement" transmitted to the Board on 5 September 2023 that provide relevant context to these Outputs; Affirmation with Modification 3.1, Recommendations 3.2, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 6.8, 9.15, 26.9, 29.1, 34.12, 35.3 and 35.5.
- Section C, which details the Outputs that the Board does not adopt, including a Board statement and rationale for each of the Outputs, per Bylaws Annex A, Section 9a, because they are not in the best interests of the ICANN community or ICANN: Recommendations 9.2, 17.2, 18.1, 18.3, 22.7, 24.3, and 24.5.
- Section D, which details the recommendations that remain pending following this Board action, i.e. Recommendations 9.1, 9.4, 9.8, 9.9, 9.10, 9.12, 9.13, 30.7, 31.16, and 31.17 (all relating to the enforceability of PICs and RVCs), and 32.1, 32.2, and 32.10 (all relating to the proposed Challenge & Appeal mechanisms).

See my 14 Jun 2023 Council Meeting summary report for a distillation of (selected) SubPro Output context and Board concerns

5 Sep: GNSO Council transmitted to the ICANN Board its "New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Pending Recommendations - GNSO Council Clarifying Statement" (Clarifying Statement) developed by the SubPro Small Team to address the Board's concerns on the pending Outputs.

25 Jul: GNSO Council submitted to the ICANN Board an updated ICANN77 Deliverable Workplan & Timeline SubPro Related Activities to provide further clarity to its 15 Jun submission
15 Jun: GNSO Council submitted to the ICANN Board its ICANN77 Deliverable Work plan & Timeline SubPro Related Activities as requested by the ICANN Board in its 16 Mar resolution
5 Jun: GNSO Council holds 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

Card

id	Consensus_Policy
label	ON MODIFYING GTLD CONSENSUS POLICIES

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.

Card

id	TRP
label	Transfer Policy Review PDP

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

Card

id	IDN
label	Internationalized Domain Names EPDP

Internationalized Domain Names Expedited Policy Development Process (IDNs-EPDP)

2024

11 Apr: GNSO initiates call for public comments to the Phase 2 Initial Report of the IDNs EPDP

* 26 Mar: The ICANN Board calls for public comments to the IDNs EPDP Phase 1 Final Report.

18 Jan: GNSO Council resolved to submit the IDNs EPDP Phase 1 Final Report to the ICANN Board for approval.

2023

21 Dec: GNSO Council adopts the IDNs EPDP Phase 1 Final Report containing 69 policy recommendations on topics related to top-level IDN gTLD definition and variant management.
6-8 Dec: IDNs EPDP had their F2F workshop in Kuala Lumpur.
8 Nov: GNSO Council receives the IDNs EPDP Phase 1 Final Report with a full consensus designation on all 69 recommendations on topics related to top-level IDN gTLD definition and variant management.
14 Sep: GNSO Leadership relays GNSO Council Guidance Statement on ".québec” to the EPDP Team.
24 Aug: At the GNSO Council meeting, the GNSO Chair led the commentary on this issue which 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 Expedited Policy Development Process on Internationalized Domain Names (EPDP on IDNs). The letter from the ALAC Chair to the GNSO Chair on this issue was referred to also.
17 Aug: GNSO Leadership circulated the 22 Jun 2023 letter from ALAC Chair to the GNSO Chair regarding the Latin script LGR and .québec issue
20 Jul: GNSO Council received a revised project plan from the IDNs EPDP Working Group which shaves 13 months off the earlier timeline. The key milestones for this EPDP are now as follows:
- Phase 1 Final Report remains expected to be delivered to Council in Nov 2023
- Council then considers this Phase 1 Final Report and decides on the adoption of report and recommendations
- Phase 2 Initial Report is expected to be published for public comment in Apr 2024 (vs May 2025 earlier)
- Phase 2 Final Report is expected to be delivered to Council in Oct 2024 (vs Nov 2025 earlier)
- Council then considers this Phase 2 Final Report and decides on the adoption of report and recommendations
- Assumptions for this revised project plan must hold for the EPDP to meet the new milestone dates:
  - Progress to be achieved via multiple sessions during ICANN78 (similar to ICANN77)
  - A planned F2F workshop scheduled for early Dec 2023
  - No change to the EPDP Charter / scope of quarter questions
14 Jul: GNSO Leadership received a communication from the 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.
14 Jun: GNSO Council received the latest project plan from the IDNs EPDP Working Group, which provides that:
- Phase 1 Final Report is expected to be delivered to Council in Nov 2023
- Council then considers this Phase 1 Final Report and decides on the adoption of report and recommendations
- Phase 2 Initial Report is expected to be published for public comment in May 2025
- Phase 2 Final Report is expected to be delivered to Council in Nov 2025
- Council then considers this Phase 2 Final Report and decides on the adoption of report and recommendations
- The IDNs EPDP WG is already taking steps to improve its timeline to expedite completion of its work well ahead of the Nov 2025 target
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.
24 Apr: GNSO initiates call for public comments to the Phase 1 Initial Report of the IDNs-EPDP.
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.

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.

Card

id	RDA_Scoping
label	Registration Data Accuracy Scoping Team

Registration Data Accuracy (RDA) Scoping Team

2023

20 Jul: Council resolved to extend deferral of consideration of recommendations #1 and #2 of the Registration Data Accuracy Scoping Team write up for another six months or at an earlier date if the DPA negotiations have been completed before six months have passed and/or there is feedback from ICANN org if/how it anticipates the requesting and processing of registration data will be undertaken in the context of measuring accuracy.
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

Card

id	SSAD
label	Temp Spec for Registration Data / SSAD ODP / RDRS

2024

2023

* 28 Nov: ICANN launches theRegistration Data Request Service (RDRS)

21 Sep: Council adopted the EPDP Phase 2 small team's proposed charter for a Registration Data Request Service (RDRS) Standing Committee, which is expected to replace the EPDP Phase 2 small team shortly.
8 Sep: Council received the small team's proposed charter for aRegistration Data Request Service (RDRS) Standing Committeeto help inform the next steps on the SSAD policy recommendations.
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".
15 Mar: GNSO Council instructed the small team to continue working with ICANN org on the implementation of the System as well as “provide the 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”.
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.
13 Sep: ICANN org published a WHOIS Disclosure System (System) Design Paper based on the "proof of concept" approach outlined by the Small Team.
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 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

Anchor
ended
ended
CONCLUDED OR SUSPENDED ISSUES / PDPs / ODPs

Deck of Cards

id	Ended

Card

default	true
id	Concluded
label	SHOW ME

Concluded Issues / PDPs etc

Additional Work on Subsequent Procedures - GNSO Guidance Process on Applicant Support (2022-2024)
Closed Generics (2022-2024)
Potential Council next steps regarding DNS abuse (2021-2023)
Subsequent Procedures Operational Design Phase (SubPro ODP) & Subsequent Procedures Operational Design Assessment (SubPro ODA) (2022-2003)
Specific Curative Rights Protection for IGOs EPDP (2022)

Card

id	AddSubPro
label	ADDITIONAL WORK ON SUBSEQUENT PROCEDURES

Additional Work on Subsequent Procedures

2024

18 Jan: GNSO Council resolves to submit the GGP Applicant Support Guidance Recommendation Final Report to the ICANN Board for approval.

2023

21 Dec: GNSO Council adopts the GGP Applicant Support Guidance Recommendation Final Report .
25 Sep: ICANN org publishes the Public Comment Summary Report on the GGP Applicant Support Guidance Recommendation Initial Report.
31 Jul - 11 Sep: GGP Applicant Support Guidance Recommendation Initial Report out for public comment

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.

Card

id	CGs
label	Closed Generics

Closed Generics

2024

*22 Jan: ICANN Board communicates decision on Closed Generic to ALAC and GNSO Council, "the Board has considered the GAC Advice and has determined that closed generic gTLD applications will not be permitted until such time as there is an approved methodology and criteria to evaluate whether or not a proposed closed domain is in the public interest.”

2023

16 Nov: ALAC submits Advice on Closed Generics to the ICANN Board.
After attempts by the GNSO, GAC and ALAC Chairs to prepare a joint letter to the Board regarding the output of the Dialogue on Closed Generics and next steps did not succeed:
- GAC and ALAC sent a joint letter of 13 October to the Board;
- GNSO Council sent its own letter of 21 October to the Board.
24 Aug: Council update on status of Closed Generics
15 Jul: Comments on Draft framework for Closed Generics due
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).

Card

id	DNS_Abuse
label	DNS Abuse

Potential Council next steps regarding DNS abuse – TO MONITOR THIS FOR RE-ACTIVATION.

2023

29 Jun: Council replies to RrSG, RySG, Contractual Compliance and DNSAI on Bulk registrations.
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.

Card

id	EndedSubPro
label	Subsequent Procedures ODP/ODA

Subsequent Procedures Operational Design Phase (SubPro ODP) and Subsequent Procedures Operational Design Assessment (SubPro ODA); See: https://www.icann.org/subpro-odp for more official info.

2023 - Post ODA

*12 Mar: Subsequent Procedures: Issues and Next Steps at ICANN76

*1 Mar: SubPro ODP Status Update at ICANN76 Prep Week

2023 - ODA

28 Feb: ICANN Board Chair replies to GNSO Chair's letter of 20 Jan on GNSO Council review and input for the SubPro ODA
28 Feb: ICANN Board and GNSO Joint Meeting on SubPro discussion.
16 Feb: GNSO Council to prepare for a joint meeting with the Board.
20 Jan: GNSO Chair letter on the SubPro ODA input sent to ICANN Board Chair
19 Jan: Council Small Team on SubPro ODA prepares input concentrating on identifying areas of ICANN org analysis that may not be true to the intent of the SubPro Final Report, as well as developing impressions of Option 2 contained in the ODA. Given the tight timelines, there will not be adequate time for the small team to provide draft input to Council by it January meeting. Accordingly, the expectation is that the input, delivered on [date], shall be sent to the Board, but include the caveat that it was not formally adopted by Council.

2022

15 Dec: Council constitutes a Small Team comprising Anne Aikman-Scalese (NCA), Jeff Neuman (GNSO Liaison to SubPro ODP), Thomas Rickert (ISCP), Sebastien Ducos (RySG), Susan Payne (IPC) and Justine Chew (ALAC Liaison to GNSO) to establish if there were questions or clarifications needed to be relayed to the ICANN Org SubPro Team; and likely comments to be relayed to the ICANN Board.

*14 Dec: ICANN org (SubPro ODP Team) to host a community webinar on the SubPro ODA on Wed 14 Dec 2022 at 13:00–15:00 and 20:00–22:00 UTC

*12 Dec: SubPro ODP Team delivers SubPro ODA to ICANN Board

8 Dec: SubPro ODP Team blogs on Work Track 9: Overarching Considerations
7 Dec: SubPro ODP Team to conduct a SubPro ODA GNSO Council Specific Webinar (prior to release of the ODA)
7 Dec: SubPro ODP Team blogs on Work Track 8: Finance
2 Dec: SubPro ODP Team blogs on Work Track 7: Resource Staffing, Logistics
12

...

Deck of Cards

id	Ended

Card

default	true
id	Concluded
label	SHOW ME

Concluded Issues / PDPs etc

Additional Work on Subsequent Procedures - GNSO Guidance Process on Applicant Support (2022-2024)
Closed Generics (2022-2024)
Potential Council next steps regarding DNS abuse (2021-2023)
Subsequent Procedures Operational Design Phase (SubPro ODP) & Subsequent Procedures Operational Design Assessment (SubPro ODA) (2022-2003)
Specific Curative Rights Protection for IGOs EPDP (2022)

Card

id	AddSubPro
label	ADDITIONAL WORK ON SUBSEQUENT PROCEDURES

Additional Work on Subsequent Procedures

2024

18 Jan: GNSO Council resolves to submit the GGP Applicant Support Guidance Recommendation Final Report to the ICANN Board for approval.

2023

21 Dec: GNSO Council adopts the GGP Applicant Support Guidance Recommendation Final Report .
25 Sep: ICANN org publishes the Public Comment Summary Report on the GGP Applicant Support Guidance Recommendation Initial Report.
31 Jul - 11 Sep: GGP Applicant Support Guidance Recommendation Initial Report out for public comment

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.

Card

id	CGs
label	Closed Generics

Closed Generics

2024

2023

16 Nov: ALAC submits Advice on Closed Generics to the ICANN Board.
After attempts by the GNSO, GAC and ALAC Chairs to prepare a joint letter to the Board regarding the output of the Dialogue on Closed Generics and next steps did not succeed:
- GAC and ALAC sent a joint letter of 13 October to the Board;
- GNSO Council sent its own letter of 21 October to the Board.
24 Aug: Council update on status of Closed Generics
15 Jul: Comments on Draft framework for Closed Generics due
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).

Card

id	DNS_Abuse
label	DNS Abuse

Potential Council next steps regarding DNS abuse – TO MONITOR THIS FOR RE-ACTIVATION.

2023

29 Jun: Council replies to RrSG, RySG, Contractual Compliance and DNSAI on Bulk registrations.
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.

Card

id	EndedSubPro
label	Subsequent Procedures ODP/ODA

Subsequent Procedures Operational Design Phase (SubPro ODP) and Subsequent Procedures Operational Design Assessment (SubPro ODA); See: https://www.icann.org/subpro-odp for more official info.

2023 - Post ODA

*12 Mar: Subsequent Procedures: Issues and Next Steps at ICANN76

*1 Mar: SubPro ODP Status Update at ICANN76 Prep Week

2023 - ODA

28 Feb: ICANN Board Chair replies to GNSO Chair's letter of 20 Jan on GNSO Council review and input for the SubPro ODA
28 Feb: ICANN Board and GNSO Joint Meeting on SubPro discussion.
16 Feb: GNSO Council to prepare for a joint meeting with the Board.
20 Jan: GNSO Chair letter on the SubPro ODA input sent to ICANN Board Chair
19 Jan: Council Small Team on SubPro ODA prepares input concentrating on identifying areas of ICANN org analysis that may not be true to the intent of the SubPro Final Report, as well as developing impressions of Option 2 contained in the ODA. Given the tight timelines, there will not be adequate time for the small team to provide draft input to Council by it January meeting. Accordingly, the expectation is that the input, delivered on [date], shall be sent to the Board, but include the caveat that it was not formally adopted by Council.

2022

15 Dec: Council constitutes a Small Team comprising Anne Aikman-Scalese (NCA), Jeff Neuman (GNSO Liaison to SubPro ODP), Thomas Rickert (ISCP), Sebastien Ducos (RySG), Susan Payne (IPC) and Justine Chew (ALAC Liaison to GNSO) to establish if there were questions or clarifications needed to be relayed to the ICANN Org SubPro Team; and likely comments to be relayed to the ICANN Board.

*14 Dec: ICANN org (SubPro ODP Team) to host a community webinar on the SubPro ODA on Wed 14 Dec 2022 at 13:00–15:00 and 20:00–22:00 UTC

*12 Dec: SubPro ODP Team delivers SubPro ODA to ICANN Board

8 Dec: SubPro ODP Team blogs on Work Track 9: Overarching Considerations
7 Dec: SubPro ODP Team to conduct a SubPro ODA GNSO Council Specific Webinar (prior to release of the ODA)
7 Dec: SubPro ODP Team blogs on Work Track 8: Finance
2 Dec: SubPro ODP Team blogs on Work Track 7: Resource Staffing, Logistics
12 Nov: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update - Relay of Question set #6

*8 Nov: SubPro ODP Team releases Assumptions Subsequent Procedures ODP v.6

2 Nov: SubPro ODP Team blogs on Work Track 6: Communications and Outreach

*14 Oct: SubPro ODP Team releasesSubPro ODP Community Status Update #4 (last of four planned updates). The output of this ODP (i.e. the ODA - Operational Design Assessment) is now expected to be completed on 9 Nov and delivered to the ICANN Board on 12 Dec.

6 Sep: SubPro ODP Team blogs on Work Track 5: Vendor Procurement

*15 Aug: SubPro ODP Team releases SubPro ODP Community Status Update #3 (the 3rd of four planned updates) which refers to Assumptions Subsequent Procedures ODP v.5. The last update is scheduled for 15 Oct.

25 Aug: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison submits Question set #5 REPLY
2 Aug: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update - Reminder on Question set #5
29 Jul: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison submits Question set #4 REPLY
20 Jul: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update - Question set #4 finalization and Relay of Question set #5
- Question set #5 sought clarity on the Predictability Framework
12 Jul: SubPro ODP Team blogs on Work Track 4: Systems & Tools
8 Jul: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison submits Question set #3 REPLY
30 Jun - 15 Jul: Council Small Team comprising Jeff Neuman (GNSO Liaison to SubPro ODP), Paul McGrady (NCA-Non CPH), Justine Chew (ALAC Liaison to GNSO), Desiree Miloshevic (NCA-CPH), and Flip Petillion (IPC) worked on replies to Question set #4.
30 Jun: Question set #3 REPLY finalized
26 May: SubPro ODP Team blogs on Work Track 3: Operational Readiness
26 May: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison submits Question set #2 REPLY

*25 May: SubPro ODP Team releases Assumptions Subsequent Procedures ODP v.4

19 May: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update - Relay of Question set #4 and SubPro Topic Assumptions
- Question set #4 sought clarity on 10 topics

*16 May: SubPro ODP Team releases SubPro ODP Community Status Update #2, the 2nd of four planned updates. The next update is scheduled for 15 Aug.

12 Apr: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update - Relay of Question set #3
- Question set #3 sought clarity on String Similarity

*29 Apr: SubPro ODP Team releases Assumptions Subsequent Procedures ODP v.3

*28 Mar: SubPro ODP Team releases SubPro ODP Community Status Update #1, the 1st of four planned updates. The next update is scheduled for 16 May.

*23 Mar: SubPro ODP Team releases Initial & Overarching Assumptions Subsequent Procedures ODP v.2

*28 Feb: SubPro ODP Team releases Initial Assumption Subsequent Procedures ODP v.1

14 Feb: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update - Relay of Question set #2
- Question set #2 sought clarity on the Dedicated IRT for Application Support Program
25 Jan: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update #5 - Third call with ICANN's SubPro ODP Team
21 Jan: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison submits Question set #1 REPLY
18 Jan: SubPro ODP Team blogs on SubPro ODP Work Tracks
9 Jan: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update #4 - Second call with ICANN's SubPro ODP Team
3 Jan: Actual SubPro ODP Launch date

2021

20 Dec: ICANN org announces that ICANN GDS has informed ICANN Board that it is beginning this ODP in January 2022.
16 Dec: Council mainly considered the process for SubPro ODP interactions between the GNSO ODP Liaison and the ICANN Org's SubPro ODP Team - Councillors are meant to take suggested responses of the GSNO ODP Liaison to SubPro ODP Team's preliminary questions (Question Set #1) back to their respective SG/C for feedback to enable finalization and timeous relay of agreed responses to the SubPro ODP Team. ICANN Org has a public archive of engagement on the topic.
1 Dec: SubPro ODP Team blogs on answers to questions regarding the SubPro ODP
1 Dec: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update #3 - First call with GDS (ICANN's SubPro ODP Team)
22 Nov: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update #2. ICANN Org is still in internal project organization mode although GDD has posed a first set of questions to the GNSO ODP Liaison, Jeff Neuman. Formal kick-off of the ODP only expected at end of Nov 2021, thereafter proceeds for an approximate 10 months.
18 Nov: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update - Relay of Question set #1
- Question set #1 sought clarity on (i) Applications Assessed in Rounds, (ii) RVCs & PICs, specifically on DNS Abuse Mitigation (iii) Applicant Reviews, and (iv) Auctions.
16 Nov: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update #1

Card

id	IGO_RP
label	IGO Curative Rights Protection EPDP

Specific Curative Rights Protection for IGOs EPDP

2023

* 30 Apr: The ICANN Board resolves to adopt the four recommendations that the GNSO Council approved from the IGO-INGO Access to Curative Rights Protection Mechanisms PDP and the five recommendations that the GNSO Council approved from the EPDP on Specific Curative Rights Protections for IGOs; and directed ICANN org to proceed with the implementation of these recommendations as soon as feasible.

11 Jan: ICANN Board & GNSO Council joint meeting took place.

2022

* 28 Nov 2022 - 16 Jan 2023: The ICANN Board seeks community input on the GNSO Council’s June 2022, supermajority adoption of the EPDP Team’s Final Report on Specific Curative Rights Protections for International Governmental Organizations (IGOs). The inputs received will help inform the ICANN Board’s deliberations as they consider the GNSO’s adopted recommendations.

15 June: Council resolved unanimously to approve all 5 recommendations in the Final Report.
19 May: Council was meant to consider and vote on a motion to approve the recommendations in the Final Report but eventually resolved to defer the vote to Council's June 2022 meeting to allow the RrSG time for further consideration prior to the vote.
14 Apr: Council was informed that this EPDP Team reached full consensus on its five recommendations and delivered its Final Report on 4 April 2022. Council also received an overview of the five recommendations of the EPDP. Council will be voting on those five recommendations in May 2022.

2021

16 Dec: Council approved a Project Change Request (PCR) to extend this EPDP WG's project timeline to 4 Apr 2022 to deliver its final report, while noting RrSG concerns around the EPDP moving out of the scope of its charter
18 Nov: EPDP WG currently reviewing comments received on its 6 recommendations, for purposes of producing its Final Report. Project plan is expected to be extended from end 2021 to some time in Q1 of 2022
24 Oct: Public Comment on the EPDP WG's Initial Report closed

...

2024 Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct

2023 Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | Extra_May | May | Extra_Jun | Pre-ICANN77_Bilateral | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Bilateral@ICANN78 | Oct | Nov | Dec

2022 Jan | Feb | Mar | Bilateral@ICANN73 | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Bilateral@ICANN75 | Oct | Nov | Dec

2021 Oct | Nov | Dec

Link to past years' reports

January 2024 - October 2024 Reports

...

id	May2024

*8 Nov: SubPro ODP Team releases Assumptions Subsequent Procedures ODP v.6

2 Nov: SubPro ODP Team blogs on Work Track 6: Communications and Outreach

6 Sep: SubPro ODP Team blogs on Work Track 5: Vendor Procurement

25 Aug: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison submits Question set #5 REPLY
2 Aug: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update - Reminder on Question set #5
29 Jul: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison submits Question set #4 REPLY
20 Jul: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update - Question set #4 finalization and Relay of Question set #5
Question set #5 sought clarity on the Predictability Framework
12 Jul: SubPro ODP Team blogs on Work Track 4: Systems & Tools
8 Jul: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison submits Question set #3 REPLY
30 Jun - 15 Jul: Council Small Team comprising Jeff Neuman (GNSO Liaison to SubPro ODP), Paul McGrady (NCA-Non CPH), Justine Chew (ALAC Liaison to GNSO), Desiree Miloshevic (NCA-CPH), and Flip Petillion (IPC) worked on replies to Question set #4.
30 Jun: Question set #3 REPLY finalized
26 May: SubPro ODP Team blogs on Work Track 3: Operational Readiness
26 May: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison submits Question set #2 REPLY

*25 May: SubPro ODP Team releases Assumptions Subsequent Procedures ODP v.4

19 May: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update - Relay of Question set #4 and SubPro Topic Assumptions
Question set #4 sought clarity on 10 topics

*16 May: SubPro ODP Team releases SubPro ODP Community Status Update #2, the 2nd of four planned updates. The next update is scheduled for 15 Aug.

12 Apr: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update - Relay of Question set #3
Question set #3 sought clarity on String Similarity

*29 Apr: SubPro ODP Team releases Assumptions Subsequent Procedures ODP v.3

*28 Mar: SubPro ODP Team releases SubPro ODP Community Status Update #1, the 1st of four planned updates. The next update is scheduled for 16 May.

*23 Mar: SubPro ODP Team releases Initial & Overarching Assumptions Subsequent Procedures ODP v.2

*28 Feb: SubPro ODP Team releases Initial Assumption Subsequent Procedures ODP v.1

14 Feb: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update - Relay of Question set #2
Question set #2 sought clarity on the Dedicated IRT for Application Support Program
25 Jan: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update #5 - Third call with ICANN's SubPro ODP Team
21 Jan: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison submits Question set #1 REPLY
18 Jan: SubPro ODP Team blogs on SubPro ODP Work Tracks
9 Jan: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update #4 - Second call with ICANN's SubPro ODP Team
3 Jan: Actual SubPro ODP Launch date

2021

20 Dec: ICANN org announces that ICANN GDS has informed ICANN Board that it is beginning this ODP in January 2022.
16 Dec: Council mainly considered the process for SubPro ODP interactions between the GNSO ODP Liaison and the ICANN Org's SubPro ODP Team - Councillors are meant to take suggested responses of the GSNO ODP Liaison to SubPro ODP Team's preliminary questions (Question Set #1) back to their respective SG/C for feedback to enable finalization and timeous relay of agreed responses to the SubPro ODP Team. ICANN Org has a public archive of engagement on the topic.
1 Dec: SubPro ODP Team blogs on answers to questions regarding the SubPro ODP
1 Dec: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update #3 - First call with GDS (ICANN's SubPro ODP Team)
22 Nov: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update #2. ICANN Org is still in internal project organization mode although GDD has posed a first set of questions to the GNSO ODP Liaison, Jeff Neuman. Formal kick-off of the ODP only expected at end of Nov 2021, thereafter proceeds for an approximate 10 months.
18 Nov: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update - Relay of Question set #1
Question set #1 sought clarity on (i) Applications Assessed in Rounds, (ii) RVCs & PICs, specifically on DNS Abuse Mitigation (iii) Applicant Reviews, and (iv) Auctions.
16 Nov: GNSO SubPro ODP Liaison update #1

Card

id	IGO_RP
label	IGO Curative Rights Protection EPDP

Specific Curative Rights Protection for IGOs EPDP

2023

11 Jan: ICANN Board & GNSO Council joint meeting took place.

2022

15 June: Council resolved unanimously to approve all 5 recommendations in the Final Report.
19 May: Council was meant to consider and vote on a motion to approve the recommendations in the Final Report but eventually resolved to defer the vote to Council's June 2022 meeting to allow the RrSG time for further consideration prior to the vote.
14 Apr: Council was informed that this EPDP Team reached full consensus on its five recommendations and delivered its Final Report on 4 April 2022. Council also received an overview of the five recommendations of the EPDP. Council will be voting on those five recommendations in May 2022.

2021

16 Dec: Council approved a Project Change Request (PCR) to extend this EPDP WG's project timeline to 4 Apr 2022 to deliver its final report, while noting RrSG concerns around the EPDP moving out of the scope of its charter
18 Nov: EPDP WG currently reviewing comments received on its 6 recommendations, for purposes of producing its Final Report. Project plan is expected to be extended from end 2021 to some time in Q1 of 2022
24 Oct: Public Comment on the EPDP WG's Initial Report closed

...

Anchor
A-Directory
A-Directory
DIRECTORY OF REPORTS

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January 2024 - October 2024 Reports

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	A-24-07
	A-24-07

24-07 GNSO COUNCIL MEETING #7 (JUL 2024) (go up to Directory)

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id	Jul2024

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id	Show_Jul2024
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GNSO Council Meeting #7 of 2024 held on 18 July

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label	SHOW ME

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

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

Full Agenda | Documents | Motions

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

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id	MOI_May2024
label	MATTERS OF INTEREST

Matters of interest to ALAC/At-Large

Item 1: Administrative Matters
- Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 06 March 2024 were posted on 23 March 2024

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id	MeetDeets_May2024
label	MEETING DETAILS

GNSO Council Meeting #5 of 2024 held on 16 May 2024 at 05:00 UTC:

GNSO Council Meeting Remote Participation: Zoom link

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

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id	Meet_May2024
label	MEETING RECORD

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

...

id	SumRep_May2024
label	REPORT

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

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Special Summary Report of 18 Apr 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 Apr 2024 Matters of Interest and/or from GNSO Council Apr 2024 Meeting Records.

1. Consent Agenda

Council resolved to adopt its Review of the GAC ICANN79 Communiqué
Council resolved to adopt the updated Small Team Guidance Document
Council confirmed the Standing Predictability Implementation Review Team (SPIRT) Charter Drafting Team Leadership (Chair - Nitan Walia; Vice-chair - Alan Greenberg; GNSO Council liaison - Anne Aikman-Scalese)

2. Diacritics in Latin Script

Council had deferred for several months (since ICANN78 in Hamburg) on discussing a way forward to address the challenge affecting future applied-for strings in the Latin script containing diacritics that may be confusingly similar to ASCII strings and which are non-variants 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.
GNSO support staff suggested that a solution could be incorporated through Council's deliberation of the Subsequent Procedures Supplemental Recommendations on Topic 24 String Similarity, and accordingly suggested that Council withhold those supplemental recommendations 24A, 24B and 24C for further work, instead of considering their approval and onward submission to the ICANN Board.
Council was also given a short briefing by Sarmad Hussain on the process and work of the (now disbanded) Latin Generation Panel (Latin GP) which resulted in the Latin Label General Rules (Latin LGR) that deemed strings in the Latin script containing diacritics and their ASCII "equivalents" as non-variants.
- As an eg, due to the application of the Latin LGR in the Root Zone Label Generation Rule (RZ-LGR) as the authoritative source for determining the variants of a string, .québec (with diacritic) is not a variant of the already delegated .quebec (without diacritic), resulting in the likelihood that the existing registry operator of .quebec (or any other party) would not succeed in obtaining .québec due to the 2 strings being found confusingly similar.
- The current New gTLD 'rules' dictate that an application for any string that are found to be confusingly similar to an existing gTLD would be disallowed, while an application for an applied-for string that is found to be confusingly similar with another one or more applied-for strings would result in the strings being placed in a contention set.
After much discussion, Council concluded that GNSO support staff's suggested way forward is neither feasible nor desirable, because:
- The Topic 24 String Similarity recommendations only deal with singular/plurals and ought not be willfully expanded to resolve the diacritics challenge, i.e. Council should not shoehorn its Topic 24 supplemental recommendations to accommodate the diacritics challenge;
- Resolving the diacritic challenge should undergo a proper policy development process per the GNSO's operating procedures; and
- Resolving the diacritic challenge should not present as a condition to the implementation of the Next Round.
As a result, Council reverted to requesting GNSO support staff to prepare a study request that could be utilised as a foundation to an Issues Report for initiating an EPDP should Council decide so at a later date.

3. Singular/Plural gTLDs & String Similarity

ICANN Org's Lars Hoffman (who is the lead for the Subsequent Procedures Implementation Review Team (SubPro IRT)) informed Council that ICANN org had been requested by the ICANN Board to propose an effective way to implement the intent of Supplemental Recommendations 24A, 24B, 24C with regards to singular/plurals without the added complications that Supplemental Recommendations 24A, 24B, 24C appear to carry, bearing in mind that the Board SubPro Caucus co-chairs had earlier indicated that the ICANN Board may still decline to adopt Supplemental Recommendations 24A, 24B, 24C because of the complications the Board members see.
Council was amenable to consider Lars' proposition in-principle, subject to details being fleshed out further.
On these bases, Council opted to remove Supplemental Recommendations 24A, 24B, 24C from the slate of Supplemental Recommendations which its SubPro Small Team Plus had produced and which had gone through community consultations, most recently at ICANN79.
However, Council had yet to decide as to who would consider/discuss Lars' proposition in detail - whether it may be the SubPro Small Team (or Small Team Plus) or Council itself. There were differing views expressed by Councilors on this.

4. Subsequent Procedures Supplemental Recommendations

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id	Apr2024

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id	Show_Apr2024
label	SHOW ME

GNSO Council Meeting #4 of 2024 held on 18 Apr 2024

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id	Agenda_Apr2024Jul2024
label	AGENDA

GNSO Council Meeting #4 #7 of 2024 held on 18 Apr 2024 Jul 2024

Full Agenda | Documents | Motions

Item 1: Administrative Matters
Item 2: Opening Remarks / Review of Projects List and and Action Item List.
Item 3: Consent Agenda
- GNSO Council Review of the GAC Communiqué
- GNSO Council Small Team Guidance Document
- Confirmation of Standing Predictability Implementation Review Team (SPIRT) Charter Drafting Team Leadership (Chair - Nitan Walia; Vice-chair - Alan Greenberg; GNSO Council liaison - Anne Aikman-Scalese)
- PR Officer - Roles & Responsibilities
- Confirmation of GNSO nominees to the Pilot Holistic Review
Item 4: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - EPDP on Temporary Specification Phase 1 Urgent RequestsItem 4: COUNCIL VOTE - Deferral of Policy Status Report Request - Expiration Policies
Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Accuracy Check- Diacritics in Latin Script and Singular/Plurals
Item 6: COUNCIL VOTE - SubPro Supplemental RecommendationsDISCUSSION - GNSO Review of GAC Communiqué
Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - New gTLD Auction Proceeds Cross Community Working Group - Auction Proceeds (CCWG-AP) - Proposed Update to Recommendation 7Update from Small Team Plus on Singulars/Plurals
Item 8: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Review of Action Decision Radar- SubPro Small Team Supplemental Recommendations - Non-Adopted Recommendations
Item 9: Update on Status of Privacy and Proxy Services Accreditation ImplementationCOUNCIL UPDATE - Intellectual Property Constituency Request for Reconsideration
Item 10: ANY OTHER BUSINESSAny Other Business
- 10.1 - IPC's RFR decision and Council's subsequent letterAspirational Statement
- 10.2 - Update on ICANN80 planning and GNSO Draft schedule
- 10.3 - Replacement of Council representative to the Continuous Improvement Program Community Coordination Group (CIP-CCG)
- SPS Actions Follow-up
  - Recommendations Report
  - Public Comment Review
  - Board Readiness - Slide presentation from Kurt Pritz
  10.4 - Upcoming Sessions/Updates on the Registration Data Request System (RDRS)
  - Prep Week Session on RDRS: Wed, 29 May 2024 at 16:30 UTC
  - RDRS Standing Committee Meeting at ICANN80: Mon, 10 Jun 2024 at 10:45-12:25 (UTC +2)

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

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id	MOI_Apr2024
label	MATTERS OF INTEREST

Matters of interest to ALAC/At-Large

Item 1: Administrative Matters
- Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 15 February 2024 were posted on 02 March 2024
- Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 06 March 2024 were posted on 23 March 2024
Item 4: COUNCIL VOTE - Deferral of Policy Status Report Request - Expiration Policies
- In November 2020, given concerns about its capacity and no known issues with the policies, Council had agreed to delay the request for the Policy Status Report (PSR) for the Expiration Policies, the Expired Domain Name Deletion Policy (“EDDP”) and the Expired Registration Recovery Policy (“ERRP”) for a period of 24 months. After 24 months had passed, 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.
- Council subsequently consulted:
  - Registrars, who were asked to flag substantial issues with the policies that would warrant a near team request for policy status report and did not note any issues
  - 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.
  - 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)
- In reviewing these materials, Council determined that the EDDP and ERRP seem to have been implemented as intended and imminent policy work is not needed at this time.
- Accordingly, Council will vote to reconsider a PSR on the Expiration Policies in five years time, or earlier, if requested. (Simple majority to pass)
Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Diacritics in Latin Script and Singular/Plurals
- Several parties had raised an issue to Council’s attention with regard to the challenge affecting future applied-for strings in the Latin script containing diacritics that may be confusingly similar to ASCII strings, and are non-variants.
- 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 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.
- Separately, related to singular/plural strings, the Council was informed that the Board Caucus on SubPro has asked staff to explore possible alternative solutions that achieve the goal of the proposed Topic 24 Supplemental Recommendations. On 16 April 2024, the Council received an email that provided a high-level overview of the proposed approach that seeks to generally achieve the same outcomes that the Topic 24 Supplemental Recommendations are aiming for.
- Council will receive an update from ICANN org on the status of the research and analysis, as well as discuss the high-level overview of the singular/plural compromise.
Item 6: COUNCIL VOTE - SubPro Supplemental Recommendations
- Having dealt with the pending Subsequent Procedures recommendation, Council tasked the SubPro 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 agreed to Supplemental Recommendations on five of the six Topics, i.e. (i) Registry Voluntary Commitments / Public Interest Commitments, (ii) Applicant Support, (iii) Terms and Conditions, (iv) String Similarity Evaluations, and (v) 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 the 6th Topic 22: Registrant Protections.
- On 1 April, an “Explainer” document was shared with the Council that consolidates all of the Supplemental Recommendations and provides a brief explanation for each of them.
- Council will vote on the SubPro Supplemental Recommendations developed by the Small Team Plus.
Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - New gTLD Auction Proceeds Cross Community Working Group - Auction Proceeds (CCWG-AP) - Proposed Update to Recommendation 7
- The CCWG-AP’s Recommendation 7 sets out limitations on the use of ICANN accountability mechanisms (namely, the Independent Review Process, IRP, and Reconsideration process) to challenge decisions made on individual applications within the Grant Program. The CCWG-AP offered this recommendation to minimize use of the proceeds for purposes other than grants, such as administrative costs or legal fees. The Board has noted it continues to support the CCWG-AP’s goal in making this recommendation.
- Recommendation 7 currently provides, “Existing ICANN accountability mechanisms such as IRP or other appeal mechanisms cannot be used to challenge a decision from the Independent Project Applications Evaluation Panel to approve or not approve an application. Applicants not selected should receive further details about where information can be found about the next round of applications as well as any educational materials that may be available to assist applicants. The CCWG recognizes that there will need to be an amendment to the Fundamental Bylaws to eliminate the opportunity to use the Request for Reconsideration and Independent Review Panel to challenge grant decisions.” (emphasis added)
- In its 2 March 2024 letter, the Board notes it “has been considering whether there are further ways to meet the community’s broader intention with Recommendation 7. If the phrase ‘from the Independent Project Applications Panel’ is removed from Recommendation 7, many of the Board’s concerns that supported the October 2023 action would be addressed. The Board also notes that removal of that phrase would support what it has always understood to be the intention of the CCWG-AP in making Recommendation 7 - to preserve the auction proceeds for funding projects, not challenges. Therefore, the Board asks for the Chartering Organizations’ support in considering an update to the recommendation. Specifically, the Board asks for each Chartering Organization to the CCWG-AP to approve an update to Recommendation 7 that would remove the phrase ‘from the Independent Project Applications Evaluation Panel’ from the text of the recommendation. If the Chartering Organizations approve this update, the Board believes that there is a path to full implementation of the CCWG-AP’s Recommendation 7, including the ability to apply the restriction to third parties.”
- The Board is asking for feedback by 17 May 2024. Council will consider this requested amendment to Recommendation 7 separately from the public comment on the Proposed Bylaws Updates to Limit Access to Accountability Mechanisms
Item 9: Update on Status of Privacy and Proxy Services Accreditation Implementation
- The Privacy and Proxy Services Accreditation Issues PDP achieved full consensus on its recommendations and delivered its Final Report on 8 December 2015, with subsequent Council adoption of the Final Report on 21 January 2016. On 9 August 2016, the ICANN Board adopted all recommendations of the PPSAI PDP, directing ICANN org to begin implementation. After some initial preparatory work, the Implementation Review Team (IRT) first met on 18 October 2016.
- Subsequently, as a result of potential conflicts and/or overlap of work between the PPSAI IRT and GDPR-related work, especially the EPDP on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data, ICANN org, in its letter to the GNSO Council, proposed to delay the implementation of PPSAI until the EPDP completes.
- In its 4 March 2019 letter to GNSO Council leadership, ICANN org posed the following question to the GNSO Council, “whether ICANN org should continue to delay public comment and implementation of PPSAI or take additional steps pending completion of the EPDP in consultation with the PPSAI Implementation Review Team (IRT).” GNSO Council Leadership responded, “given the divergent views among Councilors and considering the respective roles of ICANN Org in leading implementation work of consensus policy recommendations and the PPSAI IRT in overseeing the implementation work, the GNSO Council considers it appropriate to defer the decision on this issue to ICANN org and the PPSAI IRT, taking into account the various views of the SOs and ACs.”
- On 2 March 2021, ICANN org delivered the Wave 1.5 Report to the GNSO Council, which included a detailed analysis of the extent to which the EPDP Phase 1 recommendations may require modification to the PPSAI and Translation & Transliteration policies, which are in the policy implementation phase. Following review of the Wave 1.5 Report, the Council observed the following in its 1 July 2021 letter:On 2 March 2021, ICANN org delivered the Wave 1.5 Report to the GNSO Council, which included a detailed analysis of the extent to which the EPDP Phase 1 recommendations may require modification to the PPSAI and Translation & Transliteration policies, which are in the policy implementation phase. Following review of the Wave 1.5 Report, the Council observed the following in its 1 July 2021 letter:
  - The decision to pause the implementation of the PPSAI and Translation & Transliteration policy recommendations was a decision that was made by ICANN org, not the GNSO Council. As such, the Council is of the view that a decision to restart the implementation activities is not within the remit of the GNSO Council but for ICANN org to make. The Council would also like to point to its letter of February 2019 in which it also concluded that “considering the respective roles of ICANN Org in leading implementation work of consensus policy recommendations and the PPSAI IRT in overseeing the implementation work, the GNSO Council considers it appropriate to defer the decision on this issue to ICANN org and the PPSAI IRT, taking into account the various views of the SOs and ACs”.
  - Should any policy issues arise during the implementation of these policy recommendations, there are processes and procedures that allow the Council to further consider these, but the Council is of the view that the respective Implementation Review Teams (IRTs) will be best placed to identify such possible issues.
  - The Council would also like to point to the letter that was sent to the Council in September 2019 in which it was noted that “following the completion of relevant EPDP work, ICANN org will reassess the existing draft PP materials in consultation with the PPSAI IRT and determine how to proceed with implementation of the Privacy and Proxy Services Accreditation Program”. From a Council’s perspective this still seems a relevant and timely next step.
- Council will receive an update on the recent meeting of the PPSAI IRT.
Item 10: ANY OTHER BUSINESS
- 10.3 - Upcoming Sessions/Updates on the Registration Data Request System (RDRS)

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id	MeetDeets_Apr2024
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GNSO Council Meeting #4 of 2024 held on 18 Apr 2024 at 21:00 UTC: https://tinyurl.com/2xcnuymd

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: Zoom link

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

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id	Meet_Apr2024
label	MEETING RECORD

Records of 18 Apr 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

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id	SumRep_Apr2024
label	REPORT

Jul2024
label	MATTERS OF INTEREST

Matters of interest to ALAC/At-Large

Item 1: Administrative Matters
- Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 16 May 2024 were posted on 01 June 2024.
- Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 12 June 2024 were posted on 01 July 2024.
Item 4: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - EPDP on Temporary Specification Phase 1 Urgent Requests
- On 18 May 2019, the ICANN Board adopted the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data to enable contracted parties to continue to comply with existing ICANN contractual requirements and community-developed policies as they relate to registration directory services. GNSO Council initiated a one-year policy development process to confirm whether or not the Temporary Specification should become a consensus policy, and whether it provided an enduring framework for complying with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
- The EPDP Team sent its Phase 1 Final Report to Council on 20 February 2019, and Council voted to approve the Final Report on 4 March 2019. The Board subsequently adopted the Phase 1 Final Report on 15 May 2019, with the exception of Recommendation 1, Purpose 2, and Recommendation 12, which the Board did not adopt in full. The Board directed the ICANN President and CEO or their designee(s) to implement the policy recommendations.
- ICANN org convened an Implementation Review Team, which began meeting in May 2019. ICANN org published the draft Registration Data Policy for public comment on 24 August 2022. Several commenters expressed dissatisfaction with the implementation of Recommendation 18, specifically around the issue of the response timeline for urgent requests. The relevant portion of Recommendation 18 reads, “A separate timeline of [less than X business days] will considered [sic] for the response to ‘Urgent’ Reasonable Disclosure Requests, those Requests for which evidence is supplied to show an immediate need for disclosure [time frame to be finalized and criteria set for Urgent requests during implementation].”
- Following the public comment period and subsequent discussion by the Implementation Review Team, the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) wrote to the Board about the topic of urgent requests on 23 August 2023. The Registrar Stakeholder Group wrote to the Board on 8 September 2023 in response to the GAC’s letter.
- Following the receipt of these letters and further communication amongst Board members, the Board sent a letter to the GNSO Council on 3 June 2024, expressing its concerns with the text of Recommendation 18 related to urgent requests.
- Council will discuss the concerns raised in the Board’s letter and discuss next steps in light of the concerns.
Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Accuracy Check-in
- The Registration Data Accuracy (RDA) Scoping Team was initiated by Council in July 2021 per the formation instructions. The Scoping Team was tasked with considering a number of accuracy-related factors such as the current enforcement, reporting, measurement, and overall effectiveness of accuracy-related efforts before making a recommendation to Council on whether any changes are recommended to improve accuracy levels, and, if so, how and by whom these changes would need to be developed (for example, if changes to existing contractual requirements are recommended, a PDP or contractual negotiations may be necessary to effect a change).
- 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. During this meeting, Council agreed to check in on the progress of these items during its June 2024 meeting.
- Following the ICANN80 GNSO Council Wrap-Up, 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?
- Council will discuss the above questions and determine next steps.
Item 7: 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 the 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 an update from the Small Team Plus on Singulars/Plurals
Item 8: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - SubPro Small Team Supplemental Recommendations - Non-Adopted Recommendations
- As mentioned above, the ICANN Board had not adopted recommendations across six topics from the new gTLD Subsequent Procedures PDP (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)).
- At Council's direction, the Small Team Plus developed Supplemental Recommendations for five topics and shared them with Council and on 18 April 2024, Council voted to approve these Supplemental Recommendations for the non-adopted SubPro recommendations. The Small Team Plus determined it was unnecessary to develop a Supplemental Recommendation for Topic 22: Registrant Protections.
- On 8 June 2024, the ICANN Board adopted the following scorecard, wherein it approved the Supplemental Recommendations related to Topic 17: Applicant Support and Topic 32: Limited Challenge/Appeal Mechanism. The Board did not adopt the Supplemental Recommendation 9.2 related to Topic 9: Registry Voluntary Commitments / Public Interest Commitments and Supplemental Recommendations 18.1 and 18.3 related to Topic 18: Terms & Conditions.
- Council will discuss whether any further actions should be pursued for any of the non-adopted Supplemental Recommendations.
Item 9: 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.

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id	MeetDeets_Jul2024
label	MEETING DETAILS

GNSO Council Meeting #7 of 2024 held on 18 Jul 2024 at 13:00 UTC: https://tinyurl.com/mud7kn9k

06:00 Los Angeles; 09:00 Washington DC; 14:00 London; 15:00 Paris; 16:00 Moscow; 23:00 Melbourne

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.

Card

id	Meet_Jul2024
label	MEETING RECORD

Records of 18 Jul 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

Card

id	SumRep_Jul2024
label	REPORT

Special Summary Report of 18 Jul 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 Jul 2024 Matters of Interest and/or from GNSO Council Jul 2024 Meeting Records.

1. Consent Agenda

GNSO PR Officer - Roles & Responsibilities has been adopted by Council and will be added to GNSO Procedures page. BC's Lawrence Olawale-Robertsvolunteered and was appointed to this role.
Confirmation of GNSO nominees to the Pilot Holistic Review (PRH).
- Council confirms its Standing Selection Committee’s selection of 7 GNSO nominees out of 19 candidates for the PHR Team in order of rank:
  1. Anil Jain (AP)
  2. Sophie Hey (EU)
  3. Tony Holmes (EU)
  4. Akinmoyeje Benjamin (AF)
  5. Julf (Johan) Helsingius (EU)
  6. Caleb Ogundele (NA), and
  7. Marie Pattullo (EU); and
  8. With Hector Ariel Manoff to be considered an alternate nominee if any of the 7 nominees cannot serve in that role.

2. EPDP on Temporary Specification Phase 1 Urgent Requests

The present concern is limited to the issue of urgent requests, stemming from Recommendation 18 of the Expedited Policy Development Process on Temporary Specifications' Phase 1 Final Report which has been adopted by the ICANN Board on 15 May 2019, and which had gone onwards for implementation by ICANN org through an Implementation Review Team (IRT).
- Rec 18 reads, "A separate timeline of [less than X business days] will considered [sic] for the response to ‘Urgent’ Reasonable Disclosure Requests, those Requests for which evidence is supplied to show an immediate need for disclosure [time frame to be finalized and criteria set for Urgent requests during implementation].
Following the public comment period and subsequent discussion by the IRT, the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) wrote to the Board about the topic of urgent requests on 23 August 2023. The Registrar Stakeholder Group wrote to the Board on 8 September 2023 in response to the GAC’s letter. Following the receipt of these letters and further communication amongst Board members, the Board sent a letter to the GNSO Council on 3 June 2024, expressing its concerns with the text of Rec 18 related to urgent requests, citing the following concerns and issues, and concluding that Rec 18 was not fit for purpose and must be revisited.
1. To the extent that law enforcement needs registration data to respond to situations that pose an imminent threat to life, serious bodily harm, infrastructure, or child exploitation, the proposed timeline - whether one, two, or three business days - does not appear to be fit for purpose. To respond to truly imminent threats, a much shorter response timeline, i.e., minutes or hours rather than days, would seem to be more appropriate.
2. At the same time, applicable law, regulation, and reasonable registrar policies will often require registrars to authenticate self-identified emergency responders and confirm the purpose(s) for which registrant data is sought prior to disclosing personal data. Even where not required by law or regulation, authentication will often be appropriate under globally accepted principles of fair information processing to protect the rights and freedoms of data subjects.
3. Absent some authoritative, legally sufficient cross-border system for validating law enforcement/emergency responders, registrars will require time - almost certainly measured in business days rather than hours or minutes - to authenticate the source of urgent requests.
4. To the best of the Board's knowledge, such an authoritative, legally sufficient cross-border system for authenticating emergency responders/law enforcement globally is not available to ICANN.
5. In addition to the fact that the creation, operation, and maintenance of a legally sufficient authentication system would consume significant human and financial resources, such a mechanism cannot be created, operated, and/or maintained without the material, ongoing assistance of law enforcement, first responders, and governments.
Absent Bylaws provision and existing procedures account for "un-adopting" Board-adopted policy recommendations to address a situation where the Board concludes that a policy recommendation that it has previously approved should be revisited prior to implementation, the Board now refers the issue back to Council.
Council considered several options in determining whether there is Council agreement to the Board's concerns and if so, what should Council do:
1. Allow GAC and its Public Safety Working Group (PSGW) to provide a potential solution for an appropriate authentication measure;
2. Just consider that Rec 18 has been implemented and move on since the IRT has considered a timeline but was unable to reach consensus on it;
3. Support a new policy effort, such as a PDP or EPDP;
4. Somehow reconsider this Rec 18, noting there is not an established mechanism to "un-adopted" a recommendation that has been adopted by the Board.
Council leadership received a lot of input from Councilors and will consider next steps noting that more effort is required and that it should likely be the Board requesting for this.

3. Registration Data Accuracy

This is another long standing issue which has resulted in the Registration Data Accuracy (RDA) Scoping Team that initiated by Council in July 2021, being suspended for a number of rolling six-month periods now.
Background:
- Per its formation instructions, the RDA Scoping Team was tasked with considering a number of accuracy-related factors such as the current enforcement, reporting, measurement, and overall effectiveness of accuracy-related efforts before making a recommendation to Council on whether any changes are recommended to improve accuracy levels, and, if so, how and by whom these changes would need to be developed (for example, if changes to existing contractual requirements are recommended, a PDP or contractual negotiations may be necessary to effect a change).
- The Scoping Team had 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. During this meeting, Council agreed to check in on the progress of these items during its June 2024 meeting.
In basic terms, the delay stems from a lack of available data (legally permissible data due to GDPR legal basis principle and contractual limitations) by which to assess accuracy and determine the issues that may be suited for policy development.
Council leadership sought input on a couple of alternatives:
1. As proposed by ICANN org staff, to look at historical audit data concerning the verification and validation processes currently in the RAA;
2. To engage with Contracted Parties on ccTLD practices to see if their verification practices may inform the work of the RDA Scoping Team;
3. Given there is an outstanding question on the definition of "accuracy" within the Scoping Team, would there be value in restarting the RDA Scoping Team at this time?
RrSG Councilor Prudence Malinki spoke to RrSG approach to registration data accuracy, highlighting there is no conclusive evidence that there is wide inaccuracies in registration data or that it would lead to a difference in combating DNS abuse, and the RrSG practice in regards to accuracy of data registration also involves issue of what ID document should be relied upon to verify registrant data, training of registrar staff on verification processes/documents, definition of "accuracy" of registration data, all of which contribute to the complexity of this topic as well as an inability to understand what concrete steps would be needed by the RDA Scoping Team if it were to be restarted now.
IPC Councilor Damon Ashcraft and RrSG Council Kurt Pritz also commented that more work, hopefully from all groups in GNSO, needs to be done prior to considering restarting the RDA Scoping Team.
Council concluded that this topic should stay on Council's agenda and be revisited in its next meeting to check on progress.

4. SubPro Small Team Plus: Policy development on Singulars/Plurals of the Same Word in the Same Language as TLDs

This an ongoing discussion at the GNSO Subsequent Procedures Small Team Plus, which I have been reporting on and discussing extensively at CPWG (see CPWG 15 May 2024, 22 May 2024, 10 Jul 2024 and 17 Jul 2024)
Background:
- 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 the 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.
NCA Councilor Paul McGrady, Small Team Plus lead, reported that there is some agreement on the ICANN org strawperson around the public crowdsourcing in reporting incidences singular/plurals of the same word in the same language being applied for (regardless of if there is an existing TLD which is impacted) but that the small team plus has not yet been able to agree on an exceptions process.
- By "exceptions process", we mean could an applicant whose applied-for string that has been caught in such a singular/plural report be able to explain how its string would not lead to consumer/end user confusion - as against an existing TLD or another applied-for singular/plural string - if it were allowed to delegated, and if so, how (ie what criteria could be used, new process, vs existing process).
- Noting that such an exceptions process must not rely on 'intent of use' (an approach which the Board has rejected) but could rely on other grounds, such as registrant restrictions, so long as if any Registry Voluntary Commitments (RVCs) were involved then these RVCs must be enforceable under the ICANN Bylaws and as a practicable matter.
- And it being unclear as to how much time the small team plus would be given to resolve its differences. in order not to impact the launch of the Next Round of New gTLDs.
Council concluded that the small team plus should continue its work and report back at Council's August 2024 meeting.

Action by ALAC Liaison

- Justine Chew to continue to update ALAC/CPWG on the progress of the Singular/Plurals issue.

5. SubPro Small Team Supplemental Recommendations - Non-Adopted Recommendations

Background:
- As mentioned above, the ICANN Board had not adopted recommendations across six topics from the new gTLD Subsequent Procedures PDP (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)).
- At Council's direction, the Small Team Plus developed Supplemental Recommendations for five topics and shared them with Council and on 18 April 2024, Council voted to approve these Supplemental Recommendations for the non-adopted SubPro recommendations. The Small Team Plus determined it was unnecessary to develop a Supplemental Recommendation for Topic 22: Registrant Protections.
- On 8 June 2024, the ICANN Board adopted the following scorecard, wherein it approved the Supplemental Recommendations related to Topic 17: Applicant Support and Topic 32: Limited Challenge/Appeal Mechanism. The Board did not adopt the Supplemental Recommendations related to Topic 9: Registry Voluntary Commitments / Public Interest Commitments and Topic 18: Terms & Conditions.
Council has concluded that no further action is needed on the Board's decision on Supplemental Recommendations 9.2, 18.1 and 18.3 since the Board is clearly unmoved by Council's attempt to clarify those recommendations.

6. Intellectual Property Constituency Request for Reconsideration

This item was deferred to Council's next meeting as some follow-up work is pending with Council leadership.

7. Recommendations Report & Public Comment Review

These are 2 items arising from the last GNSO Council Strategic Planning Session (SPS) of Jan 2024.
Regarding the Recommendations Report:
- Per the ICANN Bylaws, Annex A, the Recommendations Report is a required step of the PDP. GNSO staff also shared that per Section 13 of the GNSO Operating Procedures, the format is essentially a shared responsibility between the GNSO Council and the ICANN Board and that if changes are needed, the two parties should work together collaboratively.
- One of the concerns raised in recent discussions is speculation that the Board may consider the Recommendations Report as a substitute for the Final Report. After looking into this issue with ICANN staff, Council leadership has not identified an instance in which this has occurred.
- Another concern raised is that the Recommendations Report, which is sent at least one month after recommendations from an PDP/EPDP are approved by the Council, creates unnecessary delays. Council leadership understands that the Recommendations Report is managed concurrently with the Bylaws-mandated public comment period; since the duration of the public comment period is longer than the Recommendations Report process, it’s not clear that the Recommendations Report alone is creating delays.
- Given Council leadership input to the concerns above, Councilors have been asked if any serious concerns remain by 15 August, failing which, the intention is to consider these SPS action items as completed.
Regarding the Public Comment Review:
- GNSO staff did not identify significant process gaps or the need for additional mechanisms. From the Council leadership perspective, the existing PDP public comment review process appears robust and fit for purpose.

8. Board Readiness to GNSO Policy Recommendations

This is another item arising from the last GNSO Council SPS.
Background:
- What does it mean for policy recommendations to be Board ready?
  - The recommendation is likely to achieve board adoption, i.e. the recommendation has been approved by a GNSO Supermajority Vote and will most likely be considered by the Board to be in the best interests of ICANN Community and ICANN org.
- GNSO staff collated points discussed by Council in June 2024.
- RrSG Councilor Kurt Pritz presented some ideas on how to proceed, and factors to be considered.

Action by ALAC Liaison

- Justine Chew has joined the Council Small Team on Board Readiness; to consider what and when to update ALAC/CPWG on the progress of this small team.

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	A-24-06
	A-24-06

24-06 GNSO COUNCIL MEETING #6 (AT ICANN 80, JUN 2024) (go up to Directory)

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id	Jun2024

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id	Show_Jun2024
label	SHOW ME

GNSO Council Meeting #6 of 2024 held on 12 June 2024

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id	Agenda_Jun2024
label	AGENDA

GNSO Council Meeting #6 of 2024 held on 12 Jun 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 Council Aspirational Statement (WITHDRAWN)
Item 4: COUNCIL VOTE - Request for Policy Status Report - Expiration Policies
Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Accuracy Check-in
Item 6: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Standing Predictability Implementation Review Team (“SPIRT”) Draft Charter
Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - ICANN org Implementation Update - Second-Level International Governmental Organizations (IGO) Protections
Item 8: COUNCIL UPDATE - Update on the Internet Governance Forum Support Association (“IGFSA”)
Item 9: COUNCIL DISCUSSION: Updated Work from Council Strategic Planning Session (“SPS”)
Item 10: Any Other Business
- 10.1 - ccNSO Liaison update (tentative)
  - Joint Meeting: ccNSO & GNSO Councils on 11 July 2024
- 10.2 - PPSAI Call for Volunteers
- 10.3 - Open Mic

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

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id	MOI_Jun2024
label	MATTERS OF INTEREST

Matters of interest to ALAC/At-Large (updated on 14 May)

Item 1: Administrative Matters
- Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 18 April 2024 were posted on 03 May 2024.
- Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 16 May 2024 were posted on 01 June 2024.
Item 4: COUNCIL VOTE - Request for Policy Status Report - 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.
- Before voting whether to further defer the request, Council agreed that it would be helpful to consult with both registrars and ICANN org to assist in determining whether there are any known issues or concerns with either of the two Expiration Policies which could warrant requesting a PSR.
- During its 16 May 2024 meeting, Council discussed the option of adding the PSR request to ICANN org’s queue of work instead of deferring the request for two years, noting the PSR analysis should be completed but not as an urgent priority.
- Council will vote to request ICANN org to deliver a PSR in one (1) year or to confirm that work on the PSR has begun and deliver an updated estimate on when the PSR should be delivered, in one (1) year. (voting threshold: simple majority)
Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Accuracy Check-in
- The Registration Data Accuracy (RDA) Scoping Team was initiated by Council in July 2021 per the formation instructions. The Scoping Team was tasked with considering a number of accuracy-related factors such as the current enforcement, reporting, measurement, and overall effectiveness of accuracy-related efforts before making a recommendation to Council on whether any changes are recommended to improve accuracy levels, and, if so, how and by whom these changes would need to be developed (for example, if changes to existing contractual requirements are recommended, a PDP or contractual negotiations may be necessary to effect a change).
- 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. During this meeting, Council agreed to check in on the progress of these items during its June 2024 meeting.
- Council will discuss the status of accuracy discussions and consider ICANN org’s proposed next steps for addressing the charter topics and informing further community discussions, factoring in the legal as well as resource limitations that exist. Specifically, ICANN org suggested (1) providing historical data via ICANN’s existing audit program and (2) engaging with contracted parties on current European ccTLD identity verification practices.
Item 6: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Standing Predictability Implementation Review Team (“SPIRT”) Draft 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 gTLD Subsequent Procedures Final Report.
- When relevant issues arise during the course of the New gTLD Program that may need to be addressed, the Standing Predictability Implementation Review Team (“SPIRT”) will utilize the Predictability Framework. The GNSO Council shall be responsible for oversight of the SPIRT.
- In developing the draft charter, the Drafting Team considered elements such as the composition of the SPIRT, how issues are raised to the SPIRT procedurally, 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.
- Council will receive a presentation on the draft charter from its liaison to the Charter Drafting Team.
Item 8: COUNCIL UPDATE - Update on the Internet Governance Forum Support Association (“IGFSA”)
- The Internet Governance Forum Support Association is an independent membership association established in September 2014 to support the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and to provide financial and other support for National and Regional IGFs (NRIs) around the world.
- The IGFSA will provide an overview of its mission and recent work to Council.

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id	MeetDeets_Jun2024
label	MEETING DETAILS

GNSO Council Meeting #6 of 2024 held on 12 Jun 2024 at 11:45 UTC: https://tinyurl.com/yeykc7fm

04:45 Los Angeles; 07:45 Washington DC; 12:45 London; 13:45 Paris; 14:45 Moscow; 21:45 Melbourne

GNSO Council Meeting Remote Participation: refer to ICANN80 Schedule - Zoom link to be shared 24 hours in advance

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

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id	Meet_Jun2024
label	MEETING RECORD

Records of 12 Jun 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

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id	SumRep_Jun2024
label	REPORT

Special Summary Report of 12 Jun 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 Jun 2024 Matters of Interest and/or from GNSO Council Jun 2024 Meeting Records.

1. Consent Agenda

The agenda item (along with a vote) on the GNSO Council Aspirational Statement was withdrawn.

2. Registration Data Accuracy

The Registration Data Accuracy (RDA) Scoping Team was initiated by Council in July 2021 per the formation instructions. The Scoping Team was tasked with considering a number of accuracy-related factors such as the current enforcement, reporting, measurement, and overall effectiveness of accuracy-related efforts before making a recommendation to Council on whether any changes are recommended to improve accuracy levels, and, if so, how and by whom these changes would need to be developed (for example, if changes to existing contractual requirements are recommended, a PDP or contractual negotiations may be necessary to effect a change).
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. During this meeting, Council agreed to check in on the progress of these items during its June 2024 meeting.
Council considered the status of accuracy discussions and the need to better inform the ICANN community, especially the GAC, on the factors around the legal as well as resource limitations that are holding Council from future action.
Councill will revisit action needed in the short term.

3. Standing Predictability Implementation Review Team (“SPIRT”) Draft Charter

The formation of the Standing Predictability Implementation Review Team (SPIRT, pronounced as 'SPIRIT') is the result of Recommendation 2.1 of the New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Final Report, a recommendation that the Board has since adopted.
The role of the SPIRT is to serve as the body responsible for reviewing potential issues which may arise during the course of the New gTLD Program (Next Round and beyond) application and evaluation processes AFTER the next Applicant Guidebook (AGB) has been approved by the Board, by conducting analysis utilizing the Predictability Framework, and to recommend the process/mechanism that should be followed to address those issues. The Predictability Framework is found in Annex E of the New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Final Report and it provides detailed guidance on how the SPIRT should operate.
Council received a presentation on the draft charter from its liaison to the Charter Drafting Team which touched on several key aspects being discussed by the Drafting Team working group: composition of the SPIRT, how issues are raised to the SPIRT procedurally, the operating principles and decision-making of the SPIRT, etc, while considering the Predictability Framework.
Work continues at the Drafting Team working group level.

4. Deferral of Policy Status Report Request - Expiration Policies

Council had 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, 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 the request of IPC, 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 had wanted a bit more time to shore up its representation on this issue.
After much deliberation, Council has now resolved to request ICANN org to deliver a PSR in one (1) year or to confirm that work on the PSR has begun and deliver an updated estimate on when the PSR should be delivered, in one (1) year.

5. Internet Governance Forum Support Association (“IGFSA”)

Council received a presentation on the mission and work of the Internet Governance Forum Support Association which is an independent membership association established in September 2014 to support the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and to provide financial and other support for National and Regional IGFs (NRIs) around the world.
This is an outreach by the IGFSA, asking for Councilors to help create awareness of IGFSA to garner support for its activities and to grow IGFSA's organisational and individual membership.
Note: The At-Large will receive a similar outreach presentation at the ICANN80 At-Large Leadership Wrap Up Session.

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	A-24-05
	A-24-05

24-05 GNSO COUNCIL MEETING #5 (MAY 2024) (go up to Directory)

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id	May2024

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id	Show_May2024
label	SHOW ME

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

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id	Agenda_May2024
label	AGENDA

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

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id	MOI_May2024
label	MATTERS OF INTEREST

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

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id	MeetDeets_May2024
label	MEETING DETAILS

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.

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id	Meet_May2024
label	MEETING RECORD

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

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id	SumRep_May2024
label	REPORT

Special Summary Report of 16 May 2024 Meeting to ALAC

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 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.

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	A-24-04
	A-24-04

24-04 GNSO COUNCIL MEETING #4 (APR 2024) (go up to Directory)

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id	Apr2024

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id	Show_Apr2024
label	SHOW ME

GNSO Council Meeting #4 of 2024 held on 18 Apr 2024

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id	Agenda_Apr2024
label	AGENDA

GNSO Council Meeting #4 of 2024 held on 18 Apr 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 Council Review of the GAC Communiqué
- GNSO Council Small Team Guidance Document
- Confirmation of Standing Predictability Implementation Review Team (SPIRT) Charter Drafting Team Leadership (Chair - Nitan Walia; Vice-chair - Alan Greenberg; GNSO Council liaison - Anne Aikman-Scalese)
Item 4: COUNCIL VOTE - Deferral of Policy Status Report Request - Expiration Policies
Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Diacritics in Latin Script and Singular/Plurals
Item 6: COUNCIL VOTE - SubPro Supplemental Recommendations
Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - New gTLD Auction Proceeds Cross Community Working Group - Auction Proceeds (CCWG-AP) - Proposed Update to Recommendation 7
Item 8: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Review of Action Decision Radar
Item 9: Update on Status of Privacy and Proxy Services Accreditation Implementation
Item 10: ANY OTHER BUSINESS
- 10.1 - IPC’s RFR decision and Council’s subsequent letter
- 10.2 - Update on ICANN80 planning and GNSO Draft schedule
- 10.3 - Replacement of Council representative to the Continuous Improvement Program Community Coordination Group (CIP-CCG)
- 10.4 - Upcoming Sessions/Updates on the Registration Data Request System (RDRS)
  - Prep Week Session on RDRS: Wed, 29 May 2024 at 16:30 UTC
  - RDRS Standing Committee Meeting at ICANN80: Mon, 10 Jun 2024 at 10:45-12:25 (UTC +2)

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

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id	MOI_Apr2024
label	MATTERS OF INTEREST

Matters of interest to ALAC/At-Large

Item 1: Administrative Matters
- Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 15 February 2024 were posted on 02 March 2024
- Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 06 March 2024 were posted on 23 March 2024
Item 4: COUNCIL VOTE - Deferral of Policy Status Report Request - Expiration Policies (DEFERRED TO MAY 2024)
- In November 2020, given concerns about its capacity and no known issues with the policies, Council had agreed to delay the request for the Policy Status Report (PSR) for the Expiration Policies, the Expired Domain Name Deletion Policy (“EDDP”) and the Expired Registration Recovery Policy (“ERRP”) for a period of 24 months. After 24 months had passed, 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.
- Council subsequently consulted:
  - Registrars, who were asked to flag substantial issues with the policies that would warrant a near team request for policy status report and did not note any issues
  - 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.
  - 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)
- In reviewing the materials, Council determined that the EDDP and ERRP seem to have been implemented as intended and imminent policy work is not needed at this time.
- Accordingly, Council will vote to reconsider a PSR on the Expiration Policies in five years time, or earlier, if requested. (Simple majority to pass)
Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Diacritics in Latin Script and Singular/Plurals
- Several parties had raised an issue to Council’s attention with regard to the challenge affecting future applied-for strings in the Latin script containing diacritics that may be confusingly similar to ASCII strings, and are non-variants.
- 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 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.
- Separately, related to singular/plural strings, the Council was informed that the Board Caucus on SubPro has asked staff to explore possible alternative solutions that achieve the goal of the proposed Topic 24 Supplemental Recommendations. On 16 April 2024, the Council received an email that provided a high-level overview of the proposed approach that seeks to generally achieve the same outcomes that the Topic 24 Supplemental Recommendations are aiming for.
- Council will receive an update from ICANN org on the status of the research and analysis, as well as discuss the high-level overview of the singular/plural compromise.
Item 6: COUNCIL VOTE - SubPro Supplemental Recommendations
- Having dealt with the pending Subsequent Procedures recommendation, Council tasked the SubPro 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 agreed to Supplemental Recommendations on five of the six Topics, i.e. (i) Registry Voluntary Commitments / Public Interest Commitments, (ii) Applicant Support, (iii) Terms and Conditions, (iv) String Similarity Evaluations, and (v) 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 the 6th Topic 22: Registrant Protections.
- On 1 April, an “Explainer” document was shared with the Council that consolidates all of the Supplemental Recommendations and provides a brief explanation for each of them.
- Council will vote on the SubPro Supplemental Recommendations developed by the Small Team Plus.
Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - New gTLD Auction Proceeds Cross Community Working Group - Auction Proceeds (CCWG-AP) - Proposed Update to Recommendation 7
- The CCWG-AP’s Recommendation 7 sets out limitations on the use of ICANN accountability mechanisms (namely, the Independent Review Process, IRP, and Reconsideration process) to challenge decisions made on individual applications within the Grant Program. The CCWG-AP offered this recommendation to minimize use of the proceeds for purposes other than grants, such as administrative costs or legal fees. The Board has noted it continues to support the CCWG-AP’s goal in making this recommendation.
- Recommendation 7 currently provides, “Existing ICANN accountability mechanisms such as IRP or other appeal mechanisms cannot be used to challenge a decision from the Independent Project Applications Evaluation Panel to approve or not approve an application. Applicants not selected should receive further details about where information can be found about the next round of applications as well as any educational materials that may be available to assist applicants. The CCWG recognizes that there will need to be an amendment to the Fundamental Bylaws to eliminate the opportunity to use the Request for Reconsideration and Independent Review Panel to challenge grant decisions.” (emphasis added)
- In its 2 March 2024 letter, the Board notes it “has been considering whether there are further ways to meet the community’s broader intention with Recommendation 7. If the phrase ‘from the Independent Project Applications Panel’ is removed from Recommendation 7, many of the Board’s concerns that supported the October 2023 action would be addressed. The Board also notes that removal of that phrase would support what it has always understood to be the intention of the CCWG-AP in making Recommendation 7 - to preserve the auction proceeds for funding projects, not challenges. Therefore, the Board asks for the Chartering Organizations’ support in considering an update to the recommendation. Specifically, the Board asks for each Chartering Organization to the CCWG-AP to approve an update to Recommendation 7 that would remove the phrase ‘from the Independent Project Applications Evaluation Panel’ from the text of the recommendation. If the Chartering Organizations approve this update, the Board believes that there is a path to full implementation of the CCWG-AP’s Recommendation 7, including the ability to apply the restriction to third parties.”
- The Board is asking for feedback by 17 May 2024. Council will consider this requested amendment to Recommendation 7 separately from the public comment on the Proposed Bylaws Updates to Limit Access to Accountability Mechanisms
Item 9: Update on Status of Privacy and Proxy Services Accreditation Implementation
- The Privacy and Proxy Services Accreditation Issues PDP achieved full consensus on its recommendations and delivered its Final Report on 8 December 2015, with subsequent Council adoption of the Final Report on 21 January 2016. On 9 August 2016, the ICANN Board adopted all recommendations of the PPSAI PDP, directing ICANN org to begin implementation. After some initial preparatory work, the Implementation Review Team (IRT) first met on 18 October 2016.
- Subsequently, as a result of potential conflicts and/or overlap of work between the PPSAI IRT and GDPR-related work, especially the EPDP on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data, ICANN org, in its letter to the GNSO Council, proposed to delay the implementation of PPSAI until the EPDP completes.
- In its 4 March 2019 letter to GNSO Council leadership, ICANN org posed the following question to the GNSO Council, “whether ICANN org should continue to delay public comment and implementation of PPSAI or take additional steps pending completion of the EPDP in consultation with the PPSAI Implementation Review Team (IRT).” GNSO Council Leadership responded, “given the divergent views among Councilors and considering the respective roles of ICANN Org in leading implementation work of consensus policy recommendations and the PPSAI IRT in overseeing the implementation work, the GNSO Council considers it appropriate to defer the decision on this issue to ICANN org and the PPSAI IRT, taking into account the various views of the SOs and ACs.”
- On 2 March 2021, ICANN org delivered the Wave 1.5 Report to the GNSO Council, which included a detailed analysis of the extent to which the EPDP Phase 1 recommendations may require modification to the PPSAI and Translation & Transliteration policies, which are in the policy implementation phase. Following review of the Wave 1.5 Report, the Council observed the following in its 1 July 2021 letter:
  - The decision to pause the implementation of the PPSAI and Translation & Transliteration policy recommendations was a decision that was made by ICANN org, not the GNSO Council. As such, the Council is of the view that a decision to restart the implementation activities is not within the remit of the GNSO Council but for ICANN org to make. The Council would also like to point to its letter of February 2019 in which it also concluded that “considering the respective roles of ICANN Org in leading implementation work of consensus policy recommendations and the PPSAI IRT in overseeing the implementation work, the GNSO Council considers it appropriate to defer the decision on this issue to ICANN org and the PPSAI IRT, taking into account the various views of the SOs and ACs”.
  - Should any policy issues arise during the implementation of these policy recommendations, there are processes and procedures that allow the Council to further consider these, but the Council is of the view that the respective Implementation Review Teams (IRTs) will be best placed to identify such possible issues.
  - The Council would also like to point to the letter that was sent to the Council in September 2019 in which it was noted that “following the completion of relevant EPDP work, ICANN org will reassess the existing draft PP materials in consultation with the PPSAI IRT and determine how to proceed with implementation of the Privacy and Proxy Services Accreditation Program”. From a Council’s perspective this still seems a relevant and timely next step.
- Council will receive an update on the recent meeting of the PPSAI IRT.
Item 10: ANY OTHER BUSINESS
- 10.1 - IPC’s RFR decision and Council’s subsequent letter
- 10.4 - Upcoming Sessions/Updates on the Registration Data Request System (RDRS)
  - Prep Week Session on RDRS: Wed, 29 May 2024 at 16:30 UTC
  - RDRS Standing Committee Meeting at ICANN80: Mon, 10 Jun 2024 at 10:45-12:25 (UTC +2)

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id	MeetDeets_Apr2024
label	MEETING DETAILS

GNSO Council Meeting #4 of 2024 held on 18 Apr 2024 at 21:00 UTC: https://tinyurl.com/2xcnuymd

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: Zoom link

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

Card

id	Meet_Apr2024
label	MEETING RECORD

Records of 18 Apr 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

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id	SumRep_Apr2024
label	REPORT

Special Summary Report of 18 Apr 2024 Meeting to ALAC

1. Consent Agenda

Council resolved to adopt its Review of the GAC ICANN79 Communiqué
Council resolved to adopt the updated Small Team Guidance Document
Council confirmed the Standing Predictability Implementation Review Team (SPIRT) Charter Drafting Team Leadership (Chair - Nitan Walia; Vice-chair - Alan Greenberg; GNSO Council liaison - Anne Aikman-Scalese)

2. Diacritics in Latin Script

Council had deferred for several months (since ICANN78 in Hamburg) on discussing a way forward to address the challenge affecting future applied-for strings in the Latin script containing diacritics that may be confusingly similar to ASCII strings and which are non-variants 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.
GNSO support staff suggested that a solution could be incorporated through Council's deliberation of the Subsequent Procedures Supplemental Recommendations on Topic 24 String Similarity, and accordingly suggested that Council withhold those supplemental recommendations 24A, 24B and 24C for further work, instead of considering their approval and onward submission to the ICANN Board.
Council was also given a short briefing by Sarmad Hussain on the process and work of the (now disbanded) Latin Generation Panel (Latin GP) which resulted in the Latin Label General Rules (Latin LGR) that deemed strings in the Latin script containing diacritics and their ASCII "equivalents" as non-variants.
- As an eg, due to the application of the Latin LGR in the Root Zone Label Generation Rule (RZ-LGR) as the authoritative source for determining the variants of a string, .québec (with diacritic) is not a variant of the already delegated .quebec (without diacritic), resulting in the likelihood that the existing registry operator of .quebec (or any other party) would not succeed in obtaining .québec due to the 2 strings being found confusingly similar.
- The current New gTLD 'rules' dictate that an application for any string that are found to be confusingly similar to an existing gTLD would be disallowed, while an application for an applied-for string that is found to be confusingly similar with another one or more applied-for strings would result in the strings being placed in a contention set.
After much discussion, Council concluded that GNSO support staff's suggested way forward is neither feasible nor desirable, because:
- The Topic 24 String Similarity recommendations only deal with singular/plurals and ought not be willfully expanded to resolve the diacritics challenge, i.e. Council should not shoehorn its Topic 24 Supplemental Recommendations to accommodate the diacritics challenge;
- Resolving the diacritic challenge should undergo a proper policy development process per the GNSO's operating procedures; and
- Resolving the diacritic challenge should not present as a condition to the implementation of the Next Round.
As a result, Council reverted to requesting GNSO support staff to circulate work done on a study request that could be utilised as a foundation to an Issues Report for initiating an EPDP should Council decide so at a later date.

Action by ALAC Liaison

- Justine Chew to update ALAC/CPWG after the GNSO Council's May 2024 meeting on any direction taken with regards to resolving the Diacritics issue.

3. Singular/Plural gTLDs & String Similarity

ICANN Org's Lars Hoffman (who is the lead for the Subsequent Procedures Implementation Review Team (SubPro IRT)) informed Council that ICANN org had been requested by the ICANN Board to propose an effective way to implement what Supplemental Recommendations 24A, 24B, 24C are attempting to achieve with regards to singular/plurals while addressing the Board's subsisting concerns with the supplemental recommendation language, bearing in mind that the Board SubPro Caucus co-chairs had earlier indicated that the ICANN Board may still decline to adopt Supplemental Recommendations 24A, 24B, 24C because of already shared concerns.
- ICANN Org's proposition is to essentially remove the singular/plurals assessment out of String Similarity Review altogether and rely on an 'objection-like' approach without it becoming a formal objection process, which would still place burdens on the community to take action to prevent the singular/plurals from being approved if there was a concern.
Council was amenable to consider Lars' proposition in-principle, subject to details being fleshed out further.
On these bases, Council opted to withhold Supplemental Recommendations 24A, 24B, 24C from the slate of Supplemental Recommendations which its SubPro Small Team Plus had produced and which had gone through community consultations, most recently at ICANN79.
However, Council had yet to decide as to who would consider/discuss Lars' proposition in detail - whether it may be the SubPro Small Team (or Small Team Plus) or Council itself. There were differing views expressed by Councilors on this. Council will review this question in May 2024.

Action by ALAC Liaison

- Justine Chew to update ALAC/CPWG when GNSO Council has decided on whether and how the Supplemental Recommendations 24A, 24B and 24C on String Similarity might be reworked further based on the intervention of the Board and ICANN org.

4. Subsequent Procedures Supplemental Recommendations

Having dealt with the pending Subsequent Procedures recommendation, Council tasked the SubPro 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 agreed to Supplemental Recommendations on five of the six Topics, i.e. (i) Registry Voluntary Commitments / Public Interest Commitments, (ii) Applicant Support, (iii) Terms and Conditions, (iv) String Similarity Evaluations, and (v) 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 the 6th Topic 22: Registrant Protections.
On 1 April, an “Explainer” document was shared with Council that consolidates all of the Supplemental Recommendations and provides a brief explanation for each of them.
Following Council's deliberation on the issues of Diacritics in Latin Script (item 2 above) and Singular/Plural gTLDs & String Similarity (item 3 above) which resulted in the withholding of Supplemental Recommendations 24A, 24B, 24C, Council proceeded to unanimously vote to approve the SubPro Supplemental Recommendations for (i) Registry Voluntary Commitments / Public Interest Commitments, (ii) Applicant Support, (iii) Terms and Conditions, and (iv) Limited Challenge/Appeal Mechanisms. These will now be submitted to the ICANN Board for consideration/approval.

Action by ALAC Liaison

- Justine Chew to update ALAC/CPWG on GNSO Council's adoption of the SubPro Supplemental Recommendations for 4 topics.

5. Cross-Community Working Group on Auction Proceeds (CCWG-AP) Recommendation 7

In its 2 March 2024 letter, the Board notes it “has been considering whether there are further ways to meet the community’s broader intention with Recommendation 7. If the phrase ‘from the Independent Project Applications Panel’ is removed from Recommendation 7, many of the Board’s concerns that supported the October 2023 action would be addressed. The Board also notes that removal of that phrase would support what it has always understood to be the intention of the CCWG-AP in making Recommendation 7 - to preserve the auction proceeds for funding projects, not challenges. Therefore, the Board asks for the Chartering Organizations’ support in considering an update to the recommendation. Specifically, the Board asks for each Chartering Organization to the CCWG-AP to approve an update to Recommendation 7 that would remove the phrase ‘from the Independent Project Applications Evaluation Panel’ from the text of the recommendation. If the Chartering Organizations approve this update, the Board believes that there is a path to full implementation of the CCWG-AP’s Recommendation 7, including the ability to apply the restriction to third parties.”
Council agreed to reply to the 2 Mar letter expressing support for the Board's suggestion to remove the phrase ‘from the Independent Project Applications Evaluation Panel’ from the text of the recommendation.

6. Privacy and Proxy Services Accreditation Implementation (PPSAI)

The issue with PPSAI is it is in 'rather unique' situation in that there is a gap between when the policies were adopted but implementation was subsequently delayed, and when work is now planed to resume again, those policies may no longer be fit for purpose due to new legislation coming into effect and other factors.
Council was informed that ICANN Org has been working on an implementation plan and planning to reengage with its Implementation Review Team (PPSAI IRT) at ICANN80. A fresh call for volunteers will be issued prior to ICANN80 to constitute a refreshed PPSAI IRT with an open + rep model.
There are currently 4 "threshold questions" for the refreshed IRT's consideration:-
- Are there any policy questions or items the IRT already wants to bring to Council for guidance?
- Can an implementation model without a formal accreditation program remain consistent with policy recommendations?
- Are there specific areas to revisit under new law/policy (Org to share assessment, IRT to review)?
- Can these frameworks be aligned with existing work on RDRS, Registration Data Policy, etc and remain consistent with policy recommendations?
It was noted that this PPSAI IRT could be seen not as a conventional IRT but rather as a scoping team for issue identification based on the first question.

Action by ALAC Liaison

- Justine Chew to update ALAC/CPWG when the call for volunteers to refresh the PPSAI IRT is made.

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

IPC received a response from the Board Accountability Mechanisms Committee (BAMC) rejecting IPC's RfR on the basis that IPC was not a party harmed by theBoard's Proposed Bylaws Updates to Limit Access to Accountability Mechanisms
NOTE: While the GNSO Council did not support the Board's proposal and the ALAC did, the issue being contended here, as explained to Council by an IPC Councilor, 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.

Action by ALAC Liaison

- Justine Chew to liaise with IPC on next steps to the BAMC's rejection of IPC's RfR on the Board's Proposed Bylaws updates to limit access to Accountability Mechanisms, if so instructed by ALAC-LT/ALAC.

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	A-24-03
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24-03 GNSO COUNCIL MEETING #3 (AT ICANN 78, MAR 2024) (go up to Directory)

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id	Show_Mar2024
label	SHOW ME

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

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id	Agenda_Mar2024
label	AGENDA

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

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id	MOI_Mar2024
label	MATTERS OF INTEREST

Matters of interest to ALAC/At-Large

Item 1: Administrative Matters
- Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 18 January 2023 2024 were posted on 02 February 2024
- 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

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id	MeetDeets_Mar2024
label	MEETING DETAILS

GNSO Council Meeting #3 of 2024 held on 6 Mar 2024 at 17:15 UTC http://tinyurl.com/yc8h56uu

09:15 Los Angeles; 12:15 Washington DC; 17:15 London; 18:15 Paris; 20:15 Moscow; 04:15 Melbourne (Thursday)

Please check the ICANN79 Schedule for both in-person and remote participation details.

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

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id	Meet_Mar2024
label	MEETING RECORD

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

Card

id	SumRep_Mar2024
label	REPORT

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.

1. Consent Agenda

Council resolved to adopt the Communications Small Team Final Report.

2. DNS Abuse

GNSO - GAC Bilateral agenda, where GNSO was asked on the status of the GNSO Council Small Team on DNS Abuse. We were able to clarify that the Small Team is not wound up but merely kept in abeyance until such time that Council had access to useful data which could inform a decision on whether gaps exists and how might those gaps be addressed.

Action by ALAC Liaison

- Justine Chew to liaise with CPH on a DNS Abuse mitigation outreach opportunity with At-Large.

3. Next Round of New gTLD

Council was informed that the Council Small Team Plus on Pending Subsequent Pending (SubPro) Recommendations (Small Team Plus) had conducted its Community Consultation during ICANN79 as planned, to socialize the Small Team Plus's work on the supplemental recommendations to address the rationale provided by the ICANN Board in declining to approve/adopt 10 (original) SubPro PDP recommendations covering 6 topics.
No comment or objection was received by the Small Team Plus during that ICANN79 session, so, the Small Team Plus is now able to refer the supplemental recommendations to the Council for approval in Council's April 2024 meeting.

4. Privacy and Proxy Services Accreditation Implementation (PPSAI)

Council acknowledged that the Implementation Review Team tasked with implementation of PPSAI recommendations that were adopted by the ICANN Board back in 2016, has been reactivated.
Question was asked if any or all of those recommendations are still fit for purpose given the introduction of GDPR and other newer developments since 2016, and whether this IRT might be compelled to try and implement outdated recommendations.
The conclusion reached was that the IRT should be given the opportunity to review those recommendations and state if any one which are no longer fit for purpose, so that the right party (eg GNSO Council to take remedial steps to perhaps re-conduct a policy development process to update those recommendations).
This is an example of the need for Topic 2 in the recent Board Consultation during ICANN79 Prep Week with the Community.

5. General Operations of GNSO/GNSO Council

Council discussed and/or noted following:

Council Engagement with PDP Working Group Chairs - to retain a prep week session for this and keep improving the format to meet purpose
GNSO Program Management Tools - to review 2 times per year
GNSO Chair Election Timeline Announcement
Updated Small Team Guidelines
GNSO Council Aspirational Statement

...

Deck of Cards

id	Feb2024

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id	Show_Feb2024
label	SHOW ME

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

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id	Agenda_Feb2024
label	AGENDA

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

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id	MOI_Feb2024
label	MATTERS OF INTEREST

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

Card

id	Meet_Feb2024
label	MEETING DETAILS

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.

Card

id	Meet_Feb2024
label	MEETING RECORD

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

Card

id	SumRep_Feb2024
label	REPORT

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.

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