Please note that all documents referenced in the agenda have been gathered on a Wiki page for convenience and easier access: https://community.icann.org/x/zwOBDQ. 

This agenda was established according to the GNSO Operating Procedures v3.5, updated on 24 October 2019.

For convenience:

• An excerpt of the ICANN Bylaws defining the voting thresholds is provided in Appendix 1 at the end of this agenda.
• An excerpt from the Council Operating Procedures defining the absentee voting procedures is provided in Appendix 2 at the end of this agenda.

GNSO Council meeting on Thursday, 16 February 2023 at 05:00 UTC: ​​https://tinyurl.com/2mx8bt8t. 

(Wednesday) 21:00 Los Angeles; (Thursday) 00:00 Washington DC; 05:00 London; 06:00 Paris; 08:00 Moscow; 16:00 Melbourne 

GNSO Council Meeting Remote Participation:  https://icann.zoom.us/j/97891627902?pwd=RURCTitiNEVwd2UySEk1QkRESmlFZz09 

Councilors should notify the GNSO Secretariat in advance if they will not be able to attend and/or need a dial out call.

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Item 1: Administrative Matters (10 minutes)

1.1 - Roll Call

1.2 - Updates to Statements of Interest

1.3 - Review / Amend Agenda

1.4 - Note the status of minutes for the previous Council meetings per the GNSO Operating Procedures: 

Minutes of the GNSO Council meeting on 15 December 2022 were posted on 03 January 2023.

Minutes of the GNSO Council meeting on 19 January 2023 were posted on 02 February 2023.

Item 2: Opening Remarks / Review of Projects & Action List (0 minutes)

2.1 - Review focus areas and provide updates on specific key themes / topics, to include review of Projects List and Action Item List. 

Item 3: Consent Agenda (5 minutes) 

• Nomination of a Mentor for the ICANN Fellowship Selection Committee - Taiwo Peter Akinremi
• Motion for the Adoption of the Revised Charter for the Budget and Operations Townhall

Item 4: COUNCIL VOTE - Adoption of the Amended Charter for the Transfer Policy Review PDP and Approval of the Project Change Request (20 Minutes)

The Council initiated the two-phased Transfer Policy Review PDP in February 2021. Since it began meeting in May 2021, the WG has made steady progress on its Phase 1 charter questions, including publishing its Phase 1A Initial Report for public comment. The WG conducted preliminary deliberations on Phase 1B topics during the Phase 1A Initial Report public comment period, then reviewed public comments on the Phase 1A Initial Report, and is now completing revisions to preliminary recommendations, taking into account public comment received.

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 leadership team prepared a 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. In order to ensure that Council fully understood the potential changes prior to being asked to accept the Project Change Request (PCR), the changes and potential implications were shared with the Council and reviewed during the January meeting. Because the PDP was initially chartered in two phases, as a consequence of the PCR, the charter requires minor revisions to remove references to phases.

Here, the Council will approve the amended Charter and approve the PCR for the Transfer Policy Review PDP.

4.1 – Presentation of motion - (Osvaldo Novoa, GNSO Council Liaison, Transfer Policy Review PDP)

4.2 – Council discussion

4.3 – Council vote (voting threshold: simple majority)

Taking this action is within the GNSO’s remit as outlined in ICANN’s Bylaws as the GNSO ‘shall be responsible for developing and recommending to the Board substantive policies relating to generic top-level domains and other responsibilities of the GNSO as set forth in these Bylaws’ (Art.11.1). Furthermore, this action complies with the requirements set out in Annex A: GNSO Policy Development Process of the ICANN Bylaws.

Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Update on the Board's Consideration of the SubPro Recommendations and ODA (15 Minutes)

On 12 September 2021 the ICANN Board directed the ICANN President and CEO to organize the resources required to begin work on the Operational Design Phase (ODP) for the GNSO’s New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Final Report and the Affirmations, Recommendations, and Implementation Guidance contained in that report. On 20 December 2021, ICANN org announced that the SubPro ODP had formally launched, starting at the beginning of January 2022. The ODP Team has shared numerous updates to the community and sent several sets of assumptions/questions to the GNSO Council via the Council’s liaison to the ODP. 

While ICANN org published the SubPro Operational Design Assessment (ODA) on 12 December, the Council received a briefing during a webinar on 7 December. The Council formed a small team to review the ODA in detail and provided its input to the ICANN Board on 20 January, in advance of the Board's workshop in January 2023. As discussed in the Chair's blog, the ICANN Board spent a full day reviewing the SubPro Outputs and ODA.

Here, the Council will receive an update on the SubPro related discussions during the Board workshop and what has transpired since then.

5.1 – Introduction of topic (Becky Burr/Matthew Shears - GNSO appointees to the ICANN Board)

5.2 – Council discussion

5.3 – Next steps

Item 6: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Update on the Council Committee for Overseeing and Implementing Continuous Improvements (CCOICI)’s Working Group Self-Assessment Recommendations Report and Update from the Statement of Interest (SOI) Task Force (20 minutes)

The GNSO Council resolved on 16 June 2021 to initiate the Council Committee for Overseeing and Implementing Continuous Improvements (CCOICI) as a pilot, which included the review of the Working Group Self-Assessment as one of the two areas of focus.

The CCOICI started the Working Group Self-Assessment assignment in October 2021 and concluded its work on this assignment in February 2022. However, the CCOICI deferred conducting the public comment until it could be combined with recommendations related to the GNSO Statement of Interest (SOI). The consolidated public comment proceeding on Proposed Updates to the GNSO Operating Procedures was initiated on 09 September 2022 and closed on 14 November 2022. The CCOICI integrated public comments as appropriate and submitted its Recommendations Report to the Council on 5 January 2023. 

Here, the Council will receive an update on both the CCOICI’s Working Group Self-Assessment Recommendations Report. In addition, an update will be provided on the work of the the GNSO SOI Task Force (TF).

6.1 – Introduction of topic (Manju Chen, Chair of the CCOICI) Slide deck

6.2 – Council discussion

6.3 - Next steps

Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - ICANN76 Meeting Planning (15 minutes)

The ICANN76 Community Forum is scheduled from 11-16 March 2023. With the meeting quickly approaching, the GNSO Council has a number of sessions that require advance planning. The Draft ICANN76 Schedule was shared on 20 January 2023 and the various GNSO Council related sessions were briefly discussed. Those sessions include:

• PDP/EPDP meetings on Saturday.
• The GNSO working sessions (3) are scheduled for Sunday.
• The joint meeting with the ccNSO on Monday.
• The joint meeting with the ICANN Board on Tuesday.
• The public Council meeting on Wednesday.
• The GNSO Council wrap-up on Thursday.

Here, the Council will discuss and prepare for the various Council-related sessions scheduled during ICANN76.

7.1 – Introduction of topic (Council leadership)

7.2 – Council discussion

7.3 - Next steps

Item 8: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - PDP Improvements item #8 (Review of the Policy & Implementation recommendations) (15 minutes)

The GNSO Council established a PDP Improvements Tracker in order to provide an aggregated view of the various proposed improvements that have been identified from a number of different initiatives., which include:

• Council Strategic Planning Session (SPS) Action Item – how to improve support for and follow up on policy recommendations post-Council adoption
• Operational Design Phase
• Modifying Consensus Policies
• PDP 3.0 Parking Lot Items
• Review of Policy & Implementation Recommendations

For item #8 (Review of the Policy & Implementation recommendations) and the agreed next step (“Staff support team to provide further detail on what a policy status report (PSR) would be expected to cover”), staff circulated a background note on a possible PSR on the Policy & Implementation Recommendations on 20 January 2023. 

Here, the Council will discuss the background note and consider next steps.

8.1 – Introduction of topic (Council leadership)

8.2 – Council discussion

8.3 - Next steps

Item 9: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) Review Next Steps (10 minutes)

After the approval of the Phase 1 Final Report of the GNSO Policy Development Process (PDP) on the Review of All Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPMs) in All gTLDs in January 2021, the Council discussed the need to review the RPMs charter in advance of launching Phase 2 of the PDP. The Council determined that a Policy Status Report (PSR) should be requested from ICANN org, in order to better understand if new issues or information has emerged that would be relevant to a comprehensive review of the policy. 

ICANN org’s Global Domains and Strategy (GDS) team completed the draft PSR and published it for public comment on 3 March 2022; the revised PSR was shared with the Council on 18 July 2022 and the Council then received a briefing from GDS during the July meeting. During this meeting and subsequent meetings, there seemed to be support from the Council to delay next steps based on a number of reasons, primarily though because of the amount of competing work. The Council agreed during its November meeting that because of the launch of the Phase 1 RPMs Implementation Review Team (IRT), which would likely have overlapping community support with a Phase 2 PDP, that the delay for next steps should be tied to the completion or key milestones for the IRT

Here, the Council will receive an update from the Council’s liaison to the RPMs IRT to better understand precise timing for delaying Phase 2 next steps.

9.1 – Introduction of topic (John McElwaine, GNSO Council liaison to the Rights Protection Mechanisms IRT)

9.2 – Council discussion

9.3 - Next steps

Item 10: ANY OTHER BUSINESS (10 minutes)

10.1 - Standing Selection Committee (SSC) process feedback

10.2 - Update on Closed Generics Facilitated Dialogue

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Appendix 1: GNSO Council Voting Thresholds (ICANN Bylaws, Article 11, Section 11.3(i))

See https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/governance/bylaws-en/#article11.

Appendix 2: GNSO Council Absentee Voting Procedures (GNSO Operating Procedures, Section 4.4)

See https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/file/field-file-attach/op-procedures-30jan18-en.pdf

References for Coordinated Universal Time of 05:00 UTC 

Local time between November and March in the NORTHERN hemisphere

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California, USA (PST) UTC-8  (Wednesday) 21:00

San José, Costa Rica (CST) UTC-6  (Wednesday) 23:00  

New York/Washington DC, USA (EST) UTC-5  (Thursday) 00:00

Buenos Aires, Argentina (ART) UTC-3  02:00

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (BRT) UTC-3  02:00

London, United Kingdom (GMT) UTC+0  05:00

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (WAT) UTC+1  06:00

Paris, France (CET) UTC+1  06:00

Moscow, Russia (MSK) UTC+3  08:00 

Singapore (SGT) UTC+8  13:00

Melbourne, Australia (AEDT) UTC+11 16:00

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DST starts on Sunday 26 March 2023, 2:00 or 3:00 local time (with exceptions) for EU countries and on Sunday 12 March 2023 for the U.S.

DST ends on Sunday 29 October 2023 for EU countries, and on Sunday 05 November 2023 for the US.

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For other places see http://www.timeanddate.com and https://tinyurl.com/2mx8bt8t.