27 March 2014

Panelists: Yu-Chuang Kuek, Vice President, Asia

                        Savé Vocea, Vice President, Oceania

                        Criden Dappi, Oceania WG Chair

                        Kuo-wei Wu, ICANN Board

Summary: The session updated the ICANN community on the ICANN Asia Pacific Hub’s (APAC Hub) engagement activities in both Asia and Oceania. The presentation slides are attached. About 100 participants attended the session. The key points of the feedback are captured below.

We welcome your comments and feedback on this platform as well.

Working with ICANN’s contracted parties in the Asia Pacific region

• DotAsia is working with new gTLDs in the region. Going forward, DotAsia hopes to also coordinate with the ICANN APAC Hub to work with the other gTLD registries in the region.

Encouraging APAC participation in Policy Development

• A participant suggested for APAC Hub to consider, on a trial basis, to pick one issue that is currently undergoing in the Policy Development Process (PDP), and to take it out to be discussed by the APAC Community. ICANN APAC Hub can work to facilitate the APAC grouping on the discussion, and to feed responses back to the global PDP work.
• On encourage the APAC community to participate in ICANN’s Working Groups, the issue of meetings and webinars that do not accommodate the APAC time zone had been a recurring feedback.
• While ICANN had tried to accommodate to the APAC time zone, the participation of such sessions by the APAC community had been low. However, this might be because webinars tended to switch between time zones often and it was hard for anyone to follow on when the next webinar would be held. By conducting our webinars at consistent times based on the APAC time zone, we can expect a growth in participation. 

Initiatives for Women

• As women are lagging behind in IT uptake by 16%, it was suggested that more could be done for the women in the APAC Community.
• A suggestion was to conduct Capacity Building activities for women in ICT.
• It would also be good to raise awareness by working on an Op-ed or placement in regional media on the topic of women in ICT.

Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) and Universal Acceptance

• On the issue of IDNs, the APAC Hub should consider convening a meeting in the region with industry and software developers, linking them up with the ICANN IDN Working Group.
• The At-Large community needs to reach out and raise awareness in Southeast Asia on the Language Generation Panels project.

Data Protection

• Given that countries in the region have either established or are building up their data protection laws, it would be good for ICANN to take this into account and modify its Registry Agreements (RA) and Registrar Accreditation Agreements (RAA) points on data retention and collection, so as to allow the APAC region’s registries and registrars to be compliant with local law.
• This point is noted and had been highlighted to the ICANN Board.

Assisting new gTLD contracted parties

• ICANN’s policy issues concerning gTLDs include many details that are hard to understand. In this regard, APAC registries/registrars need more guidance to participate in the ICANN Supporting Organisations.
• The APAC Hub can assist accredited registrars in the APAC region to understand and engage in these issues. This is also given that many of the APAC registries/registrars are also unable to attend all the global ICANN meetings.
• The APAC Hub can consider establishing an ‘onboarding’ or ‘orientation’ programme for newly accredited registrars, and to provide existing registrars with a training calendar.
• The APAC Hub can also consider developing a guide for accredited registrars in the region.

Use of Communication Tools

• The At-Large Advisory Committee’s (ALAC) Accessibility Working Group (WG) would be happy to work with the APAC Hub to increase accessibility in the region, such as to make the ICANN website more accessible.
• As the Hub works to raise awareness and help people build more knowledge of ICANN-related issues, it was also suggested for the APAC Hub to develop a communication tool to facilitate for the APAC Community to discuss various ICANN-related topics within the APAC group. It would be good to have a “loose channel of communications” that stakeholders from different countries can share information and ask questions on ICANN-related issues.
• It is noted that the new icann.org website allows communities to be formed online. Perhaps APAC Hub can also use this as a tool.
• It is suggested to facilitate more communications between Asia and Oceania, as well as between APAC and other regions.
• It is suggested for the APAC Hub to send weekly updates on email to highlight what is happening in ICANN, targeted at different stakeholders.

APAC Hub Beta - Contracted Party Feedback

Kuek summed up the feedback we received at the ICANN48 meeting in Buenos Aires in November 2013 (see attached slides). Feedback was sought from the community to be considered for the development of an APAC Hub Beta, particularly on the APAC Hub’s services for contracted parties (contractual compliance, registry/registrar services etc). The feedback would be considered for the development of an APAC Hub Beta roadmap to be discussed at ICANN50 in London. The community is also welcome, should it wish to form a Working Group to discuss this.

• It is noted that the APAC Hub has filled a single position in registry services and contractual compliance, and will soon have a registrar services position filled. This is considered slow. It is noted that 15 months ago, ICANN had 2 positions in contractual compliance in the region, and this has now dropped to 1. The APAC Hub will need to speed this up.
• On registry services, the APAC Hub is requested to inform the community on its service model, and to communicate this with stakeholders in the region.