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At-Large Representatives

ALAC Members: Yrjö Lansipuro and Justine Chew*

ALAC Alternates: Carlos Raul Gutierrez and Vanda Scartezini

ALAC Observers: N/A

*Justine Chew took over as ALAC's 2nd member on this EPDP on 29 Nov 2021.

REPORTS/UPDATES TO & CONSULTATIONS WITH THE AT-LARGE CONSOLIDATED POLICY WORKING GROUP (CPWG)

22 Feb 2021 - 15 Jun 2022 COMPLETED

[Straw Poll Result]

GNSO Workspace: EPDP Specific Curative Rights Protections for IGOs (ex Work Track)

Preliminaries

  • The GNSO Expedited Policy Development Process WG on Specific Curative Rights Protections for Intergovernmental Organizations was originally constituted as a work track (hence, was formerly referred to as the IGO Work Track) under the Rights Protection Mechanism PDP WG to handle some leftover work from a previous IGO PDP, to solve the (narrow) issue of curative protection rights for intergovernmental organizations over their acronyms.
    • IGO names are reserved but given that IGO acronyms are merely temporarily reserved, in order for the acronyms to be unreserved this leftover work from a previous PDP is required to be completed in order to determine how best allow IGOs appropriate access to curative protection mechanisms (including UDRP, URS).
  • This WT had its first meeting on 22 Feb 2021, and had been meeting nearly every week, on Mondays at 16:00 UTC.
  • The ALAC representatives provided verbal updates to CPWG whenever there were some developments in the deliberations of the WT. 
  • In particular, the ALAC representatives presented to CPWG:

 1. An update on 14 Apr 2021 (presentation)
 2. An update on 23 Jun 2021 (presentation)
 3. An explanation of the issues under the EPDP's charter on 11 Aug 2021 (presentation)

  • On 19 Aug 2021 the GNSO Council approved the initiation of as an Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) Working Group on Specific Curative Rights Protections for IGOs and approve the EPDP Charter. This decision had the effect of rechartering the IGO Work Track as the EPDP. 
  • The WT continued its work towards producing its Initial Report as an EPDP.
  • The ALAC representatives, also presented to CPWG:

 4. An update on 25 Aug 2021 (presentation)
 5. An update on 8 Sep 2021 (presentation)

EPDP Initial Report

1. Add definition of "IGO Complainant"
2. Reject original Recommendation #5 from previous IGO PDP
3. IGOs exempt from Mutual Jurisdiction
4. Arbitration option following a UDRP decision
5. Arbitration option following a URS determination
6. Determining the applicable law for arbitration

  • ALAC representatives Yrjö Lansipuro and Justine Chew developed a draft ALAC Statement for comment and made it available to CPWG on 6 Oct 2021 at both the At-Large Initial Report from the EPDP on Specific Curative Rights Protections for IGOs work space and a corresponding Google Doc (comment-only)
  • A call for comments to the draft ALAC Statement was issued by At-Large staff to the CPWG mailing list on 8 Oct 2021
  • Yrjö Lansipuro presented the draft ALAC Statement to CPWG on 13 Oct 2021 (presentation)
  • A second call for comments to the draft ALAC Statement was issued by At-Large staff to the CPWG mailing list on 14 Oct 2021, with call to close on 20 Oct 2021 in time for the statement to be finalized and sent to ALAC for ratification.
  • The ALAC Statement AL-ALAC-ST-1021-01-00-EN was submitted on 25 Oct 2021 to the above-mentioned public comment proceedings.
  • The EPDP is then expected to resume its weekly meeting on 2 Nov 2021 while the GNSO staff completes its report on comments received through the said Public Comment Proceedings by 8 Nov 2021.
  • The EPDP continues its deliberation on the public comments to its Initial Report through Nov and Dec 2021, and into 2022.
  • Administrative update: On 16 Dec 2021, GNSO 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.

  • In 2022, the EPDP reconvened its weekly calls on 10 Jan and continues deliberations towards achieving a compromise around Preliminary Recommendations 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 from the EPDP Initial Report, in preparation of the EPDP Final Report.
  • The ALAC representatives, also presented to CPWG:

     6. Yrjö Lansipuro presented an update to CPWG on 12 Jan 2022 (presentation) specifically on Preliminary Recommendation #4: Arbitral review following a UDRP proceeding.
     7. Yrjö Lansipuro presented an update to CPWG on 26 Jan 2022 (presentation) specifically on Preliminary Recommendation #3: IGO exemption from Mutual Jurisdiction requirement under UDRP and URS
     8. An update on 2 Feb 2022
     9. An update on 8 Feb 2022 
    10. An update on 23 Feb 2022 (presentation)
    11. An update on 2 Mar 2022

EPDP Final Report & Consensus Call for Final Recommendations

  • The EPDP Chair and GNSO Sec staff explained the consensus designation process for the draft final recommendations which has gone through many rounds of consideration, input and revisions by the EPDP participants.
  • Yrjö Lansipuro presented to CPWG on 16 Mar 2022 on the EPDP Draft Final Report (presentation) which now contains 5 revised recommendations and also proposed questions and metrics for subsequent review of the impact of these recommendations post implementation. The 5 recommendations revolves around:-

1. Definition of "IGO Complainant"
2. IGOs' exemptions from having to submit to Mutual Jurisdiction requirement in both UDRP and URS in order to preserve reliance on their privileges and immunities under treaties etc
3. Option for arbitration following a UDPR decision, without impacting losing registrant's right to file court proceedings
4. Option for arbitration following a URS determination, without impacting losing registrant's right to file court proceedings
5. How to determine applicable law for arbitration proceedings

  • Yrjö Lansipuro and Justine Chew presented to CPWG on 23 Mar 2022 (presentation) on the effects of the above-mentioned 5 recommendations in order to seek endorsement for the ongoing consensus designation call in the EPDP to the final recommendations in the draft final report. A straw poll was conducted to ascertain if CPWG had any issues with Yrjö Lansipuro and Justine Chew's recommendation to:
    • Support the final recommendations #1 to #5

    • Support the inclusion of the questions and metrics for Policy Impact Analysis as important future data points to review these recommendations post implementation 

    • Acknowledge that Annex A - Principles for Arbitral Rules are being finalized with input from IGOs and that unless it is amended substantively, to support the same

    • The straw poll result was:- 

Tracking of Report Development

See: GNSO EPDP-SCRO-IGO Report webpage

EPDP Final Report & Recommendations Adopted

  • On 15 Jun 2022, GNSO Council unanimously resolved to adopt the Final Report containing the 5 recommendations.
  • Yrjö Lansipuro and/or Justine Chew reported this outcome to CPWG on its 4 Jul 2022 call
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