Dear all,

Just circulating by email, my report of the GNSO Council's 12 June 2024 meeting. This report is as linked to the At-Large Session Reports from ICANN80 wiki space.

In general, as was reported at the At-Large Wrap-Up, much of this Council meeting was on matters not of immediate concern to the At-Large.  Nonetheless, this report provides a summary of selected matters discusseed.

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• The agenda item (along with a vote) on the GNSO Council Aspirational Statement was withdrawn.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