As you all know, the GNSO is chartering an Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) to put policy in place to replace the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data that the Board adopted. Since the temporary specification must be replaced by 25 May 2019, the EPDP will have to proceed VERY quickly, with a draft policy published by ICANN 63 in Barcelona (about 3 months from now). The GNSO is expected to adopt the EPDP Charter on 19 July and convene the EPD very soon after. That is 2 weeks from today. At this point, it looks like each sub-group of the GNSO and other AC/SOs will each have three Members and three Alternates (the Alternates can "listen/read" but can only actively participate in the absence of a Member). The current details can be found at https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/file/field-file-attach/proposed-e.... This is subject to change before the Charter is adopted, but at this point it is a major victory that they are discussing parity with the GNSO groups. If this comes to be, there are a few people to whom we will owe a huge debt of gratitude. Without doubt we will have SOME formal presence on the EPDP which was not a certainty just a few days ago. Membership in the EPDP is expected to require up to 30 hours per week, starting immediately and at least for the first 4 months, and probably a lower but still significant commitment until mid-2018. The GNSO is also setting some very specific criteria for participation. Although the list may change, the current requirements are appended to this message. You will recall that in Panama, we decided that the evaluation of possible candidates is sufficiently important that it should be done at the first level by the ALAC, but clearly we do not have a lot of time to do so. Moreover, we will have to ensure that the selected candidates balance skills, availability and an understanding of user issues. The ALT discussed this at our meeting on Friday and are proposing the following path forward: 1. Very shortly, we will send out an request for Expressions of Interest with a very short window (48-72 hours). The EoI will be an online GoogleDocs Form and will ask for information on the candidates past involvement/knowledge with WHOIS issues, the ability and willingness to participate, and understanding of the EPDP participation criteria. Membership and participation will be on behalf of the ALAC and not representing personal views. 2. The ALAC will have access to the EoI and all Members are expected to review the EoIs and ranks them. This is review is CONFIDENTIAL and neither the contents of the EoIs nor the ALAC comments may be discussed/presented outside of this group. ALAC Members will have a very short time to review these EoI, likely 48 hours. 3. The ALAC Chair, in conjunction with the ALT will summarize the evaluations and make a final selection, ordered to allow for changes in the final charter, ensuring that the final selection meets the overall criteria and ensures a reasonable level of diversity and balance. 4. The ALAC Chair will transmit the final selection to the GNSO Council or GNSO Chair as appropriate, in sufficient time to meet the GNSO requested timeline. 5. At the time of the transmittal, the Chair will announce the number and demographics of the applicants. 6. Once the proposed ALAC Members and Alternates are selected, we will need to convene a meeting of them prior to the EPDP's first meeting to ensure that everyone has the same understanding of what we will be doing. Barring issues that elongate this process, the proposed timeline is: - EoI issued Monday, 09 July; - ALAC evaluation of responses begins Thursday, 12 July; - ALT synthesis of evaluation and final selection Saturday, 14 July - Monday, 16 July; - Announcement and scheduling of EPDP prospective Members/Alternates Tuesday, 17 July. This process will be the subject of a short ALAC Consensus Call most likely starting Friday (tomorrow for me). The Consensus call will overlap with the EoI submission process. Alan ======================== EPDP Charter Membership Criteria * Have sufficient and appropriate motivation, availability and expertise to participate in the substance of the work of the EPDP Team. Appropriate experience could, for example, include experience with the previous RDS/WHOIS policy development processes, task forces, or implementation review teams, or participation in EWG efforts; * Commit to abide by the EPDP Team Commitment Statement, and to accept the consequences of non-compliance as may be determined by the EPDP leadership or appointing group; * Commit to build consensus on issues within the scope of this EPDP; * Commit to actively participate in the activities of the EPDP on an on-going and long-term basis, for a period of no less than one-year, with the highest intensity expected in the first six to eight months; * Solicit and communicate (where appropriate) the views and concerns of individuals in the group that appoints them; * Commit to abide to the charter when participating in the EPDP Team; * Understand the needs of the Internet communities that ICANN serves (standards, domains and numbers); * Commit to attend any provided introductory training courses, e.g., privacy, trademarks, registrar operations, DNS, etc. * Understand the broader ecosystem (the Internet Community) in which ICANN operates and the needs of those working on other aspects of the Internet industry.