Dear BC MembersAs Secretariat for the BC, I will be assuming the role of posting updates to the BC Membership to offload the Chair and Vice ChairFinance and Administration. From time to time, substantive announcements about an issue may also be posted by Steve Delbianco, Chris Chaplow or Marilyn Cade but regular announcements like this one will come from me, and questions should come back to me at secretariat-bc@hotmail.com. I am pleased to forward the following information: Agenda for GNSO Council Meeting 7 April 2011Details on how to listen into the Council's callWiki agenda information with all the latest updates on resolutions, positions, etc. Kindest Regards, Benedetta Rossi BC Secretariat Agenda for GNSO Council Meeting 7 April 2011.http://gnso.icann.org/meetings/agenda-council-07apr11-en.htmPlease note that the Wiki agenda will have the latest updates.Wiki agenda https://community.icann.org/display/gnsocouncilmeetings/Agenda+7+April+2011T... agenda was established according to the GNSO Council Operating Procedures approved 5 August 2010 for the GNSO Council.http://gnso.icann.org/council/gnso-op-procedures-05aug10-en.pdfFor 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.Meeting Time 20:00 UTCCoordinated Universal Time:20:00 UTC - see below for local times(13:00 Los Angeles, 16:00 Washington DC, 21:00 London, 22:00 Brussels,Friday 8 April 05:00 Tokyo; 06:00 Melbourne Dial-in numbers will be sent individually to Council members. Councilors s! hould notify the GNSO Secretariat in advance if a dial out call is needed.GNSO Council meeting audiocasthttp://stream.icann.org:8000/gnso.m3uItem 1: Administrative matters (10 minutes)1.1 Roll call of Council members and polling for Disclosures of Interest• Per the GNSO Operating Procedures, Section 5.4, we are required to poll Councilors regarding “any direct or indirect interests that may affect a Relevant Party’s judgment on an issue that is under review, consideration, or discussion” in this meeting.Here is the definition provided in the procedures:“Disclosure of Interest: Relevant to a specific issue at a specific time. A written statement made by a Relevant Party of direct and indirect interests that may be commercial (e.g. monetary payment) or non-commercial (e.g. non-tangible benefit such as publicity, political or academic visibility) and may affect, or be perceived to affect, the Relevant Party's judgment on a specific issue.”The main issues for this meeting are: ! GNSO Project Decision MakingGNSO ImprovementsRegistration Abuse Polici esWhoisIDN’s1.2 Update any statements of interestJonathan Robinsonhttp://gnso.icann.org/council/soi/robinson-soi-25mar11-en.htm 1.3 Review/amend agenda1.4. Note the status of minutes for the previous Council meeting per the GNSO Operating Procedures:• 16 March 2011 Council minutes – scheduled for approval on 9 April 2011Item 2: Pending Projects – GNSO Toolkit of services (15 minutes)Update on this work: the “toolkit” refers to a list of basic services approved by the GNSO Council 17 Dec 2009 that will be made available to eligible GNSO organizations. Implementation proposals have been discussed and feedback requested by Feb 15, 2011.Refer to GNSO Pending Projects list:L http://gnso.icann.org/meetings/pending-projects-list.pdf 2. 1 Update on work, indication of proposed next steps – Rob Hoggarth, ICANN Staff2. 2 Discussion2. 3 Next stepsItem 3: WHOIS studies (20 minutes)Refer to motion 1, deferred from previous meeting. https://community.icann.org/display/gnsocouncilmeetings/! Motions+7+April+20113.1 Discussion3.2 Vote3.3 Update on Whois Requirements (Liz Gasster)Item 4: Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) (20 minutes)Refer to motion 2 , deferred from previous meeting. https://community.icann.org/display/gnsocouncilmeetings/Motions+7+April+2011... Discussion 4.2 Vote Item 5: Standing Committee on Improvement Implementation (SC-DT) (15 minutes)The GNSO Improvements Standing Committee Drafting Team is presenting its charter for the Council approval.Refer to motion 3 https://community.icann.org/display/gnsocouncilmeetings/Motions+7+April+2011... Discussion 5.2 Vote Item 6: Joint ccNSO-GNSO IDN Working Group Final Report on Single Character IDN TLDs (JIG) (15 minutes)The Joint ccNSO-GNSO IDN Working Group is tasked with identifying IDN issues of common interest to the ccTLD and gTLD communities and proposing methodology to resolve them.It is presenting its report on single character IDNs for the Council approval.Refer to: Joint ccNSO-GNSO IDN Wor! king Group Final Report on Single Character IDN TLDs (JIG) http://gnso .icann.org/drafts/jig-final-report-30mar11-en.pdf Refer to motion 4 https://community.icann.org/display/gnsocouncilmeetings/Motions+7+April+2011... Discussion 6.2 VoteItem 7: GNSO Working Group Guidelines (10 minutes)Information Item.http://gnso.icann.org/council/annex-1-gnso-wg-guidelines-07apr11-en.pdf. Refer to motion 4 from March 16 meeting https://st.icann.org/gnso-council/index.cgi?16_march_motions and in particular the following resolve clauses:RESOLVED that the GNSO Council adopts the GNSO Working Group Guidelines as proposed by the PPSC include link and instructs ICANN staff to incorporate the GNSO Working Group Guidelines into a new version of the GNSO Operating Procedures (GOP), which becomes effective immediately upon adoption.RESOLVED, that each Working Group formed after the date of this resolution shall utilize the GNSO Working Group Guidelines.RESOLVED, to the extent practical and feasible, each existing Working Group shall incorporate these Working Group Gui! delines into their activities.RESOLVED FURTHER, that the GNSO Council hereby expresses its gratitude and appreciation to the WG-WT and PPSC for their dedication, commitment, and thoughtful recommendations.7.1 Update from Staff on when the new version of the Operating Procedures will be ready. (Marika Konings) 7.2 Instruct Staff to inform all current GNSO WGs of the adoption of the new guidelines so that they can incorporate them (see 3rd resolve clause above).7.3 As per resolved further clause above, the Council thanks the WG and declares that it is now closed. Instruct Staff to remove the PPSC WG-WT from the Pending Projects list.7.4 DiscussionItem 8: Revision to GNSO Council Operating Procedures Section 5.0: Statements of Interest (10 minutes)OSC Proposed Revision to Section 5.0:http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/gnso-operating-procedures-revisions-23feb11-en.... to: resolution 24 February meeting:https://st.icann.org/gnso-council/index.cgi?24_february_motionsSee public co! mments received (http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/#gnso-5) as we ll as summary & analysis provided by staffRefer to Council discussion during Feb 24 meeting.http://gnso.icann.org/meetings/minutes-council-03feb11-en.htmRefer to motion 5https://community.icann.org/display/gnsocouncilmeetings/Motions+7+April+2011... Summary of revisions to Section 5.0 (Julie Hedlund)8.2 Discussion8.3 VoteItem 9. Any Other Business (5 minutes)Appendix 1: GNSO Council Voting Thresholds (ICANN Bylaws, Article X, Section 3)9. Except as otherwise specified in these Bylaws, Annex A hereto, or the GNSO Operating Procedures, the default threshold to pass a GNSO Council motion or other voting action requires a simple majority vote of each House. The voting thresholds described below shall apply to the following GNSO actions:1. Create an Issues Report: requires an affirmative vote of more than 25% vote of each House or majority of one House;2. Initiate a Policy Development Process (“PDP”) Within Scope (as described in Annex A): requires an affirmative vote of more tha! n 33% of each House or more than 66% of one House;3. Initiate a PDP Not Within Scope: requires an affirmative vote of more than 75% of one House and a majority of the other House (“GNSO Supermajority”);4. Approve a PDP Recommendation Without a GNSO Supermajority: requires an affirmative vote of a majority of each House and further requires that one GNSO Council member representative of at least 3 of the 4 Stakeholder Groups supports the Recommendation;5. Approve a PDP Recommendation With a GNSO Supermajority: requires an affirmative vote of a GNSO Supermajority; and6. Approve a PDP Recommendation Imposing New Obligations on Certain Contracting Parties: where an ICANN contract provision specifies that “a two-thirds vote of the council” demonstrates the presence of a consensus, the GNSO Supermajority vote threshold will have to be met or exceeded with respect to any contracting party affected by such contract provision.Appendix 2: Absentee Voting Procedures (Council Operating! Procedures 4.4)Members that are absent from a meeting at the time of a vote on the following items may vote by absentee ballot:1. Initiate a policy development process;2. Forward a policy recommendation to the Board;3. Recommend amendments to the ICANN Bylaws;4. Fill a position open for election.The GNSO Secretariat will provide reasonable means for transmitting and authenticating absentee ballots, which could include voting by telephone, e- mail, or web-based interface. Absentee ballots must be submitted within 72 hours following the start of the meeting in which a vote is initiated, except that, in exceptional circumstances announced at the time of the vote, the Chair may reduce this time to 24 hours or extend the time to 7 days. There must be a quorum for the meeting in which the vote is initiated.---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Local time between March & October, Summer in the NORTHERN hemisphere ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reference (Coordinated! Universal Time) UTC 20:00 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------California, USA (PDT) UTC-7+1DST 13:00 Cedar Rapids, USA (CDT) UTC-5+1DST 15:00 New York/Washington DC, USA (EDT) UTC-5+1DST 16:00Buenos Aires, Argentina UTC-3+0DST 17:00 Rio de Janeiro/Sao Paulo Brazil UTC-3+0DST 17:00 London, United Kingdom (BST) UTC+1DST 21:00 Tunis, Tunisia (CET)UTC+1+0DST 21:00 Darmstadt, Germany (CET) UTC+1+1DST 22:00 Paris, France (CET) UTC+1+1DST 22:00 Moscow, Russian Federation UTC+3+1DST 00:00 Karachi, Pakistan UTC+5+0DST 01:00 Beijing, China UTC+8+0DST 04:00 Tokyo, Japan UTC+9+0DST 05:00 next day Melbourne,/Sydney Australia (EST) UTC+10+0DST 06:00 next day ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The DST starts/ends on last Sunday of October 2011, 2:00 or 3:00 local time (with exceptions)---------------------------------------------------------------------- For other places see http://www.timeanddate.com