To: Steve Crocker, Chair of the ICANN Board of Directors Cc: Chris Disspain, Mike Silber, Göran Marby, Thomas Schneider, John Jeffrey Dear Steve, As you may have noted, the ccNSO Council formally initiated one (1) ccNSO Policy Development Process (ccPDP) to develop and recommend both a policy on the retirement of the ccTLDs and a policy on a review mechanism for decision pertaining to the delegation, transfer, revocation and retirement of ccTLDs. The decisions of the ccNSO Council are published and can be found at: https://ccnso.icann.org/workinggroups/minutes-ccnso-council-meeting-15mar17- en.pdf (Resolution 127-03 under agenda item 11). Based on extensive research and careful consideration of the issues involved, the ccNSO Delegation and Re-delegation working group (DRDWG) advised the ccNSO Council in 2011 to develop a policy on retirement of ccTLDs as it is one of the most significant procedures, no policy is in place and there was significant divergence in the approaches with respect to the retired ccTLDs (https://ccnso.icann.org/workinggroups/final-report-drd-wg-17feb11-en.pdf). The DRDWG also advised that the development of the Framework of Interpretation should have a higher priority. With the conclusion of the Framework of Interpretation of RFC 1591 and the successful completion of the IANA Stewardship Transition process, the ccNSO has taken on the development of a policy for the retirement of ccTLDs. As the removal of a ccTLD is a rare but critical procedure, the ccNSO Council recommends the Board to defer any upcoming decisions pertaining the retirement of ccTLDs until such a policy is in place. On behalf of the ccNSO Council, Katrina Sataki Chair