Dear all, Following the ccNSO meeting in Helsinki, the EPSRP opened a public comment forum to seek feed-back and input on its proposed guidelines for and refinement of the methodology on the second string similarity review process, including the interpretation of a so-called split recommendation. As required under the Board resolution which started this process, the chair of the GAC and SSAC were asked to provide feed-back. Current Status The Public Forum will close on 31 August 23.59 UTC. To date two comments were received, one from Verisign and one from ALAC. Next Steps After closure of the public comment proceeding, the EPSRP Working Group will review the public comments received and revise its proposed guidelines, if they deem it appropriate. The proposed guidelines will then be submitted to the ccNSO Council for approval and submission to the ICANN Board. Background The second Extended Process Similarity Review and the associated Panel and Guidelines were introduced in December 2013 as part of the IDN ccTLD Fast Track process. Among other reasons, the process was introduced as a test bed within the IDN ccTLD Fast Track process to allow for testing and refining, if needed, of the proposed two-panel mechanism and methodology. As part of the third review of the ccTLD Fast Track process in FY 2015, some policy issues pertaining to the guidance of the second string similarity review panel became apparent, in particular how to treat an IDN ccTLD string that is only found confusingly similar in UPPERCASE and not in lowercase. At its meeting on 25 June 2015, the ICANN Board requested<https://features.icann.org/refinement-second-similarity-review-evaluation-id...> that "the ccNSO, in consultation with other stakeholders, including GAC and SSAC, to provide further guidance on and refinement of the methodology of second string similarity review process, including the interpretation of its split recommendations, to be applied to the relevant current and subsequent cases in the IDN ccTLD Fast Track process as well as to inform the proposed policy for the selection of the IDN ccTLD strings." In response to the request, the ccNSO established a working group on 11 September 2015. The ccNSO also sought participation from the GAC and SSAC in the working group in a manner these participants deem to be most appropriate. To date individual members of the GAC have participated. SSAC or individual members of SSAC have declined. Further, to ensure the ICANN Board consultation request is adequately met, the EPSRP Working Group offered an opportunity to provide comments on its observations and proposed guidance and refinement of second string similarity review process. The GAC and SSAC have been invited to, at a minimum, express no objection to submitting the EPSRP Working Group recommendations to the ICANN Board. On behalf of the EPSRP Bart