Recently ICANN legal reached out with some questions and comments regarding our proposed changes to Article 10 and Annex B of the ICANN Bylaws, to include IDN ccTLDs in the ccNSO.

Last Friday I had a call with them [ICANN legal] and we sorted the outstanding questions and provided the clarification needed. However, during the discussion we identified a few additional areas that need to be cleared up. Based on the discussion, ICANN legal will share an updated proposal for the changes, which, if we agree, will be used to seek public comment.

We also discussed the next steps of the Bylaw changes procedure:

1. ICANN legal intends to package the Bylaw changes with the ccNSO review. The ICANN Board Organizational Effectiveness Committee (OEC) would then be the first group to look at the proposals, and they will meet in early September 2021. 
2. Assuming the Bylaw change is not controversial and the Board approves to launch the process, ICANN will open a public comment period on the proposed changes, by end-September/early October (before ICANN72). This will take at least 3 months, including the staff summaries, etc. 
3. At its earliest the Board would adopt the Bylaw change early 2022, to be followed by the relevant Empowered Community process. As Article 10 is not a Fundamental Bylaw, this will be a rejection action process. 
4. Finally, assuming no rejection actions, the Bylaw change process could then be concluded by spring 2022.

To pursue our agreement I propose the following way forward:
I’ll invite the original drafting team to look at the proposed changes, then following their feedback I’ll check with you if you agree with the proposed text. The goal is to reach a conclusion by the end of August, which will tie in nicely with the next steps of the Bylaw change procedure.

If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to share them on the list.

Best regards,

Alejandra