Hello everyone,

Please find included below some notes from today’s ccNSO Council meeting, held on 21 January at noon UTC.

Best regards, Joke

1. Welcome and roll call

Welcome by Katrina.

Welcome to Sebastien, new GNSO appointed Liaison to the ccNSO Council

2. Minutes & Action Items

a. Minutes Meeting 168, circulated 18 January 2021.

b. Action items and To-do’s, if any

3. Intermeeting decisions (since 17 December 2020) 

• Mentor Fellowship Program (1)
• Fellowship Program Selection Committee (1)

Congratulations and good luck to those appointment

4. ccPDP 3

a. Part 1 Retirement – Update

Finalising the Final Paper hopefully next week. Soon to be sent to the issue manager, who will publish it for public comment, together with the question whether to separate part 1 and part 2.

No major changes, mainly editorial edits. Some further clarifications

b. Part 2 Review Mechanism –Update

The WG concluded its work on decisions that should be subject to a review mechanism. Do alternative mechanisms apply? They started focusing on getting ready to describe the process in detail, including the review procedure. First preliminary work on that started yesterday. ICANN legal will participate in the next meeting. Could the existing processes be used? 

5. IDN ccPDP4: Update

The WG is moving along steadily with a reasonable pace. The basic principles underlying the IDN have been reviewed and updated. Will be used for the policy, and the interpretation. They started to review the criteria. Some are in second reading. Next week they will start with a call for volunteers for a sub WG on Variant Management. Group will start prior to ICANN70. Both the full WG and the subgroup meet in alternating weeks. They will liaise closely with the GNSO effort.

GNSO Council appointed its liaison to ccPDP4. Board request to coordinate activities. This person is already on the WG. Discussed with Chair and Vice Chair. A WG liaison to be linked to the GNSO policy effort.

6. Selecting members for the Community Representatives Group, which will select the Independent Review Process (IRP) Standing Panel

1 strong candidate, who seeks endorsement from the ccNSO: David McAuley (.cc)

Move? Pablo

Second? Alejandra

Against? None

Abstain? None

All in favour

Thanks to David for standing!

7. Update Review and Implementation Dashboard

Updated version of dashboard was circulated

Recommendation on WG and Vice Chair nomination was included as well. Now in the implementation phase, see today’s agenda. 

There is not a focused effort on implementation, but it is gradually moving forward. We are ahead of the scheme, since some of the recommendations have already been implemented.

8. Draft response to Board OEC letter

Some already reviewed the draft. Alejandra made some suggestions. We will have a google doc for comments by others. Please only comment in the google doc.

Questions from OEC. Several sections in the response. Recommendations that have been fully implemented. List recommendations which are in process of implementation. Followed by a list of recommendations that should not be implemented (as proposed), others are directed at ICANN. Explanation why 1 specific recommendation should be deferred to the next review, if any.

2.b. Quote for newcomers. Absurd mathematically speaking. Number of WG members not limited.

Giovanni asks about the next steps, once we send our response. 

Rephrase: addressed, eliminate “in our view”. Implementation completed, no further action needed.

Leave room for the next steps

OEC gives recommendation to the Board, to close ccNSOReview2. When ICANN org comes up with an implementation plan, it needs to be reviewed again. The ccNSO already started implementing, via the GRC. ICANN org also started with the bylaws changes.

Discussion whether ccNSO accepts or does not accept recommendations, to be closed. 

Katrina: tomorrow discussion regarding ccNSO website. Hopes to be able to give an update shortly

9. Update Rules and Guidelines

a. Update discussion Rules of ccNSO

Name of the doc: Rules of the ccNSO. From 2004.

GRC started identifying issues that should (not) be covered in a new version of the Rules of the ccNSO. See end meeting today, on how to engage councilors in this topic

b. Introduction of Consolidated appointment and selection procedures. Councillors feed-back

People to be appointed to different WG, committees, review teams etc. Separate guideline for some of those groups. GRC wanted to have a guideline for selecting members to those groups. Basic procedure. Process is the same for all appointments, except for those explicitly mentioned. Specifics for certain groups.

Feedback needed from Council, before we send it to the members.

Process manager to filter out those applications that do not meet the criteria.  Automatically disqualify those candidates.

Bart: question for Alejandra. Whether or not a required doc is included. Is that what staff should check? Staff should not check whether a doc meets a certain standard.

Bart: should we also provide feedback to the applicant? Should we reach out to the applicant. Be active, to make it as complete as possible, or should we just be on the receiving end?

Alejandra: submit docs before deadline. Good faith element. Warning.

Katrina: conservative requirements, limit the number of documents. In light of recent appointment. One of the candidates did not submit anything. Informed decision was not possible for some

c. Introduction WG/Committee Chair and Vice-chair nomination and appointment. Councillors feed-back

We discussed this  some meetings ago. We thought the process was clear, but it was not. Process needs to be clarified. Feedback needed from Council, before it is sent to the community.

10. Terms of Reference Outreach & Involvement Standing Committee (OISC)

Draft Terms of Reference: Scope, Composition and Working Methods

Google doc with draft OISC.

Questions or comments? None

11. Update ccNSO Statement procedure regarding the Amendment of Article 10 ICANN Bylaws

DT met yesterday. Revised the cover letter. Doc to be sent for comments to today

In order to include IDN ccTLDs as members to the ccNSO, the ccNSO Council requested changes to article 10 in the ICANN Bylaws. Since ICANN legal raised some questions, a drafting team was tasked with writing a ccNSO response. 

 The drafting team now seeks your input and feedback on the proposed draft, allowing for further considerations, and eventually adoption of a response by the ccNSO Council. Close date is Monday, 1 February 2021 (23:59 UTC). 

Once the drafting team is ready to send the final table/text to Council for adoption, the DT will inform Council about the need to address the following topics:

· impact of the bylaw changes on the existing ccNSO Guidelines, and the need to review the guidelines

· consequences for those organisations having multiple memberships in ccNSO, and the impact on their voting rights

12. Update ICANN70 (related) sessions

a. ICANN response on comments ccNSO and others on proposed evolution of meeting strategy

In December 2020, the ccNSO leadership team and MPC Chair hosted two consultation sessions via Zoom, aimed at collecting the ccTLD community’s feedback regarding ICANN org’s recommended strategic changes for future ICANN Public Meetings and its impact on the ccNSO schedule.  The topic was also discussed by the ccNSO Meeting Programme Committee (MPC) during its 10 December meeting, and by the ccNSO Council during its 17 December meeting.  The ccNSO Chair submitted consolidated feedback to ICANN org on 18 December. 

Highlights input by the SO/ACs: overall

• Improvements to virtual elements of the meetings should be prioritized separately from changes to the overall meeting strategy.
• More time and consultation needed for strategic changes for future face-to-face meetings
• Opposition against moving sessions currently held during ICANN public meetings to be spread throughout the year
• Unified online calendar for SO/AC work throughout the year is supported, but not seen as a tool to support the redistribution of public meeting sessions throughout the year

Highlights input by the SO/ACs: ICANN70

• Immediate need for an ICANN70 block schedule
• A reduced, four-day meeting is preferred
• Schedule that allows sufficient time for community groups to meet and is not limited to plenary sessions.
• Networking slots should be fewer, clearly defined, and offer both intra- and inter- community networking opportunities.
• Plenary (2) and Public Forum to be non-conflicted
• Plenary sessions and virtual networking slots scheduled at varying times of day to provide more opportunity for participation from different time zones.
• Should all SO/AC/SG/C meetings with the Board be conducted during the official meeting? TBD

Overall, the input by the ccNSO was taken onboard by ICANN org. ICANN org intends to continue consultation with community leaders about the evolution of future meetings.

Regarding ICANN70:

• Virtual public meeting
• 4-day meeting: 22-25 March 2021
• will be held in the Cancún, Mexico, time zone (UTC +5). 
• Plenaries and networking activities will continue to be a priority, and will be scheduled at varying times to improve opportunities from different time zones.  
• ICANN org is testing:
  • better integration between Zoom and the interpretation platform, which will likely eliminate the need for a second device.
  • live real-time transcription in English within the Zoom platform.
• plan to expand limited YouTube live streaming pilot from ICANN69, live-streaming more key ICANN70 sessions on YouTube for attendees with limited bandwidth.

b. ccTLDs related sessions

i. Tech Day

ii. Members meeting sessions

· Governance session

· ccTLDs: looking at the future

· Q&A ccTLD related Board members

iii. ccTLD News sessions

The ccNSO Meetings Programme Committee started planning for the upcoming virtual ICANN70 Community Forum. Here is a sneak preview of the ccNSO Members Meeting sessions you may expect (subject to changes):

Pre-ICANN70

• 2 editions of the ccTLD community webinar, targeted at newcomers and those that would like to learn more about the work of the ccNSO. The sessions are scheduled for Wednesday, 17 March (19 UTC) and Thursday, 18 March (11 UTC)
• 2 editions of the popular ccTLD News Session
  Mark your calendars for Tuesday, 9 March 2021 (19 UTC) and Thursday, 11 March 2021 (11 UTC). The MPC still seeks presenters: the call for presentation proposals closes 10 February 2021 (23:59 UTC). Read more here:https://ccnso.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-12jan21-en.htm

ICANN70 ccNSO Members Meeting

• Governance session, as a follow-up from the ICANN69 session
• ccTLDs and the future. ccTLD stakeholders expect resiliency, no matter what. ccTLD managers do the same things, but differently.  Do ccTLDs need to adapt to the future? If so, how do we make our ccTLDs future-proof?  Join us for testimonials from ccTLD Managers across the globe, followed by an interactive discussion.
• And finally, join us at ICANN70 for the Question and Answer Session with ccTLD-related ICANN Board members

The ccNSO Secretariat will post additional information on the ccNSO ICANN meetings Workspace shortly.

https://community.icann.org/display/ccnsowkspc/ICANN+Meetings.

The ccNSO seeks additional volunteers for the ccNSO Meetings Programme Committee (MPC).  The MPC has been established to coordinate and manage the high-level schedule of the ccNSO-related sessions, including the ccNSO Members Meeting agenda at ICANN public meetings, and related matters. Members shall be appointed by the ccNSO Council after closure of the call for volunteers.

Closing date: Tuesday, 26 January 2020 (23:59 UTC). On 20 January at 14 UTC, Chair Barbara Povse hosted a webinar for potential interested parties on 20 January at 14 UTC.

Read more: https://ccnso.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-18jan21-en.htm

Some potential topics of higher interest to the broader ICANN community were suggested as potential plenary (i.e. unconflicted) or cross-community dialogue sessions:

Potential topics for Plenary Sessions

• Registry Voluntary Commitments: Practicality and Enforceability (proposal from At Large)
• Applicant Support: What does success look like? (from At Large)
• Regulatory updates – specifically, the recent actions in the EU (the proposed NIS2 directive, Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act and the Data Governance Act) and the US (Congressional direction to the NTIA regarding WHOIS access) (from the Business Constituency)

Potential topics for Cross Community Discussion

• New gTLD Subsequent Procedures PDP (proposal from At Large)
• A session involving NextGen primarily, but also former Fellowship and ATLAS participants who currently work in constituencies across ICANN, to discuss the future of the Internet from an ICANN policy perspective (from At Large)

The current version of the draft block schedule by ICANN org foresees 2 slots for plenary sessions. Should you have suggestions for further topics of higher interest or input regarding the aforementioned topics, to be organized as a plenary sessions at ICANN70, your input is much appreciated. In case of new topics, kindly send me and joke.braeken@icann.org your suggestions, including:

• a proposed session title,  
• a short description of the session,
• the rationale,
• desired outcome,
• session format and 
• how other SO/ACs are involved.

The deadline for this is Friday, 22 January 2021 (end of day).

Nick: suggestions for plenary sessions. gTLD specific, not so relevant for the ccTLD Community. What is the Council's view to the extent we do not support any plenary sessions. Compromise: not have both focusing on gTLDs. 

Katrina: suggestions by other SO/ACs. Other SO/ACs might be interested in those GNSO-focused sessions.

Nick: good point. We should be more proactive in suggesting topics we think are interesting to us.

Not enthusiastic about any of the current proposals. 

Peter: Realising that this is an ICANN problem, not for ccNSO, but networking during breaks doesn't work online. Breaks are there to get away from the screen and headset. :)

Re plenary: It's also a matter of timing: suggesting relevant topics three months in advance is not always probably.

Bart: be aware it requires a lot of effort to organise plenary sessions. Especially in the current virtual environment.

Margarita: proposals form At-Large? Anything needed?

Alejandra: just a proposal from At-Large. SO/ACs still need to decide on the final selection

Byron: NCSG proposal. How are they differentiating it? Potentially interesting for us, especially seen the regulatory changes globally. We are layer 3 and are required to do the work of the 7th layer. Is there an opportunity to participate or contribute, or to find out what is intended?

Katrina: no further info at the time

Byron: to keep an eye on. Is relevant to us

Alejandra: proposal, once selected. Open for all to contribute

Peter: TIG is a concept ICANN/Göran came up with in a belated attempt to get ICANN to back out of content discussions. I am afraid that ship has sailed.referring to ICANN having waded too deep in this debate to now retract from it. (Which is what I am hearing to be the reason for this TIG concept). I am all in favour of discussing the regulatory threat to the technical layer ops. Crucial times in Europe too.

c. Joint meetings

i. Meeting with the Board

Do we have anything to discuss with the Board? 

After this meeting, we will send 2 questions, do we want to meet, what would be topics for discussion? Short response time. We need to move fast this time.

Alejandra: also, let us know if there is anything to address with Goran.

ii. Meeting with GAC

iii. Meeting with GNSO Council

d. Council workshop: Tuesday 16 March 2021, noon UTC (TBC)

Summary by Jordan about the previous workshop. Thanks to Jordan, we accept his offer regarding future proposed work.

Next workshop: Tue, 16 March noon UTC. 

Bart suggests to send out a doodle, so that as many people as possible can attend. Hopefully the new incoming councillors are also available to attend

Suggested topics:

i. Review role of chair and vice -chairs, Roles and responsibilities of Councillors

ii. Work plan

e. Council Preparatory meeting, Thursday 18 March 18.00 UTC (Tentative)

13. Update ECA & CSC

a. ECA (Informational)

Nothing happening. Waiting for budgets/plans

b. CSC (Informational)

IANA missed 1 SLA, due to the holiday season. Nothing to worry about

14. Update Chair, Vice-Chairs, Councillors, RO’s and Secretariat

15. Update WGs

a. SOPC

The ccNSO SOPC has started its work to comment on the Five Year Plan and FY 22 Ops Plan and budget. As part of their work they will meet with the GNSO SCBO on 29 January 2021. 

b. IGLC

Joke: This session will focus on the popular topic of digital sovereignty.  Digital sovereignty touches everyone.  The IGLC decided to further explore this topic, following a well attended and lively discussion during the ICANN69 IGLC meeting, and other sessions held as part of the ICANN69 Annual General Meeting, such as for instance a stakeholder roundtable organised by EURALO, where IGLC Chair Pierre Bonis was invited to speak. 

The IGLC started to define various categories of digital sovereignty, and is currently discussing examples belonging to the previously mentioned categories, in preparation of a potential session to be held as part of ICANN70.

The target audience are ccTLD managers, but not only. The IGLC noticed from previous experiences that an interaction with other SO/ACs has proven to be valuable. Hence the request to organise this session as part of the ICANN70 public agenda.

Ongoing call for volunteers. Chair Pierre Bonis will host a webinar for new potential members next week.

16. Update liaisons

a. Update ALAC Liaison (written update to follow)

b. Update GNSO Liaison (written update to follow)

17. Meetings

Next Council Meetings:

· February 18 – 20:00 UTC

· March (ICANN70 TBD) 

· April 22 – 12:00 UTC

· May 20 – 18.00 UTC

· May 20 – 18:00 UTC

18. AOB

19. Discussion session on what needs to be included in future Rules of the ccNSO (if time permits)

Katrina introduces JamBoard and explains how it works. Previously, the GRC was using this for some break-out sessions, as well as the ccPDP3-RM. Suggestion is to use JamBoard for the Council discussions too, in the future.

Kim will circulate the link to the test environment (sandbox).

20. Closure

Happy New Year!

Thank you all. Bye.

Joke Braeken

ccNSO Policy Advisor

joke.braeken@icann.org