Dear All, This is an alert for the upcoming ccNSO members vote on the proposed policy for the retirement of ccTLDs. This is also a reminder to verify the accuracy of your primary contact details in the ccNSO Member Database ahead of time. Questions regarding your primary contact? Please contact joke.braeken@icann.org<mailto:joke.braeken@icann.org> What is this about? ccNSO Members vote on policy recommendations At its 17 June 2021 meeting<https://community.icann.org/display/ccNSOCWS/17+June+@ICANN71>, the ccNSO Council is expected to discuss and vote on the recommendation to adopt the proposed policy on the Retirement of ccTLDs (ccPDP3-RET<https://ccnso.icann.org/en/workinggroups/pdp-retirement.htm>), as developed by the ccPDP3-Retirement Working Group. If approved, the recommendation will be put forth to the ccNSO members to vote on. Read more about ccPDP3-RET below. Who will receive a ballot? Members of the ccNSO will be invited to cast their ballot via confidential mail voting. Voting ballots will be sent by tally@icann.org<mailto:tally@icann.org> to the e-mail address of the primary contact of each ccNSO Member, as listed in the ccNSO Members database. NOTE! Do you have questions or concerns regarding the accuracy of the e-mail address of the primary contact for your ccTLD? Please contact joke.braeken@icann.org<mailto:joke.braeken@icann.org> Voting in the first election round is expected to start on Wednesday, 7 July 2021 (00:01 UTC) and will close on Wednesday, 28 July (23:59 UTC). Each primary contact will receive 1 ballot only. You can vote an unlimited number of times, but only the last vote submitted will be counted. Further details regarding the voting methods and instructions will become available after the ICANN71 Community Forum. Your vote is important! Your participation in this election is important! Only if the recommended Retirement Policy gets approved by the ccNSO members, the policy recommendations will be presented to the ICANN Board of Directors for their consideration. Annex B, Item 13, ICANN Bylaws<https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/governance/bylaws-en/#annexB>: “[...]In the event that at least 50% of the ccNSO members lodge votes within the voting period, the resulting vote will be employed without further process. In the event that fewer than 50% of the ccNSO members lodge votes in the first round of voting, the first round will not be employed and the results of a final, second round of voting, conducted after at least thirty days notice to the ccNSO members, will be employed if at least 50% of the ccNSO members lodge votes. In the event that more than 66% of the votes received at the end of the voting period shall be in favor of the Council Recommendation, then the recommendation shall be conveyed to the Board in accordance with Item 14 below as the ccNSO Recommendation.” About ccPDP3-Retirement In February 2021 the ccNSO Working Group on the Retirement of country code Top-Level Domains (ccPDP3-RET<https://ccnso.icann.org/en/workinggroups/pdp-retirement.htm>) concluded its work by unanimously supporting the policy recommendations pertaining to the retirement of ccTLDs. This policy development effort was originally part of the third ccNSO Policy Development Process, which was initiated in 2017 to develop policy recommendations on the Retirement of ccTLDs (Part 1) and to develop policy recommendations for a Review Mechanism for decisions pertaining to the delegation, transfer, revocation and retirement of ccTLDs (Part 2). To expedite the ccNSO decision-making on the proposed recommended policy for the Retirement of ccTLDs, the ccNSO Council is expected to decide by 4 June 2021 (noon UTC) to separate Part 1 (on the Retirement of ccTLDs) and Part 2 (on Review Mechanism). This decision is taken after an extensive community consultation. During ICANN71, at the 17 June Council meeting, the ccNSO Council is expected to discuss and vote upon the proposed policy on the retirement of ccTLDs, as developed by the ccPDP3 Retirement WG. If approved, the recommendation will be put forth to the ccNSO members to vote on. The voting by the ccNSO members is expected to start on Wednesday, 7 July 2021 (00:01 UTC) and closes on Wednesday, 28 July 2021 (23:59 UTC). More details will be shared on the ccNSO members mailing list, and on the ccNSO website on 24 June. Only if the proposed Retirement Policy gets approved by the ccNSO members, the policy recommendations will be submitted to the ICANN Board of Directors for their consideration. Best regards, Joke Braeken ccNSO Policy Advisor joke.braeken@icann.org