NOTES ccNSO Council meeting 223 Thursday, 20 November 2025 | noon UTC Apologies Received Jordan, Olga, Ali, Nacho Background and supporting documents * Council workspace for this meeting: https://icann-community.atlassian.net/wiki/x/J4wlBg * ccNSO correspondence: statements and responses: https://ccnso.icann.org/en/about/statements.htm Agenda ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS 1. Welcome Alejanra: 3 AOB * Closure of GAC-ccNSO meeting and world cafe * meeting/ invite RySG to cooperate with respect to GNSO PDP ( see email Beth) * Tentative Blockschedule ICANN85 a. SOI updates Consult the ccNSO SOI Guideline<https://ccnso.icann.org/en/about/ccnso-internal-procedure-general-soi-coi-21...> Complete the SOI template<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfRpehiCw2ty2PYRiaPG0K3lZSKk9LrLPQe...> Check the ccNSO Statements of Interest<https://community.icann.org/x/doAFEg> Alejandra: any updates? none b. Meeting quorum Apologies: Jordan, Olga, Ali 2. Relevant Correspondence 3. Minutes & Action Items a. Minutes Meeting 222 Circulated to the Council mailing list on 14 November 2025. Alejandra: questions? none b. Action Items: Alejandra: All action items either completed, pending, or awaiting launch of the new website. Regarding item 222-02 (pending items tracker) are completed. In Dublin we felt that issue needs to be addressed and it still has to. More matter is ccNSO Council and secretariat the most appropriate group to set-up and maintain the joint tracker. Needs further discussion. Will keep this as an action item agenda, with the caveat that preliminary questions need to be resolved first. Any comments? None · Action item 222-01 The ccNSO Secretariat is requested to schedule a call for volunteers for a small group to review the Bylaw Change Playbook and prepare a response to be adopted by the Council at Meeting 223 in November (See agenda item 16) · Action item 222-02 The ccNSO Secretariat is requested to create a joint tracker in a google doc for all SO/ACs to add any pending requested items to the Board. (Pending, awaiting clarification and confirmation by other SO/AC) · Action item 222-03 Following the conclusion of the candidate Q&A, the Nomination Process Manager is requested to prepare the Nomination Process report for discussion by Council at meeting 223.(Completed, see item 13) · Action item 222-04 The Council Election Process Manager is requested to launch a call for nominations for one seat on the ccNSO Council, for the African region.(Completed) · Action item 222-05 The ccNSO Secretariat is requested to publish the updated ccNSO FY26-27 Portfolio of Activities and quarterly overview (Pending, awaits launch of new website). · Action item 222-06 The ccNSO Chair is requested to inform the RySG and CSC about the adoption by ccNSO of the changes to the CSC Charter. The secretariat is requested to inform ICANN legal and other relevant ICANN staff, and publish this resolution (Completed). · Action item 222-07 The secretariat is requested to publish the updated overview of the policies, guidance and practices for ccTLDs, and to archive the previous version. The secretariat is also requested to publish this resolution regarding the adoption of the updated overview. (Pending, awaits launch of new website). · Action item 222-08 The secretariat is requested to inform the leadership teams of the various working groups and committees and persons appointed, of appointments and enable their participation in the respective teams. This also includes the nominees for the 2026 ICANN leadership Program. (Completed) · Action item 222-09 The ccNSO Secretariat is requested to launch calls for volunteers for the SOPC, IANA Whois Accuracy Study Group and RZERC.(Completed). 4. Intermeeting Council Decisions (since meeting 222, October 2025) None 5. Intermeeting Decisions Triage Committee since Council meeting 222 None UPDATES Written updates - if any - are published on the wiki space for this meeting. Written updates for items 6, 7, 8 are available or will be coming soon to our inboxes. In the meantime does anyone have any pressing comments? none 6. Update ECA & CSC (written updates) 7. Update Working Groups (written updates) a. ccPDP4-IDN (Dormant) b. DASC c. GRC d. IGLC e. MPC f. OMC g. SOPC h. Tech WG i. TLD-OPS SC j. Triage Committee (reported) k. UAC l. CIP-CCG m. Planning Prioritization Process group n. RZERC o. RSS GWG p. CCG Review of Reviews (item 11) 8. Update Liaisons (written updates) a. Update ccNSO Liaison to ALAC b. Update ccNSO Liaison to GNSO Council 9. Progress Board Consideration ccPDP4-IDN Informational No update since meeting 222 10. Progress Review of Reviews Informational Alejandra: in fact-finding mode. Webinars on Tuesday. Chris: later one was better attended. Review on past reviews. Straightforward discussion. Well worth having. Next CCG call is next Tuesday. We will talk about possible solutions. Focus initially on the A bucket. To be followed up in the annual reports and the strategic plan, as boundaries for the reviews. Alejandra: all according to schedule? No concerns regarding progress? Chris: not at the moment Alejandra: do we need a session with ccNSO at ICANN85. Chris: at least one plenary, probably Thursday morning. We want to meet during the week with each SO/AC, for at least 1 hour. You will receive a letter soon. Background ICANN's bylaws require periodic reviews of its supporting organizations, advisory committees, and other structures to ensure accountability and effectiveness. Past reviews have faced institutional lethargy, missed deadlines, and a failure to fully implement recommendations before the next review cycle begins. The current effort, formally initiated in May 2025 with a proposed Cross-Community Group (RoR CCG), seeks to break this cycle by addressing the procedural challenges within the review process itself. 11. Progress “How we meet” CCG No update since Council meeting 222 12. Update Chair, Vice-chairs, Councillors, Regional Organisations, Secretariat Alejandra: attended Mumbai planning webinar. Two topics which need follow-up: * The planning of Smart Africa capacity building against Tech Day. Need to avoid these scheduling in future. Both myself and Eberhard expressed concerns. To be followed-up * Board-Community session was proposed to be held at ICANN85, as a result from “how we meet”. Suggested to start the experiment at Policy Forum. We suggested to start with this experiment at ICANN86 instead, since there are no sessions with the Board at the policy forum * Likely the new ccnso website will go live mid December. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS & DECISIONS 13. Adoption Nomination process Board seat 11 Report For discussion and decision Joke: The Nomination Report is in your inboxes and posted on the Council wiki for this meeting. It contains details about the nomination, the results, link to the reference materials etc (guideline, candidate statement, recording Q&A etc). Two observations: * The ccNSO Board Seat Nomination guideline – in contrast to the ccNSO Council Election guideline - does not include explicit reference regarding “Eligibility to Nominate and Second”, and “Eligibility to Vote”. Furthermore, the ccNSO Council Election Guideline specifies that only the Representative from a ccNSO member will be able to nominate and second candidates to serve as a ccNSO Councillor. Recommendation : The Council is advised to request the Guideline Review Committee to verify if and how the ccNSO Guidelines should be adjusted, to ensure alignment across all nomination procedures. * As per ccNSO Council decision 219-02, if there is only one candidate, no election is required. The ccNSO Board Seat Nomination guideline – in contrast to the ccNSO Council Election guideline – requires elections, even if the seat goes uncontested. Recommendation: The Council is advised to request the Guideline Review Committee to verify if and how the ccNSO Guidelines should be adjusted, to ensure alignment across all nomination procedures. Upon adoption of the report, the nomination process will formally conclude, and Patricio Poblete will be nominated for ICANN Board Seat 11. Alejandra: we are not quorate. We will defer the decision to an online decision Bart: any questions regarding the resolution? Move? Pablo Second? Peter Councillors in favour, no reactions from Jiankang and Biyi. only green ticks Alejandra: thank you for staying with us for another term Patricio: thanks again! I hope to live up to the expectations Alejandra: i will send the note to ECA. this concludes the process Background The current term of Patricio Poblete, the ccNSO-nominated Director for ICANN Board Seat 11, will conclude at the ICANN87 Annual General Meeting in October 2026. To ensure sufficient time for due diligence and the bylaw requirements regarding appointments, the Council initiated the nomination process in July 2025. This timeline allows the community to engage with the candidate during a Question-and-Answer session at the ICANN84 Annual General Meeting in Dublin. Patricio Poblete was duly nominated, seconded, and accepted his nomination before the deadline, in full compliance with the applicable rules. In accordance with ccNSO Council decision 219-02, an election is not required when only one candidate is nominated. Draft Resolution Decision The ccNSO Council adopts the Board seat 11 Nomination Process report as proposed, including its recommendations, and formally nominates Patricio Poblete - the selected candidate - as outlined in Section 10.3(i) of the ICANN Bylaws. With this adoption, the Board Seat 11 Nomination Process is now closed. The Council congratulates Patricio on his nomination. The ccNSO Guidelines Review Committee (GRC) is requested to review the Board Nomination Process Guideline, taking into account the recommendations from the Nomination Process Manager. The secretariat is requested to publish this resolution as soon as possible and inform the GRC. The ccNSO Chair is requested to inform the Empowered Community Administration (ECA) and ICANN's Secretary of the nomination results. This decision takes effect upon publication of the resolution. 14. Progress Council selection process a. Update on election process Joke: The seats for the EU, LAC and NA regions are uncontested, so no elections will be held for those regions. A Q&A was held at ICANN84 Secondly, for the AP region: * since there are 2 nominees that accepted their nomination, an election needed to be held. A Q&A was held at ICANN84, voting started earlier this week, and closes on 9 December. Prior to ICANN84, the Emissaries from the AP region received a personalised heads up, as well as a heads up via the ccnso mailing list. The RO helped to spread the word. * New voting tool. All is working well. * To meet quorum, at least a majority of all Emissaries entitled to vote in the ICANN Geographic Region must have cast a vote. The ccNSO currently counts 58 members from the Asia/Australia/Pacific region, corresponding to 57 Territories, and therefore 57 Emissaries. To date, 12 Emissaries cast their vote. * Secretariat is in touch with the regional organisation and ICANN GSE to promote the vote, and where needed, to ensure the Emissary gets updated. Background Five ccNSO Council seats with terms ending in March 2026 opened for nominations from 9–30 September 2025, with nominees required to accept by 10 October 2025. The following candidates accepted their nominations: · AP: Boyoung Kim, Sami Mohamed Ali · EU: Chris Disspain · LAC: Alejandra Reynoso · NA: Charles Noir A candidate Q&A took place on 29 October 2025 during ICANN84. The seats for the EU, LAC and NA regions are uncontested, so no elections will be held for those regions, in accordance with the ccNSO Council Election Guideline. Elections for the AP region will be held post ICANN84. b. Update call for Nomination African region Informational Joke: · AF region: the sole nominee did not accept their nomination. · At ICANN84, Council decided to launch a new nomination process, which started last week, and closes 4 December. · One candidate has been nominated as per the guideline. The secondment was not submitted by the Representative of the ccTLD manager. Secretariat reached out to the Representative, to seek confirmation. After closure of the various nomination and election rounds, a report will be submitted to Council for consideration and eventually adoption. It will contain nomination and election details, including any issues and observations. Candidates takes their seat at the end of ICANN85 Pablo: regarding item a, Emissaries not voting Would it be helpful to reach out to RO’s? Joke: that is ongoing. Since prior to ICANN84. GSE also involved Background Five ccNSO Council seats will become vacant when current three-year terms end in March 2026. A call for nominations was launched in September 2025. However, the sole nominee from the African region did not accept, leaving that regional seat without an eligible candidate. As a result, the Council has initiated a new call for nominations specifically for the African region seat, following the ICANN Bylaws, the ccNSO Council Selection Guideline, and the Council-adopted timeline. New Nomination Timeline (Africa region only): · Opens: Thursday, 13 November 2025 at 00:01 UTC · Closes: Thursday, 4 December 2025 at 23:59 UTC 15. Appointment members, or chairs/vice chairs to committees or working groups, if any The Council needs to agree on appointment of various persons to external groups. · ccNSO Nominees to various external groups (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NdPoBTmQUVlPhMy1PsoZr6rUxUxHzRDQ/edi...) Alejandra: since we are not quorate, this is deferred to an online decision Draft resolution Decision The ccNSO Council appoints the following people to the respective roles as specified: · Members of the following committees, study groups or working groups: o Kristian Ørmen (.se), member of DASC o Hsuping Tang (.tw), member of DASC o Siphokazi Simandla (.za), member of IGLC The secretariat is requested to inform the leadership teams of the various working groups and committees and persons appointed and enable their participation in the respective teams. This resolution becomes effective upon publication. Move? Everton Second? Wafa Any questions? None Only green ticks, this has been approved Alejandra: welcome to the new volunteers. Our engagement efforts are working 16. Review Bylaw change Playbook For discussion and decision Alejandra: As you may recall the SO/AC chairs group finally received the first version of the Bylaw change Playbook just before the roundtable in Dublin, with a request to provide feedback. The Playbook was forwarded to you, and one of the action items for today’s meeting was to prepare a response which could be adopted at this meeting. First I want to handle the process and then deal with the content of the comment. The playbook was sent to the SO/AC chairs by Russ Weinstein just prior to the Dublin Roundtable with a request to provide feedback and comments. As this is not a formal process, suggest that I send the observation as an informal response to Russ. So no formal resolution is needed. Any questions or concerns? None. green ticks in zoom With respect to the content, let me introduce the document In preparing the response we looked at the Playbook and tried to understand the flow and timelines. We also tried to understand the roles and responsibilities of the various groups: community group, staff, board and the roles each of them played, including oversight. Finally we looked at the instances we have requested a Bylaw change, and why they did not result in a change. The proposed comment focuses on these instances. Some of these instances were: * Change of Article 18 in preparation of 1st IANA Function Review to adjust the composition of the IFRT, it was not acceptable to the board at that time, although the community supported the request to change. As a result the 1st IFR started almost a year too late. * Change of Article 10 membership of ccNSO, which was completed relatively smoothly * Suggestion in public comment to change frequency of IANA Function Review * Request to change Article 17: frequency of CSC effectiveness review, following recommendation of the 2nd CSC effectiveness review team in June 2023. (in process) * At the suggestion of the ccNSO request of 2nd IFR to change frequency of the IFRs (in process). Any questions on observations and questions raised on the playbook? None Alejandra: ok, will send it to Russ after this meeting, and see how it evolves SUBSTANTIVE MATTERS & DECISIONS None 17. Any Other Business (AOB) Alejandra: 3 items * Item 1. Closure world Cafe sessions: o joint GAC-ccNSO: GAC-ccNSo organizing have received summaries. They will be made available to broader community next week (published on ICANN84 schedule for future reference) Alejandra: was a request from the previous world cafe. Scribes took notes Bart: consolidated report sent to station hosts and scribes. Following their approval. o GRC Continuous Improvement Program session. Participants received the summaries per station GRC has taken on to further review, and details the criteria and indicators emerging from the session. To be presented in Mumbai. Alejandra: GRC Continuous Improvement Program session Participants received the summaries per station GRC has taken on to further review, and details the criteria and indicators emerging from the session. To be presented in Mumbai. Sean: we looked at practical ways to measure. We welcome feedback. How are people feeling? Measurement system, within world of KPIs. we will bring these together for you. As council members and community to see what a number means to the membership, to the people involved. How do we try to improve as an organisation. Significant change. Think you will enjoy the result. You have to be seen, to be doing, and the other way around Bart: qualitative and quantitative indicators. Joint effort that defines them. What is relevant for the stakeholders? * Item 2. Cooperation GNSO PDP DNS Abuse / Meeting with RySG o First: Note from Beth - Soon gNSO Council will have an updated Issues Report and Charter that reflects the Public Comments. o Suggestion not to participate as ccNSO in PDP (out of scope, and bandwidth). Inform individual ccTLD and check with DASC members whether they want to participate (not as DASC, not mandated) Second: could be the topic of a joint session organized by DASC and RySG DNS Abuse group. Alejandra: they invites us and DASC to participate in the PDP. my suggestions is to - like we always do with GNSO PDPs - to share it with individuals. ccNSO, not DASC, is mandated to do so. They can always collaborate and provide feedback Chris: that is fine. But should we at least consider? Given the topic of abuse, and given the cooperation. Should we consider a slightly different approach? Might be warranted in these circumstances. IDN fast track PDP: matter that crossed boundaries. Alejandra: people to join in their individual capacity. Not as ccNSO. Cooperation with RySG: DASC session at ICANN85 with RySG? Gather feedback from the ccTLD community during this session? Chris: that is fine. But this is a GNSO matter, not just RySG. testing, to make sure we cover all basis. The way the gTLD registries are mandated to deal with DNS abuse. Pivoting. Cross-community PDP. may have an effect on individual ccTLDs being pressured. Their own LIC to push them in future? So, is it sensible for the ccNSO to have a voice? This is an important set of PDPs coming up. Suspect they will have an effect on ccTLDs. Not pushing, but asking the question for us to consider this carefully Peter: I like thinking. Chris his suggestion to have a conversation? Useful. We get dragged into gTLD precedent. Often the GAC does not fully grasp the difference. We cannot just stick our heads in the sand. Having a conversation is good. When and where? Not sure. Mumbai might be too late Chris: Australia as an example. Following a new RyRr policy, the Australian gvt might say “you should be doing it in .au”. If the ccTLD does not have a voice in the gTLD policy setting, and that policy is being used to put pressure on the ccTLD back home, that is not good. Bart: this might be timely. There is a discussion in the GNSO on the issues report. Has not been launched yet. Invites will come later. Suggestion to involve leadership of DASC prior to the next council meeting. Have an informal conversation first. More extensive topic at the next Council meeting Alejandra: great idea. Also supported by Chris and Peter. First have that call. Open to all interested councillors. * Item 3, ICANN85 Block schedule We will be briefly discussing our blockschedule for ICANN85, as we will have only the upcoming 4 weeks to get ready. The secretariat has to submit the schedule into ICANN’s scheduling tool starting 5 January and be done by 16 January. Taking into account the seasonal break at the end of the year we as a community will have only 4 weeks (until 19 December) to plan the sessions. Joke: proposed high level block schedule. WG/C meetings over the weekend. Bart: either DASC or IGLC on Tuesday. DASC only, if there is no joint RySG-ccNSO DASC session on Wednesday Peter: WSIS+20? Bart: IGLC session on Tuesday. IGLC still to determine the need. Regarding the market trends: discussed by MPC. They wanted regional diverse ccTLD contributions and perspectives. How do ccTLDs deal with these trends? cross-regional , global function of the ccNSO Bart: does that work for you. Wed block 5? Chris: fine. Bart: council prep meeting on saturday, block 1 on council roles and responsibilities. Also discussion on chair and vice chair selection. Any concerns? Alejandra: i see no objections. 18. Next Council Meetings · 18 December 2025 | 18:00 UTC, Meeting 224 · 22 January 2026 | 12:00 UTC, Meeting 225 · 19 February 2026 | 21:00 UTC, Meeting 226 · 12 March 2026 | ICANN85 - Mumbai, Meeting 227 · 16 April 2026 | 12:00 UTC, Meeting 228 · 21 May 2026 | 18:00 UTC, Meeting 229 · 11 June 2026 | ICANN86 - Sevilla, Meeting 230 · 16 July 2026 | 12:00 UTC, Meeting 231 · 13 August 2026 | 21:00 UTC, Meeting 232 · 17 September 2026 | 12:00 UTC, Meeting 233 · 22 October 2026 | ICANN87 - Muscat, Meeting 234 · 19 November 2026 | 18:00 UTC, Meeting 235 · 17 December 2026 | 12:00 UTC, Meeting 236 19. Adjourn Joke Braeken joke.braeken@icann.org<mailto:joke.braeken@icann.org>