Many thanks, Sebastien and special thanks to John for leading this process. Clearly a great deal of work has been done and a great deal of thought has gone into the discussions. Also thanks to staff for the very careful and detailed documentation.
I have three "10,000 foot view" initial observations regarding this work:
(1) There are aspects of the description of what constitutes a "closed generic" that strike me as a possible intent to apply this framework to strings which actually represent strings with eligibility requirements rather than strings which are truly "closed". In other words, is there a way to clarify that an application for a string which merely contains eligibility requirements - e.g professional licensing requirements - is not an application for a "closed generic" but fits in the "safeguard" category? In other words, is it clear that the existence of eligibility requirements in an application does not make the applied-for string a "Closed Generic"?
(2) The framework states that if it is not agreed, no policy work will ensue and the ICANN Board will need to decide on the policy for Closed Generics. This would require the ICANN Board itself to set a definition of "Closed Generics" and would also open ICANN to considerable risk in relation to potential Accountability Mechanism procedures alleging violation of the ByLaws. Examples are:
(a) ICANN says there is no MSM policy on Closed Generics and finds that they are not in the global public interest if no public interest policy guardrails exist. Applicants for Closed Generics (including those already suspended from the 2012 round) file Request for Reconsideration on the grounds that Applicant's Human Rights for freedom of expression and property rights have been violated. (This has already been mentioned in Council.)
(b) ICANN Board votes to override GAC Advice and says Closed Generic applications are permitted based on the underlying principle of the new gTLD program of Applicant Freedom of Expression. Representatives of end users file Request for Reconsideration on the grounds that ByLaws are violated because individual registrant Freedom of Expression (Article 19) is restricted and the policy is anti-competitive and therefore not in the Global Public Interest.
The above considerations are one of the reasons I have asked for a more thorough discussion on the Human Rights template documents. In this regard, I believe that any EPDP on Closed Generics will have to make a finding that the policy does not violate the ICANN ByLaws - e.g. in relation to the Human Rights Core Value - or get legal advice to that effect. It's clear that without that type of finding, the Board will have risk management concerns over Accountability procedures - as they currently do in relation to Registry Voluntary Commitments.
(3) As written, it appears the Closed Generic framework has the potential to hold up the next round. I believe a better approach would be for the community to
(a) clarify that specifying legitimate eligibility requirements for a generic string is not the same thing as applying for a "closed" generic.
(b) ask the Board to authorize proceeding to the next round while MSM policy work on truly "Closed" generic applications continues in the form of an EPDP (as recommended by Council Leadership) with applications for Closed Generics suspended until such policy work is complete. When the EPDP is complete, there would be new AGB provisions that would apply to new applications for Closed Generics and existing applications would need to be amended to fit those requirements.
Looking forward to further discussion. See you all Sunday!
Thank you,
Anne
Anne Aikman-Scalese
GNSO Councilor
NomCom Non-Voting 2022-2024