Staff Report to the GNSO Council of 18 November 2004 1. The recruitment of the Senior Officer Policy Coordination Support and the GNSO Policy Officer is advancing well. Some logistical problems were encountered after the ads where put on a bulletin board in Brussels where the majority of Brussels-based policy/lobbying jobs for the EU are advertised. It resulted in some 250 applications for 3 vacancies we published there. Interestingly enough, there were many excellent applications and ICANN seem to have become of considerable interest in the mainstream job market which in itself is an encouraging sign. We have evaluated all applications and distilled first lists for the positions. Currently, a first round of initial interviews is conducted with the aim to have shortlists of some 4-5 candidates. As soon as those lists are established, fully-fledged interview will be held and contract negotiations will start with the winning candidates. We have arranged for a representative from the Council to participate in the interview process. The current timeframe is that we hope to conclude the interviews of the senior role before Capetown and that of the policy officer role before the Xmas break so that contract negotiations can be concluded early january. Commencement depends in part on availability of the candidates. 2. First an overview of broader ICANN developments. ICANN staff is advancing on a number of fronts notably recruitment throughout the organisation, process improvements and tools, the establishment of the first Strategic Plan (launch foreseen for Tuesday 16 November), the .NET rebid, the actions regarding ongoing litigation, the initial phases of the ccNSO and their imminent election procedure of 2 Board members, the recent signing of the ASO MoU, preparations for the Capetown meeting, discussions with ccTLD managers, ongoing re-delegations, and participation in a limited number of important conferences and workshops worldwide. I refer to the ICANN web-site for detailed information regarding many of these activities. 3. Issue of direct interest to the Council are the active status of the transfer policy since 12 November, the approval of new dispute resolution service providers, and the commencement of negotiations with 2 sTLD applicants, namely .TRAVEL and .POST. Details are available of the ICANN web-site. 4. ICANN staff is progressing on the Strategy for the Introduction of New gTLD's and the Commentary on the initial positions taken in the Council on the New Registry Services. On the New gTLD Strategy, ICANN staff is in contact with a number of organisations that had been approaches in the first half of this year to provide an expert opinion on issues of their competence and relevant to the issue but they have not yet been able to deliver us their opinions. This concerns in particular the IETF/IAB and WIPO. On the Commentary of the New registry Services PDP position, we are targetting to deliver this to the Council at the first possible opportunity, hopefully within the next week. Staff has had to consider the ramifications of the proposed position in the context of ongoing litigation. 5. The GNSO Review is underway. As mentioned in earlier correspondence, Patrick Sharry a management consultant has been retained by staff to perfom the external consultancy role. Patrick is foreseen to attend the Council meeting on 18 November to present himself and give an overview of his works schedule. Everything is still on track for a report to the Board by Capetown, although deadlines are very tight. 6. Staff has followed in detail the discussions on WHOIS in the relevant Task Forces. Senior Staff would be interested to understand what concrete proposals the Council has in mind putting to the Board in Capetown, what timeline is foreseen, what the timelines are for remaining issues, and how the Council would foresee to treat any GAC advice? 7. A parallel development of interest to the Council is the establishment of the UN Working Group on Internet Governance (www.wgig.org) and the recent announcement of its members. Staff has invited both the Chair of the Working Group, Mr.Desai, as well as the Head of the Secretariat, Mr.Kummer, to participate in the Capetown meeting. Paul ____________________________________ Paul Verhoef Vice President Policy Development Support ICANN 6 Rond Point Schuman, Bt.5 B-1040 Brussels, Belgium Tel.: +32.2.234 7872 Fax: +32.2.234 7848 www.icann.org