Thanks, great question and hopefully the information below is beneficial to the Council’s consideration of the 3 day hold, as well as the discussion around the extended public comment period. Regarding next steps and timing, here is the relevant language from the PDP Manual:
The Staff Manager is responsible for drafting a summary and analysis of the public comments received on the Issue Report and producing a Final Issue Report based upon the comments received. The Staff Manager should forward the Final Issue Report, along with any summary and analysis of the public comments received, to the Chair of the GNSO Council for consideration for initiation of a PDP.
The summary and analysis and the Final Issue Report are expected to be delivered to the Chair of the GNSO Council within 30 days of the closing of the public comment forum, though the Staff Manager may request an extension of that 30-day time for delivery.
Without knowledge of the level of public comment that will be received, it is difficult to estimate how long the summary and analysis and Final Issue Report will take to prepare. However, assuming 30 days, here are the three timelines expanded to include the next GNSO Council meeting, as long as the document and motion deadline is met. I would note, these are are the first, and not only, opportunities for the Council to consider the initiation of a PDP:
Thanks Steve. Great news on the progress.
On the timelines, can you remind me what happens after the close of the comment deadline? How do we get from the close of the public comment period to Day 1 of the PDP working group? How many Council meetings/votes between close of comment period
and starting the hard policy work?
Bret
Dear Councilors,
Staff is on track to be able to deliver the Preliminary Issue Report on New gTLD Subsequent Procedures for public comment by the end of August, as discussed on the previous GNSO Council meeting. However, I wanted to note that during the meeting,
the possibility of providing for an extended public comment period was also discussed, which would keep it open through the ICANN54 meeting. This topic is expected to be on the agenda for the next Council meeting, scheduled for 03 September and as such, it
may make sense to delay the publication of the report by approximately 3 days to allow for discussion during the meeting and a decision to be made, to avoid confusion from possibly amending the comment close date. The impact appears to be minimal:
- Publish 31 August -> 40 Day Public Comment -> Close 10 October (note that this is a Saturday)
- Publish 3 September -> 40 Day Public Comment -> Close 13 October
- Publish 3 September -> 60 Day (for instance) Public Comment -> Close 2 November
Staff is leaning towards waiting the three days and immediately putting in the request to publish the Preliminary Issue Report after a decision is made, but wanted to be sure there were no strong objections to this approach.
Best,
Steven Chan
Sr. Policy Manager
ICANN
12025 Waterfront Drive, Suite 300
tel: +1.310.301.5800
fax: +1.310.823.8649