Draft Statement for Public Forum: The GNSO Council recently provided advice in response to a letter from the CEO to the effect that an issue being considered was a matter of policy, rather than implementation. It was Staff’s view that the issue was implementation and not policy, and accordingly it was the Staff’s decision to proceed with the first steps of implementation. It is the Council’s firmly held view that when there is not an agreement on whether or not such an item is policy, as in this case, that the Staff must refer back to the Council before proceeding further. Indeed, as a general point, it is the Council’s view that should it provide policy advice to the Staff and/or the Board in the future, then in the event that Staff and/or Board seek to act adverse to the Council’s advice, they should certainly not do so without further reference back to the Council.