Hello All, With reference to section 4 of Annex A of the ICANN bylaws, we need to decide whether to form a task force: "4. Commencement of the PDP At the meeting of the Council initiating the PDP, the Council shall decide, by a majority vote of members present at the meeting, whether to appoint a task force to address the issue. If the Council votes: a. In favor of convening a task force, it shall do so in accordance with the provisions of Item 7 below. b. Against convening a task force, then it will collect information on the policy issue in accordance with the provisions of Item 8 below." I note that Council members are currently involved as part of a Committee-of-the-whole-Council on the new gTLD policy area. I recommend that we form a separate task force on the new PDP to ensure we have enough resources to focus on the new gTLD process and don't distract that process. Note under section 7 (b) of Annex A of the bylaws: "Task Force Charter or Terms of Reference. The Council, with the assistance of the Staff Manager, shall develop a charter or terms of reference for the task force (the "Charter") within ten (10) calendar days after initiation of the PDP. Such Charter will include: 1. the issue to be addressed by the task force, as such issue was articulated for the vote before the Council that commenced the PDP; 2. the specific timeline that the task force must adhere to, as set forth below, unless the Board determines that there is a compelling reason to extend the timeline; and 3. any specific instructions from the Council for the task force, including whether or not the task force should solicit the advice of outside advisors on the issue." I recommend that we form a task force with experts in areas around the economics of the gTLD registry environment. Issues under consideration including competition, pricing controls, renewal provisions etc. Constituencies could appoint appropriate representatives, but we may wish to identify appropriate independent experts to advise the Council on this important topic area. Regards, Bruce Tonkin