Dear All, Please find below a message from Karen Lentz in relation to the status update requested by the GNSO Council. Note that a complete report is expected to be submitted to the GNSO Council by mid-September. Following the submission of the complete report, we expect that Karen will join one of the upcoming GNSO Council meetings to answer any questions you may have. Of course, if you have any questions / comments in the meantime, please share these with the list and we'll relay these to Karen and her team. Best regards, Marika From: Karen Lentz <karen.lentz@icann.org> Date: Friday 29 August 2014 23:46 To: Marika Konings <marika.konings@icann.org> Subject: GNSO update - New gTLD subsequent rounds Dear Marika, I wanted to provide an update on the request for a status report from staff as part of the GNSO Council¹s motion on New gTLD Subsequent Rounds during the ICANN 50 meeting in London (http://gnso.icann.org/en/council/resolutions#201406). This included status reporting on: (a) the New gTLD program generally; (b) ICANN's anticipated timeline and work plan for the review specified in Section 9.3 of the Affirmation of Commitments; (c) ICANN's work to date on any evaluation of the first round; (d) the work to date on the post-launch independent review of the Trademark Clearinghouse; and (e) ICANN's current projection for a timetable for subsequent rounds. This relates to a number of activities that are under way and we expect to be able to deliver the complete report in mid-September. Here are some notes and updates on each of the points below: (a) The New gTLD Program generally As of last week, 373 TLDs have been delegated, 491 applicants have entered registry agreements, and 1321 applications are currently in process through the program. Updated statistics are published on a weekly basis at http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/statistics, with the detail according to volume of applications within the various stages. If there are any specific points that the GNSO would like covered in the portion of the report on the status of the program, please let me know. (b) ICANN¹s anticipated timeline and work plan for the review specified in Section 9.3 of the Affirmation of Commitments Preparations for this review have been under way for some time, beginning with the Board¹s request for advice from the ALAC, GAC, GNSO and ccNSO on establishing definitions, measures, and targets for competition, consumer trust and consumer choice in the context of the DNS (https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/resolutions-2010-12-10-en#6 <https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/resolutions-2010-12-10-en%23 6> ). This resulted in recommendations from both the GNSO and ALAC, whereupon the Board formed the Implementation Advisory Group on Competition, Consumer Trust, and Consumer Choice (IAG-CCT) in September 2013 to review those recommended metrics and make recommendations to the review team based on an evaluation of the feasibility, utility and cost-effectiveness of each of the proposed 70 metrics. The IAG-CCT has paid particular attention to baselines, to ensure that data is collected that will be important for benchmarking the impact of the New gTLD Program in these areas. The IAG-CCT provided an interim recommendation for a consumer survey and an economic study to help capture baseline data; this recommendation was approved by the Board in March 2014 (https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/resolutions-2014-03-27-en#2. c <https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/resolutions-2014-03-27-en%23 2.c> ). The Final Report of the IAG-CCT is expected to be provided to the Board in October, for consideration during the ICANN 51 meeting in Los Angeles. ICANN is conducting an open RFP process to engage providers for the consumer survey (see https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/rfps-2012-02-25-en), and the RFP is in development for the economic study and expected to be published within the next two weeks. For the additional set of metrics recommended where baselines are necessary, and that relate to in-house data, staff is already in the process of compiling the data as well as planning for tools for update and presentation of that data. In addition to the areas of competition, consumer trust, and consumer choice, the review in 9.3 of the Affirmation of Commitments includes review of the effectiveness of the application and evaluation process, and of safeguards put in place in the program to mitigate issues. These relate to areas discussed below in (c) and (d). (c) ICANN¹s work to date on any evaluation of the first round Staff¹s work in reviewing the program to date has focused on operations, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. We¹ve also identified a preliminary set of review areas that would benefit from in-depth discussions about these elements of the program¹s implementation. As reviewing the program¹s operations covers a large number of detailed considerations across a broad range of topics, we are still determining how to best organize the subject areas and review questions so that they can be logically considered and presented to the community for input. To date, staff has held debriefing sessions with all of the panels who performed the Initial and Extended Evaluation processes so that these provider insights and identification of areas for additional consideration can also be taken into account. (d) The work to date on the post-launch independent review of the Trademark Clearinghouse This comes from GAC advice, where an independent review was proposed to take place ³one year after the launch of the 75th new gTLD in the round.² (This would be February 2015, which is the current target for this review.) A few other activities are in process relating to rights protection that are also relevant. First is a standing GNSO request for an Issue Report reviewing all rights protection mechanisms (current and developed for the New gTLD Program) including the UDRP and URS, to be delivered 18 months after the first delegation of new gTLDs (which occurred in October 2013). We are on target to have significant analysis done by this time (April 2015) to inform the creation of this Issue Report. Second, as noted above, effectiveness of the safeguards put in place for the New gTLD Program is a topic for consideration under the 9.3 Affirmation of Commitments review, and the analysis in progress is expected to be another input to that effort. In light of the above, staff is well under way in compiling data on the usage of the new rights protection mechanisms in the program (e.g., provider statistics, review of frequent customer service questions, issues raised in user feedback) and expects that this analysis will serve as groundwork for a number of purposes, including the above independent review. A discussion session on this topic is slated for the ICANN 51 meeting in Los Angeles. (e) ICANN¹s current projection for a timetable for subsequent rounds These projections are still in process. As many of these activities are interrelated, sequencing and scheduling the activities in a logical and efficient way can take several paths. Additional activities, such as a root stability review, have not been discussed in the topics above but also have an impact. We do expect to publish a projected overall timetable, as well as timelines for the individual tracks mentioned here, and will make sure that this is included in the report to be delivered. Also, we note that the Discussion Group formed by the GNSO motion referenced above has been convened and intends to work on issue identification and categorization as a preface to any policy development work that may be pursued by the GNSO, and will follow those developments closely. I hope this information is helpful. Please feel free to pass this on to the Council and if there is any additional clarification or input needed to support the GNSO work, please don¹t hesitate to reach out. Best regards, Karen Karen Lentz Director, Operations & Policy Research ICANN +1 310 301 5836 office +1 310 895 3637 mobile karen.lentz@icann.org