Thanks again, Marika. This is very helpful. It does, however, raise yet a number of new questions for me that I will try do a little homework on and prep properly. For one thing, I am interested to learn more about the ¡°considerable investments of time and resources by ICANN and registrars alike¡± used to navigate through the complexities and diversity of national privacy laws. That seems to be a great deal of work that we may benefit from in other areas of the GNSO's work, and should probably make ourselves more familiar with.

Thanks.

Amr

On Mar 17, 2014, at 5:47 PM, Marika Konings <marika.konings@icann.org> wrote:

You may also be interested in the following blog post on this topic: http://blog.icann.org/2014/02/update-on-2013-raa-and-data-retention-waiver-process/. 

Best regards,

Marika

From: Marika Konings <marika.konings@icann.org>
Date: Monday 17 March 2014 13:37
To: Amr Elsadr <aelsadr@egyptig.org>
Cc: Volker Greimann <vgreimann@key-Systems.net>, Council <council@gnso.icann.org>
Subject: Re: [council] DATA RETENTION WAIVER OVH SAS

The waiver request and supporting materials can be found here: http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/updates/retention/waiver-request-ovh-sas-27jan14-en.pdf. 

Best regards,

Marika

From: Amr Elsadr <aelsadr@egyptig.org>
Date: Monday 17 March 2014 13:31
To: Marika Konings <marika.konings@icann.org>
Cc: Volker Greimann <vgreimann@key-Systems.net>, Council <council@gnso.icann.org>
Subject: Re: [council] DATA RETENTION WAIVER OVH SAS

Thanks Volker and Marika. I had missed the preliminary notice in January. After a quick Google search, I couldn¡¯t find any links to OVH¡¯s application for a waiver. Is that publicly archived?

Thanks again.

Amr

On Mar 17, 2014, at 12:07 PM, Marika Konings <marika.konings@icann.org> wrote:

To add to Volker's response, the process used to request this waiver under
the 2013 RAA can be found here:
http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/updates/retention. Further
information about this specific request can also be found here:
http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-27jan14-en.htm.

Best regards,

Marika

On 17/03/14 12:03, "Volker Greimann" <vgreimann@key-Systems.net> wrote:


Hi Amr,

nothin has changed. The reason OVH got their waiver because in their
application they only asked for what ICANN sees as a "compromise
solution" that does not really meet the legal requirements of most
European registrars.

Volker





Am 17.03.2014 11:58, schrieb Amr Elsadr:
Hi,

I had meant to send an email about this earlier, but then the U.S. gov
decided to steal the spotlight and attention (including mine) from most
other issues. I was curious about the process and circumstances
regarding this announcement:

http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-12mar14-en.htm

Last year, the EU's Article 29 Data Protection Working Party sent a
letter to ICANN 
(http://www.icann.org/en/news/correspondence/kohnstamm-to-crocker-chehade
-06jun13-en), requesting waivers to EU-based registrars, but ICANN did
not seem to respond in agreement in their reply
(http://www.icann.org/en/news/correspondence/jeffrey-to-kohnstamm-20sep13
-en).

So what changed? Was the ICANN Procedure For Handling Conflicts with
Privacy Law used? Was it something else? I believe this is something
worth taking notice of, especially with the ongoing WHOIS activities?

I can©öt seem to find any details? Can someone point me in the right
direction?

Thanks.

Amr