Dear all, Please find below the agenda for the Thursday, 11 December 2025 GNSO Council Meeting at 21:00 UTC. This will be posted on the agenda wiki page<https://icann-community.atlassian.net/wiki/x/UKafBg>. Thank you! Kind regards, Julie GNSO Council Agenda 11 December 2025 Please note that all documents referenced in the agenda have been gathered on a Wiki page for convenience and easier access: https://icann-community.atlassian.net/wiki/x/CKifBg This agenda was established according to the GNSO Operating Procedures<https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/file/field-file-attach/op-procedu...> v3.5, updated on 15 March 2023. For convenience: * An excerpt of the ICANN Bylaws defining the voting thresholds is provided in Appendix 1 at the end of this agenda. * An excerpt from the Council Operating Procedures defining the absentee voting procedures is provided in Appendix 2 at the end of this agenda. GNSO Council meeting on Thursday, 11 December 2025 at 21:00 UTC: https://tinyurl.com/2p8r3wh 13:00 Los Angeles; 16:00 Washington DC; 21:00 London; 07:00 Paris; (Friday) 00:00 Moscow; 08:00 Melbourne GNSO Council Meeting Remote Participation: https://icann.zoom.us/j/91048235847?pwd=bmEHjk0uYT3sR2DIoE0c0yw4HKbM6O.1 Councilors should notify the GNSO Secretariat in advance if they will not be able to attend and/or need a dial out call. ___________________________________ Item 1: Administrative Matters (5 minutes) 1.1 - Roll Call 1.2 - Updates to Statements of Interest 1.3 - Review / Amend Agenda 1.4 - Note the status of minutes for the previous Council meetings per the GNSO Operating Procedures: Minutes Part 1<https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/policy/2025/minutes/minutes-part1...> and Part 2<https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/policy/2025/minutes/minutes-part2...> of the GNSO Council Meeting on 29 October 2025 were posted on 15 November 2025. Minutes<https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/policy/2025/minutes/minutes-gnso-...> of the GNSO Council Meeting on 13 November 2025 were posted on 27 November 2025. Item 2: Opening Remarks / Review of Projects & Action List (5 minutes) 2.1 - Review focus areas and provide updates on specific key themes / topics, to include review of Projects List<https://gnso.icann.org/en/council/project> and Action Item List. <https://community.icann.org/x/RgZlAg> Item 3: Consent Agenda (5 minutes) * Confirm GNSO Empowered Community Representative * Jennifer Chung * Confirm Standing Selection Committee (“SSC”) Members and Leadership * [to be added] * Confirm Standing Predictability Implementation Review (“SPIRT”) Leadership * [to be added] * GNSO Review of the GAC Communiqué Item 4: COUNCIL VOTE - Final Issue Report on a Policy Development Process for DNS Abuse (25 minutes) On <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/gac.icann.org/contentMigrated/gac-follow-...> 14 August 2025<https://icann-community.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/gnsocouncilmeetings/pages/...>, the GNSO Council passed a motion, requesting ICANN’s Policy Support Staff to draft a Preliminary Issue Report on DNS Abuse. The objective of the Preliminary Issue Report was for Policy Support Staff to assess all relevant issues related to the GNSO Council request and, following Community Input during the Public Comment phase, to recommend a course of action to the GNSO Council. It remains the GNSO Council’s prerogative to either follow Support Staff’s recommendations or to pursue alternative action. As background, in early 2025, the GNSO Council reconvened its DNS Abuse Small Team to re-examine DNS Abuse mitigation considering new developments, research, and data. Based on data analysis, community consultation, and input from stakeholder groups (SGs), the Small Team recommended the following three gaps be prioritized for policy work in the Issue Report: 1. Unrestricted Application Programming Interface (API) access for domain name registration for new customers 2. Associated Domain Checks: Malicious domains are often part of broader campaigns involving dozens or hundreds of related domains. 3. Limited coordination on Domain Generation Algorithm (DGA)-based abuse. The Preliminary Issue Report concludes that all of the three identified priority issues are appropriate for policy development. However, the paper suggests that only two of the three identified DNS Abuse issues should be prioritized for policy development, while one may be addressed more directly and expeditiously outside of the ICANN policy development process. The Preliminary Issue Report was published for public comment and the GNSO conducted a working session on DNS Abuse at ICANN84. The Final Issue Report and the included draft PDP charter for the Associated Domain Checks have been adjusted to take into account feedback received from both of these sources. The draft PDP charter on API access will be amended, to follow. Here, the Council will vote to initiate two (2) PDPs on DNS Abuse Mitigation. PDP 1 on Associated Domain Checks will convene its WG immediately. PDP 2 on safeguards for unrestricted API access will convene when the Council decides it is an appropriate time, taking into consideration the progress and resources needed for DNS Abuse Mitigation PDP 1. Here, Council will also vote to approve the charter for DNS Abuse Mitigation PDP 1 on Associated Domain Checks attached to the Final Issue Report. The Charter for PDP 2 on unrestricted API access will be brought before Council at a later date. 4.1 - Introduction of Topic (Jennifer Chung, GNSO Vice-Chair) 4.2 - Council Vote 4.3 - Next Steps Item 5: COUNCIL VOTE - Registration Data Request Service (RDRS) Standing Committee Findings Report (25 minutes) In June 2023, the GNSO Council approved a Charter for the RDRS Standing Committee, which outlines the Standing Committee’s tasks. Specifically, the Standing Committee was tasked to review the data that will be produced by ICANN org on a monthly basis following the launch of the RDRS (see data points outlined here<https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/policy/2023/correspondence/ducos-...>). The Scoping Team was expected to analyze the data and consider: * Assignment #1. Trends that can be identified over a month-by-month period; * Assignment #2. Possible technical updates that should be considered to RDRS and/or related messaging and promotion (recognizing that the RDRS will only be running for a two-year period and limited resources may be available to implement such updates); * Assignment #3. Specific lessons learned that should be factored into the consideration of how to proceed with the SSAD recommendations; * Assignment #4. Suggestions to the Council for a proposed recommendation(s) to the ICANN Board in relation to the consideration of the SSAD recommendations. The Standing Committee began reviewing monthly data since the inception of the RDRS in November 2023 and distilled its findings into its Findings Report, which was published for public comment on 19 August 2025<https://www.icann.org/en/announcements/details/icann-generic-names-supportin...>. Following its consideration of the public comments received, the RDRS Standing Committee delivered its updated Findings Report<https://icann-community.atlassian.net/wiki/x/PjLlBg>, which contains six recommendations for the Council’s consideration. Here, the Council will vote to accept the report as important input in its upcoming dialogue with the Board. 5.1 - Introduction of Topic (Susan Payne, GNSO Chair) 5.2 - Council Discussion 5.3 - Next Steps Item 6: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Preparation for 2026 Strategic Planning Session (SPS) (50 minutes) Beginning in 2018, the GNSO Council has held an annual SPS. The SPS is the Council’s dedicated meeting designed to (i) understand and review the GNSO’s portfolio of work for the coming year, (ii) align on the GNSO’s work priorities for the coming year, (iii) consider whether the GNSO Council has the correct resources and tools to conduct its work as manager of the PDP efficiently, effectively, and comprehensively, and (iv) discuss how to best prepare for emerging and upcoming challenges the Council could face in the coming year and beyond. In preparation for the upcoming SPS, GNSO Support Staff will present an overview of the role of the GNSO Council and the tools and resources available to GNSO Councilors in fulfilling that role. This presentation will provide a foundation for a substantive discussion during the SPS. 6.1 - Introduction of Topic (Steve Chan, GNSO Support Staff) 6.2 - Council Discussion 6.3 - Next Steps Item 7: Any Other Business (5 minutes) 7.1 - SPS Logistics _______________________________ Appendix 1: GNSO Council Voting Thresholds (ICANN Bylaws, Article 11, Section 11.3(i)) See https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/governance/bylaws-en/#article11. Appendix 2: GNSO Council Absentee Voting Procedures (GNSO Operating Procedures, Section 4.4) See https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/file/field-file-attach/op-procedu... References for Coordinated Universal Time of 21:00 UTC Local time between November and March in the NORTHERN hemisphere See https://www.timeanddate.com/time/change/ for Dates for Daylight Saving Time and Clock Changes ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- California, USA (PST) UTC-8 13:00 San José, Costa Rica (CST) UTC-6 15:00 New York/Washington DC, USA (EST) UTC-5 16:00 Buenos Aires, Argentina (ART) UTC-3 18:00 Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (WAT) UTC+1 22:00 Paris, France (CET) UTC+1 22:00 Moscow, Russia (MSK) UTC+3 00:00 (Friday) Singapore (SGT) UTC+8 05:00 (Friday) Melbourne, Australia (AEDT) UTC+11 08:00 (Friday) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For other places see http://www.timeanddate.com<http://www.timeanddate.com/> and https://tinyurl.com/2p8r3wh